IN a recent paper, Blackett1 has suggested that the Zeeman effect might be responsible for the peculiar absence of metallic lines in the spectra of most of the white dwarfs and may also contribute to the broadening of the hydrogen lines. Since this suggestion was given as one more argument in support of the theory of the magnetic field of massive rotating bodies, it may be of interest to point out that considerations of the internal constitution of white dwarfs seem to offer an alternative explanation of the peculiar features of their spectra.