Herbert Spencer showed
that the observations of nebulae up to that time were really in favor
of an evolutional progress. In 1864 he (the speaker) brought the
spectroscope to bear upon them; the bright lines which flashed upon
the eye showed the source of the light to be glowing gas, and so
restored these bodies to what is probably their true place, as an
early stage of sidereal life. At that early time our knowledge of
stellar spectra was small. For this reason partly, and probably also
under the undue influence of theological opinions then widely
prevalent, he unwisely wrote in his original paper in 1864, that "in
these objects we no longer have to do with a special modification of
our own type of sun, but find ourselves in presence of objects
possessing a distinct and peculiar plan of structure." Two years
later, however, in a lecture before this association, he took a truer
position. "Our views of the universe," he said, "are undergoing
important changes; let us wait for more facts with minds unfettered by
any dogmatic theory, and, therefore, free to receive the teaching,
whatever it may be, of new observations."
THE NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS.
Let them turn aside for a moment from the nebulae in the sky to the
conclusions to which philosophers had been irresistibly led by a
consideration of the features of the solar system.
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