Until the last few years no elements were known in our terrestrial experience which possessed at ordinary temperatures the same qualities of resolute isolation which all elements seem to display at extreme temperatures. The famous discovery of argon, and of other strange gases associated with argon in the atmosphere and elsewhere, has revealed, to the astonishment of chemists and to the great extension of knowledge, that we have with us here elements which resist all solicitations to enter into chemical union with other substances. It is doubtless in consequence of this absolute refusal to unite that, in spite of their abundance and their wide distribution, these elements have eluded detection for centuries. To the astronomer argon is both interesting and instructive. It shows us an element which possesses, at the ordinary temperatures of the surface of the earth, a property which is true of all elements when subjected to such temperatures as are found in the sun.
Think of the rocks which form the earth’s crust and of the minerals which lie far below. Think of the soil which lies on its surface, of the forests which that soil supports, and the crops which it brings forth. Think of the waters of the ocean, and the ice of the Poles. Think of the objects of every kind on this globe. Think of the stone walls of a great building, of the iron used to give it strength, of the slates which cover it, and of the timber which forms its floors; think of the innumerable other materials which have gone towards its construction; think even of the elementary substances which go to form the bodies of animals, of the lime in their bones, and of the carbon which is so intimately associated with life itself. The nebular theory declares that those materials have not always been in the condition in which we now see them; that there was a time in which they were so hot that they were not in the solid state; they were not even in the fluid state, but were all in rolling volumes of glowing vapour which formed the great primæval fire-cloud.
We must understand the composite nature of the primitive fire-mist from which our solar system originated. Let me illustrate the matter thus: We shall suppose that a heterogeneous collection of substances is brought together, the items of which may be somewhat as follows: let there be many tons of iron and barrels of lime, some pieces of timber, and cargoes of flint; let there be lead and tin and zinc, and many other metals, from which copper and silver and several of the rarest metals must not be excluded; let there be innumerable loads of clay, which shall represent aluminium and silicon, and hogsheads of sea-water to supply oxygen, hydrogen, and sodium. There should be also, I need hardly add, many other elements; but there is no occasion to mention more; indeed, it would be impossible to give a list which would be complete.