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8
Just in the case of these elements we find a marked regularity
of abundances. These show a regular alternation of abundances
between even and odd elements and the successive odd or even
elements change in abundances in a gi»adual and regular manner.
It was recognized by one of us (H. E. S.) that this meant that
the abundances of isotopes should similarly represent a definite
regularity and that elementary abundances should be such that
all nuclides should vAry in some regular way. Accordingly it is
assumed in this paper that the relative abundances of all isotopic
species are meaningful and not the result of "chance" variations.
This assumption is shown to be valid in nearly all cases and of
course, we believe, that it is true in all cases even though quite
frankly we do not always see that this is the case. We
do not pretend to fully understand the regularities and irregularities
which we present. It might well be that the abundances of the nuclides
of odd mass for example follow a rough curve with the individual
nuclides falling above or below this curve in an irregular way.
For the most part we believe that this is not the case but that
surprisingly closely the isotopes of the elements determine the
slope of the curves uniquely and especially that of the odd mass
curve. Also the curves for the logarithms of the abundances of the
even and odd mass elements respectively follow curves which are
displaced over most of the mass range by nearly a constant amount
relative to each other when properly interpreted.
The following is a discussion of the elements with respect