78. By study of the spectra, at various temperatures, of the elements and compounds found in those meteorites which have reached our earth and been preserved, Sir Norman Lockyer[45] has been led to support the view that the stars are not at present all cooling down, but that some, on the contrary, are rising in temperature; he suggests that many of the stars, like the nebulæ, are constituted of separate meteorites in continual relative motion, and become hotter and hotter through contraction of the grouping, collision, and transformation of the energy of position and motion into heat. This increase of temperature must continue during successive ages, until the energy of position and motion of the separate meteorites is wholly transformed, the separate masses having then combined to form a single white hot body which will gradually cool down to the state in which our own moon now is. If a swarm of meteorites forming one nebula be subjected to the external action of another moving swarm of meteorites, intermediate stages resembling the conditions of Saturn and of the solar system may ensue.

According to this spectroscopic affirmation of the nebular theory, all the heavenly bodies are constituted of the same kinds of elementary matter, those in fact which are found in meteorites and our own earth, and the difference is solely due to temperature; and a nebula in its gradual passage to the lunar condition will show every phase of spectrum observed in the stars as now existent.

Meteorites present no evidence of life.

79. Finally, it may be asked whether or not meteorites bring us any tangible evidence of the existence of living beings outside our own world. To this we may briefly answer, that while an organic origin can scarcely be claimed for the graphite present in the meteoric irons, there are no less than six meteoric stones which contain, though in very minute quantity, carbon compounds of such a character that their presence in a terrestrial body would be regarded as doubtlessly an indirect result of animal or vegetable existence. On the other hand, the stony matter is such that in a terrestrial body an igneous origin would be assumed.

Professor Maskelyne has pointed out that these carbon compounds can be completely removed without a preliminary pulverisation of the stone, and thus seem to be contained merely in the pores; he suggested that they may have been absorbed by the stones in their passage through an atmosphere containing the compounds in a state of vapour. In any case, it is impossible to prove that there is a necessary relation between these compounds of carbon and the existence of living beings.

Chondrules have been mistaken for organisms.

80. In 1880[46] descriptions were given of sponges, corals, crinoids and plants, found in several meteorites, chiefly in that of Knyahinya, but the memoir has been generally regarded as an elaborate jest. The chondrules with their excentrically radiating crystallisation are there classified and named as sponges, corals and crinoids, while the structure of meteoric iron, revealed by the Widmanstätten figures, is regarded as a result of plant life. There can be no hesitation in asserting that as yet no organised matter has been found in meteorites.

Footnotes

[1.] Remarks concerning stones said to have fallen from the clouds both in these days and in ancient times: by Edward King. London, 1796. Mémoire historique et physique sur les chutes des pierres: par P. M. S. Bigot de Morogues. Orléans, 1812. [2.] Sitzungsber. d. k. Ak. d. Wiss. Wien. 1856, vol. 22, p. 393. [3.] Records of the Geological Survey of India. Calcutta, 1885, vol. 18, p. 237. [4.] Ueber den Ursprung der von Pallas gefundenen und anderer ihr ähnlicher Eisenmassen. Riga, 1794. [5.] Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des russischen Reichs: von P. S. Pallas. St. Petersburg, 1776, Part III., p. 411. [6.] Philosophical Transactions. London, 1788, vol. 78, part 1, pp. 37, 183. [7.] Philosophical Transactions. London, 1795, vol. 85, p. 103. [8.] Ibid., 1802, vol. 92, p. 174. [9.] Bulletin des Sciences par la Société Philomathique. Paris, 1803, vol. 3, no. 71, p. 180. [10.] Mémoires de l'Institut National de France. 1806, vol. 7, part 1, Histoire, p. 224. [11.] Principes de Thermodynamique: par Paul de Saint-Robert. Paris, 1870, p. 329. [12.] The Fall of Butsura: by Prof. Maskelyne. Phil. Mag. 1863, vol. 25, p. 50. [13.] Die chemische Natur der Meteoriten: von C. Rammelsberg. Berlin, 1870-9. Météorites: par S. Meunier. Paris, 1884. Meteoritenkunde: von E. Cohen. Stuttgart, 1894-1905. [14.] Some lecture-notes on meteorites: by Prof. Maskelyne. Nature, 1875, vol. 12, pp. 485, 504, 520. [15.] Études synthétiques de géologie expérimentale. Paris, 1879. p. 517. [16.] Phil. Mag. 1884, ser. 5, vol. 17, p. 462. [17.] Nature, 1904, vol. 71, p. 32. [18.] Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, 1905, Band I, p. 122. [19.] Denksch. d. math-naturw. Klasse d. k. Ak. d. Wiss., 1905, Band 78, p. 635. [20.] Philosophical Transactions, London, 1908, Ser. A, vol. 208, p. 21. [21.] Mineralogical Magazine. London, 1884, vol. 6, p. 1. [22.] Beschreibung und Eintheilung der Meteoriten. Berlin, 1864. [23.] Die mikroskopische Beschaffenheit der Meteoriten: von G. Tschermak. Stuttgart, 1883-5. [24.] Pogg. Ann. 1858, vol. 105, p. 438: Phil. Mag. 1876, ser. 5, vol. 1, p. 497. [25.] On the structure and origin of meteorites. Nature, 1877, vol. 15, p. 495. [26.] Die Meteoritensammlung d.k.k. min. Hofkabinetes in Wien. 1885, p. 19. [27.] Lithological Studies. Cambridge, U.S.A. 1884, p. 110. [28.] Speculations on the source of Meteorites. Nature, 1879, vol. 19, p. 493. [29.] Olmsted. American Jour. Sc., 1834, ser. 1, vol. 25, p. 363. [30.] Newton. American Jour. Sc., 1864, ser. 2, vol. 37, p. 377; vol. 38, p. 53. [31.] Report Brit. Assoc., 1868, p. 394. [32.] Pogg. Ann., 1858, vol. 105, p. 438. [33.] Denning. Nature, 1885, vol. 31, p. 463. [34.] Monthly Notices of the Roy. Astron. Soc. 1899, vol. 59, p. 179. [35.] Newton. Nature, 1886, vol. 33, pp. 392, 418. [36.] Newton. American Jour. Sc., 1886, ser. 3, vol. 31, p. 409. [37.] Hidden. American Jour. Sc., 1887, ser. 3, vol. 33, p. 223. [38.] Presidential Address to the Brit. Assoc. for the Advancement of Science, 1891. [39.] Proc. Roy. Soc., Edinb., 1869, vol. 6, p. 553. [40.] American Jour. Sc., 1875, ser. 3, vol. 10, p. 44. [41.] Proc. Roy. Soc., Edinb., 1871, vol. 7, p. 460. [42.] Lockyer. Nature, 1886, vols. 33 and 34. [43.] Nature, 1877, vol. 16, p. 413. [44.] Treatise on Natural Philosophy, by Thomson and Tait: Cambridge, 1883, vol. 1, part 2, p. 487. [45.] Proc. Royal Society, 1887, vol. 43, p. 117: 1888, vol. 44, Bakerian lecture. [46.] Die Meteorite (Chondrite) und ihre Organismen: von Dr. O. Hahn. Tübingen, 1880.