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described, of the conservation of the axis of rotation, the axis of the
earth constantly points towards the star in the constellation of the
Little Bear. Recollecting this, and also the two facts, that a dense
solid body absorbs heat more readily than a fluid one, and that
radiation from the surface is constantly going on when absorption is
not taking place, let us follow the earth in her orbit.
It is the time of the vernal equinox—we have equal day and night—
therefore the periods of absorption and radiation of heat are alike.
But at this time of the year the southern hemisphere is opposite to
the sun, consequently the degree of absorption by the wide-spread
oceans small.
It is the summer solstice—we have sixteen hours of daylight, when
the absorption of heat is going on—and but eight hours of night,
during which heat is passing off. The northern hemisphere is now
presented to the sun, and as here we have the largest portion of dry
land, the powers of absorption are at their maximum.
The autumnal equinox has arrived, with its equal day and night, as
in the spring, but now the whole northern hemisphere is opposite
the sun; hence, according to the laws already explained, we see the
causes of the increased heat of the autumnal season.
The winter solstice has come, with its long night and shortened day.
The time during which radiation is going on is nearly twice that in
which absorption takes place, and the earth is in her worst position
for receiving heat, as that half which has the largest surface of water
is towards the sun.
These are the causes which lead to the variations of the seasons,
and through these we learn why we are colder when near the sun
than when at a considerably greater distance.
An analysis of the spectrum shows us that there are some changes
regularly taking place in the state of the solar beam, which cannot
be referred to the mere alteration of position. It may be inferred,
from facts by long-continued observations, that the three classes of
phenomena—light, heat, and chemical power, distinguished by the
term Actinism—which we detect in the sun’s rays, are constantly
changing their relative proportions. In spring, the chemical agency
prevails; in summer, the luminous principle is the most powerful; and
in the autumn, the calorific forces are in a state of the greatest
activity.[52] The importance of these variations, to the great
economy of vegetable life, will be shown when we come to examine
the phenomena connected with organisation.
A remarkable change takes place in the character of heat in being
reflected from material substances. In nature we often see this fact
curiously illustrated. Snow which lies near the trunks of trees or
wooden poles melts much quicker than that which is at a distance
from them, the sun shining equally on both—the liquefaction
commencing on the side facing the sun, and gradually extending.
We see, therefore, that the direct rays of solar heat produce less
effect upon the snow than those which are radiated from coloured
surfaces. By numerous experiments, it has been shown that these
secondary radiations are more abundantly absorbed by snow or
white bodies than the direct solar rays themselves. Here is one of
the many very curious evidences, which science lays open to us, of
the intimate connection between the most ethereal and the grosser
forms of matter. Heat, by touching the earth, becomes more earth-
like. The subtile principle which, like the spirit of superstition, has
the power of passing, unfelt, through the crystal mass, is robbed of
its might by embracing the things of earth; and although it still
retains the evidences of its refined origin, its movements are
shackled as by a clog of clay, and its wings are heavy with the dust
of this rolling ball. It has, however, acquired new properties, which
fit it for the requirements of creation, and by which its great tasks
are facilitated. Matter and heat unite in a common bond, and,
harmoniously pursuing the necessities of some universal law, the
result is the extension of beautiful forms in every kingdom of nature.
An easy experiment pleasingly illustrates this remarkable change. If
a blackened card is placed upon snow or ice in the sunshine, the
frozen mass underneath it will be gradually thawed, and the card
sink into it, while that by which it is surrounded, although exposed
to the full power of solar heat, is but little disturbed. If, however, we
reflect the sun’s rays from a metal surface, an exactly contrary result
takes place; the uncovered parts are the first to melt, and the
blackened card stands high above the surrounding portion.
The evidences of science all indicate the sun as the source, not only
of that heat which we receive directly through our atmosphere, but
even of that which has been stored by our planet, and which we
can, by several methods, develope. We have not to inquire if the
earth was ever an intensely heated sphere;—this concerns not our
question; as we should, even were this admitted, still have to
speculate on the origin—the primitive source of this caloric.
Before, however, we proceed to the examination of the phenomena
of terrestrial heat, a few of the great results of the laws of radiation
and convection claim our attention.
Nearly all the heat which the sun pours upon the ocean is employed
in converting its water into vapour at the very surface, or is radiated
back from it, to perform the important office of producing those
disturbing influences in the atmosphere, which are essential to the
preservation of the healthful condition of the great aërial envelope in
which we live.
Currents of air are generally due to the unequal degrees in which
the atmosphere is warmed. Heat, by expanding, increases the
elasticity, and lessens the density, of a given mass. Consequently,
the air heated by the high temperature of the tropics, ascends
charged with aqueous vapours, whilst the colder air of the temperate
and the frigid zones flows towards the equator to supply its place.
