Abstract
DR. JEANS'S article, which forms our supplement this week, may be regarded as a summing up of the hypothesis of stellar evolution and contributions which he has adumbrated in various publications for several years past. Even those who share neither his view-point nor his conclusions will be unable to withhold their admiration for the extreme ingenuity of the hypothesis and the masterly manner of its presentation. Indeed, it may even, somewhat paradoxically, arouse suspicion by its very perfection; it is so rarely that a complex phenomenon reveals its secret through so small a fragment of itself as is our actual, compared with our possible knowledge of the stars. We could scarcely have complained if more uncertainties had been left over for further observation to remove. The picture which Dr. Jeans unveils, of a vastly extended field for physics and chemistry, is an arresting one, but it is also very tantalising. The field, he tells us, is there, but we are never to enter it, being possibly merely a disease-infesting the rubbish-heap in the corner.
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[News and Views]. Nature 118, 812–817 (1926). https://doi.org/10.1038/118812a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/118812a0