He correctly ascribed these 'atmospheric lines' as originating in the terrestrial atmosphere. Remarkably, he failed to take into account Fraunhofer's observational evidence for the stellar origin of certain solar absorption lines. Ignoring crucial astronomical data tends to isolate a researcher from the truth to a certain degree. Later, the solar origin of most of the Fraunhofer lines were established beyond a shadow of a doubt by Bunsen and Kirchoff . It seems that in the face of such strong belief no amount of evidence can sway the die-hard.
Belief is stronger than reason.
Like Brewster, the astronomical community has a strong belief that most of the absorption lines are extrinsic and do not occur in the quasar. However, because quasars are stars within our galaxy, the origin of most of the narrow absorption lines are intrinsic, they originate in the circumstellar shell surrounding the quasar. Akademie der Wissenchaften.