Am.  Jour.  Pharm  ) 
April,  1879.  / 
The  Chemical  Elements. 
201 
3.  Des  etoiles  plus  froides  encore,  dans  lesquelles  tous  les  elements  metalliques  sont 
associes,  ou  leurs  Jignes  ne  sont  plus  visibles,  et  cii  nous  n'avons  que  les  spectres  des 
metalloids  et  des  composes. 
4.  Plus  une  etoile  est  agee,  plus  Vhydrogene  libre  disparait ;  sur  la  terre,  nous  ne 
trouvons  plus  d'hydrogene  en  liberte. 
II  me  semble  que  ces  faits  sont  les  preuves  de  plusieurs  idees  emises  par  vous.  J'ai 
pense  que  nous  pouvions  imaginer  une  "dissociation  celeste,''  qui  continue  le  travail 
de  nos  fourneaux,  et  que  le  metalloides  sont  des  composes  qui  sont  dissocies  par  la 
temperature  solaire,  pendant  que  les  elements  metalliques  mor.atomiques,  dont  les 
poids  atomiques  sont  les  moindres,  sont  precisement  ceux  qui  resistent  meme  a  la 
•temperature  des  etoiles  les  plus  chaudes. 
Before  I  proceed  further  I  should  state  that,  while  observations  of  the  sun  have 
since  shown  that  calcium  should  be  introduced  between  hydrogen  and  magnesium 
for  that  luminary,  Dr.  Huggins1  photographs  have  demonstrated  the  same  fact  for 
the  sta~s,  so  that  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  independent  of  all  hypoth- 
eses, the  facts  may  be  represented  as  follows  : 
Hottest  Stars  .  )  (HjCarMg' 
Sun  .  .    V Lines2  of-)  H4-Ca  +  Mg4  Na+Fe 
Cooler  Stars        .J  [  —    —    Mg    Na    Fe    B=  Hg 
{Fluted  Spectra  of 
Metals  and  Met- 
alloids. 
I  have  no  hesitation  in  stating  my  opinion  that  in  this  line  of  facts  we  have  the 
most  important  outcome  of  solar  work  during  the  last  ten  years  ;  and  if  there  were 
none  others  in  support  of  them,  the  conclusion  would  still  stare  us  in  the  face  that 
the  running  down  of  temperature  in  a  mass  of  matter  ^uhich  is  e-ventually  to  form  a 
star  is  accompanied  by  a  gradually  increasing  complexity  of  chemical  forms. 
This,  then,  is  the  result  of  one  branch  of  the  inquiry,  which  has  consisted  in  a 
careful  chronicling  of  the  spectroscopic  phenomena  presented  to  our  study  by  the 
various  stars. 
Experimentalists  have  observed  the  spectrum  of  hydrogen,  of  calcium,  etc.,  in 
their  laboratories,  and  have  compared  the  bright  lines  visible  in  the  spectra  with  the 
dark  ones  in  the  stars,  and  on  this  ground  they  have  announced  the  discovery  of 
calcium  in  the  sun  or  of  hydrogen  in  Sirius. 
In  all  this  work  they  have  taken  for  granted  that  in  the  spectrum  thus  produced 
in  their  laboratories,  they  have  been  dealing  with  the  vibration  of  one  unique  thing, 
call  it  atom,  molecule  or  what  you  will ;  that  one  unique  thing  has  by  its  vibrations 
produced  all  the  lines  visible,  which  they  have  persistently  seen  and  mapped  in  each 
instance. 
It  is  at  this  point  that  my  recent  work  comes  in,  and  raises  the  question  whether 
what  has  been  thus  taken  for  granted  is  really  true.  And  now  that  the  question  is 
raised,  the  striking  thing  about  it  is  that  it  was  not  asked  long  ago. 
One  reason  is  this  :  Time  out  of  mind — or,  rather,  ever  since  Nicolas  Le  Fcvre, 
who  wes  sent  over  here  by  the  French  King  at  the  request  of  our  English  one  at  the 
time  the  Royal  Society  was  established,  pointed  out  that  chemistry  was  the  art  of  sep- 
arations as  well  as  of  transmutations — it  has  been  recognized  that,  with  every  increase 
2  Symbols  are  used  here  to  save  space.  H  —  Hydrogen,  Ca  —  Calcium,  Mg  =  Magnesium,  Na  — 
Sodium,  Fe  =  Iron,  Bi  —  Bismuth,  Hg  =  Mercury. 
