matter, in the hottest stars, in an unusual condition, and seems
to show the elements successively emerging from their fierce
alchemy. Sir J. Norman Lockyer has for many years conducted a
special investigation of the subject at the Solar Physics
Observatory, and he declares that we can trace the evolution of
the elements out of the fiery chaos of the young star. The
lightest gases emerge first, the metals later, and in a special
form. But here we pass once more from Lilliputia to
Brobdingnagia, and must first explain the making of the star
itself.



CHAPTER III. THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF WORLDS

The greater part of this volume will be occupied with the things
that have happened on one small globe in the universe during a
certain number of millions of years. It cannot be denied that
this has a somewhat narrow and parochial aspect. The earth is,
you remember, a million times smaller than the sun, and the sun
itself is a very modest citizen of the stellar universe. Our
procedure is justified, however, both on the ground of personal
interest, and because our knowledge of the earth's story is so
much more ample and confident. Yet we must preface the story of
the earth with at least a general outline of the larger story of
the universe. No sensible man is humbled or dismayed by the
vastness of the universe. When the human mind reflects on its
wonderful scientific mastery of this illimitable ocean of being,
it has no sentiment of being dwarfed or degraded. It looks out
with cold curiosity over the mighty scattering of worlds, and