Show F THE STUDY OF THE STARS The TIme ancient philosophers declared de do- I dared earod Sir David Gill Olli In his presidential nt address ll to b British h n association at Leicester r were wore confident In fn tho ho adequacy of their in intellectual in- in powers alone alono to determine the laws lames of human thou thought ht and md i meg reg- em emulate ulato the time actions ons o of their fellow men mon antI and they did not nM to employ the same samo unsupported means for fOl the tho solution of oC the time riddle le of tho the un universe Every E school ool of phi philosophy i was 1 agree that somo object which they tho- coulee coul coult see ee was a fixed center of the universe unto uni verse orse and anti the time battle was fou fought ht as t tn to what that center was Th The absence of facts their entire Ignorance o of S methods of oC exact measurement did dh not daunt them thorn th the question furnished them a subject of dispute and fruitless occupation for Cor t ent twenty twenty- five centuries But Dut astronomers now now- recognize that Bradley's Bradleys s meri meridian lan ob observations observation at Greenwich made only years ago have o contributed more mOle to the advancement of sidereal real astronomy than all th the speculations o of or tho time preceding pre pre- ceding centuries The They have ha l ned learned aIne the time lesson that human knowledge inthe In Inthe I the slowly developing phenomena na of or I sidereal astronomy must be content to progress re 4 b by the time accumulating labors of successive generations of oC men that pro progress ress will be he measured for or gen gen- generations ons crul yet ct to come more by the thC amount of honest well directed and rind systematically discussed observation than halt by the most brilliant speculation specula specula- tion and that in observation concentrated concentrated con con- systematic effort on a specIal special special cial thoughtfully select selected d problem will vIli be of ot moio mOlo avail than the most brilliant but disconnected or work By these means menns we shall learn earn moro more and more of the wonders that surround us and recognize cco our oum limitations limitations limita limita- when measurement and facts fall fail us shown Hu Hug gins spectroscope has that many nebulae are arc not stars stal'S at atall atall all nil that man many well condensed nebulae lao Inc as well as vast patches of or nebulous nebulous nobu- nobu lous Ions light In the sl sky aro are but lUt Inchoate masses of luminous gas Evidence upon c evidence has been heen accumulated to show that such nebulae nebula consist of th the matter out of which stars stems I. I e e. e suns Shins have ha been an and tire aro being evolved evol The flie different types of or star spectra form such a complete completo am and gradual ra sequence from simple spectra spec spec- tm tra resembling rc those of oC nebulae onward onward onward on on- ward through h types of or gradually in increasing in In- creasing complexity as to suggest that we have before us written In tn Inthe tho the cryptograms of or these spectra th the complete story of time the evolution of or suns Runs from flom tIme the th Inchoate nebula onward to the most niost active sun like e our own and anet then them downward down to almost s alit and Invisible In hall ball The period during which human life has existed on our globe Is probably probably ably too short short even even n If our first parents parents parents pa pa- rents hall hail begun tho the work to work to afford observational proof of such Rueh n n. cycle cele of change In ii nn any particular star hut th time fact tact of such evolution with the thC evidence before us can hardly be hC i I douht doubted d 1 most fully Cully believe that timaL when th the modifications of oC terrestrial varied conditions conditions con con- sp spectra eta under sufficiently of or temperature pressure rind lU have hn been heen further studied this conclusion will be greatly strengthened lint But In this study we mu must l have ha regard also to the spectra spec spec- pCt t Ira tra m of tho time stats s themselves The stars lIars arc are the crucibles of oC tho time Creator There we see sC matter under con conditions of temperature and pressure pres pres- sure and environment the variety of oC I which 1 we wo cannot T opo to emulate In our In a. orator II and on ovi a. a Q Qt uh v llo c l lo which the proper proper- tl thin Jn of of our g greatest test experiment I ls less ess than that of or the drop to tho the ocean the Tho spectroscopic astronomer has to thank tho the ph physicist and tho the chemist for foJ the foundation of or his science but time tho time Js is coming coming we wo almost see Jt it now now when when the astronomer astron astron- omer omner will repay thu debt by wide wide- reaching contributions to the very of or chemical science science science- London Chronicle |