Page:The evolution of worlds - Lowell.djvu/69

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THE INITIAL CATASTROPHE
45

spectroscope shows that the difference in appearance is associated with dissimilarity of character. For the spectrum of the amorphous proves to consist of a few bright lines, due to hydrogen and nebulium chiefly, in

NebulaV. 14 Cygni—after Roberts.


the green, whence the name green nebulæ. That of the spirals, on the other hand, is continuous, and therefore white. The great nebula in Andromeda was one of the first in which this was recognized; and the perception was pregnant, for no nebula defies resolution more determinedly than it. We may, therefore, infer