218 
and Nova Cygni, 1876, be due to the intense heat generated 
by the union of zones of negative elements with the central 
bodies round which they revolve, or by the condensation of 
lower into higher forms of elementary species ? 
All the positive forms of H2 n, except glucinum and lead, 
are well ascertained solar elements, and the remarkable rela- 
tions which the members of this group have to those of H n 
render it highly probable that, besides sodium and copper, 
other members of are present in the solar atmosphere. 
F rom the fact that aluminum, titanium, chromium, and the 
irons are solar species, higher forms of these elements may 
also be expected to be found in the sun. 
The numerical relations of the atomic weights to which 
I have directed attention, and the brief outline of a theory 
of the origin of elementary species which I have founded 
upon them, give new force to the doctrine of the trans- 
mutable nature of elementary substances. But when the 
synthetical formation of organic compounds is regarded as 
the greatest triumph of modem chemical science, the prob- 
lem of building up the higher elements from the lower, may 
well be deemed insoluble, as they have been formed under 
cosmical conditions of which we have little or no acquaint- 
ance. Very different, however, is the aspect of the problem 
of resolving the higher elements of each series into their 
respective types or into hydrogen. For just as by the 
application of heat, the higher members of homologous 
series are resolved, through their lower members, into their 
ultimates, so may it be expected that the elements them- 
selves will, in their turn, give way to more powerful instru- 
ments of analysis. 
When it is considered, that through the investigations of 
Dumas, Cooke, Odling, Mendeleeff and others, nearly all the 
mathematical relations of the atomic weights to each other 
have been unfolded during the brief interval of thirty years, 
so that but few steps are now required to render the natural 
classification of the elements complete, the resolution of 
elementary species into their primordial ultimates would 
not appear to be far off. 
