400 
the crust of the globe ; and I have been endeavouring to avoid metophysical 
or theological questions, and to ^ ^ of 
:ri;vr;^r::Ver:«der here,.. ^ 
have the remotest idea of what the wall was built for and so when we , seel 
crust of the globe indications which show, not merely to the ^ 
but to the commonest observer, signs of adaptation, we s, j 
dences of design.” It is the instinct of one's nature to con* .to that condu 
sion. We cannot always show evidence of adap Mmi, but I do hoUhmh y 
observer can avoid being struck with the evidences of tong* ^ dhe^« 
intelligent guidance of the laws of nature, and it is - “ 
the word desi™. That it is as good an argument os the more e 
I do not venture to maintain ; but, on the other hand, it is often urged n 
in fixed terms, for the attacks on Christianity or Theism are often not made 
in fixed terms but by the general tendency of the 
geolooy is so simple that there is no need of any Creator there , that the 
forces of nature will do all that is required ; that if you stir up a nebula and 
leave it to itself it will compose a world, because you can decompose ® ’ 
and produce Thames mud, and so on. (Laughter.) It was to hat result tha 
I wished to apply myself. With regard to the question asked me about 
the constitution of nebula-, I will try to explain, though it is difficult to do 
so in a few words. If you examine the sun with a spectroscope, you . 
black lines, which are identical with those produced by certain vaporous 
.ases as bright lines. The common light of salt gives under the spectro- 
scope two intense yellow lines, and if you throw a light through that you 
can get a complete spectrum, with two black lines. The ru e, icie or ’ 
the law is-that any light passing through a coloured light will show black 
lines, where the coloured light would show coloured lines, and applying 
principle, it can be proved that the light of the sun passes through an incan- 
descent atmosphere of intense heat sufficient to keep iron in a state ot 
vapour. In nebula; you have the nitrogen line, and it is not conceivab e 
that you can have a heat sufficient to make nitrogen luminous with a cold 
solid body behind, as it requires a much greater heat to make gas luminous 
than would be required to heat a solid globe to incandescence. Of course 
this is so far guess-work, as it is only the result, of experiments in the 
laboratory ; but this is the argument on which it is inferred that nebulae 
are merely gaseous bodies. If they contained all the elements of a world, 
we should expect to find not merely the lines of gases, but the lines of the 
sun’s spectrum. (Cheers.) 
The Meeting was afterwards adjourned 