These great currents of the atmosphere are, independent of the
minor disturbances produced by local causes, in constant flow, and
by them a uniformity of temperature is produced, which could not in
any other way be accomplished. By these currents, too, the
equalisation of the constituents of the “breath of life” is effected,
and the purer oxygen of the “land of the sunny south” is diffused in
healthful gales over the colder climes of the north. The waters, too,
evaporated from the great central Atlantic Ocean, or the far Pacific,
are thus carried over the wide-spread continents, and poured in
fertilising showers upon distant lands.
How magnificent are the operations of nature! The air is not much
warmed by the radiations of caloric passing from the sun to the
earth; but the surface soil is heated by its power of absorbing these
rays. The temperature of the air next the earth is raised, and we
thus have the circulation of those beneficial currents which are so
remarkably regular in the Trade Winds. The air heated within the
tropics would ascend directly to the poles, were the earth at rest,
but being in motion, those great aërial currents—the Trade Winds—
are produced, and the periodical monsoons are due to the same
cause. A similar circulation, quite independent of the ordinary tidal
movement, takes place also in the earth-girdling ocean. The water,
warmed, by convection, from the hot surface of the tropical lands,
sets across the Atlantic from the Gulf of Mexico; and being under the
influence of the two forces—gravity and motion—it illustrates the
parallelogram of forces, and flowing along the diagonal, reaches our
own shores: the genial influences of the gulf stream produce that
tempered climate which distinguishes our insular home. Here we
have two immense influences produced by one agency, rendering
those parts of the earth habitable and fertile, which but for these
great results would sorrow in the cheerless aspect of an eternal
winter.
The beautiful phenomenon of the formation of dew is also distinctly
connected with the peculiar properties which we have been
studying. When from the bright blue vault of heaven, the sparkling
constellations shower their mild light over the earth, the flowers of
the garden and the leaves of the forest become moist with a fluid of
the most translucid nature. Well might the ancients imagine that the
dews were actually shed from the stars; and the alchemists and
physicians of the middle ages conceive that this pure distillation of
the night possessed subtile and penetrating powers beyond most
other things; and the ladies of those olden times endeavour to
preserve their charms in the perfection of their youthful beauty
through the influences of washes procured from so pure a source.
[53]

Science has removed the veil of mystery with which superstition had
invested the formation of dew; and, in showing to us that it is a
condensation of vapour upon bodies according to a fixed law of
radiation, it has also developed so many remarkable facts connected
with the characters of material creations, that a much higher order
of poetry is opened to the mind than that which, though beautiful,
sprang merely from the imagination.
Upon the radiation of heat depends the formation of dew, and
bodies must become colder than the atmosphere before it will be
deposited upon them. At whatever temperature the air may be, it is
charged to saturation with watery vapour, the quantity varying
uniformly with the temperature. Supposing the temperature of the
air to be 70° F., and that a bottle of water at 60° is placed in it, the
air around the bottle will be cooled, and will deposit on the glass
exactly that quantity of moisture which is due to the difference
between the temperature of the two bodies. Different substances,
independent of colour, have the property of parting with heat from
their surfaces at different rates. Rough and porous surfaces radiate
heat more rapidly than smooth ones, and are consequently reduced
in temperature; and, if exposed, are covered with dew sooner than
such as are smooth and dense. The grass parterre glistens with dew,
whilst the hard and stony walk is unmoistened.[54]
Colourless glass is very readily suffused with dampness, but polished
metals are not so, even when dews are heavily condensed on other
bodies. To comprehend fully the phenomena of the formation of
dew, we must remember that the entire surface of the earth is
constantly radiating heat into space; and that, as by night no
absorption is taking place, it naturally cools.[55] As the substances
spread over the earth become colder than the air, they acquire the
power of condensing the vapour with which the atmosphere is
always charged. The bodies which cover this globe are very
differently constituted; they possess dissimilar radiating powers, and
consequently present, when examined by delicate thermometers,
varying degrees of temperature. By the researches of Dr. Wells,[56]
which may be adduced as an example of the best class of inductive
experiments, we learn that the following differences in sensible heat
were observed at seven o’clock in the evening:—
The air four feet above the grass 60–3/4
Wool on a raised board 54–1/2
Swandown on ditto 53
The surface of the raised board 57
Grass plat 51
Dew is most abundantly deposited on clear, calm nights, during
which the radiation from the surface of the earth is uninterrupted.
The increased cold of such nights over those obscured by clouds is
well known. The clouds, it has been proved, act in the same way as
the screens used by gardeners to protect their young plants from the
frosts of the early spring, which obstruct the radiation, and, in all
probability, reflect a small quantity of heat back to the earth.
It is not improbable that the observed increase in grass crops, when
they have been strewn with branches of trees or any slight shades,
may be due to a similar cause.[57]
There are many remarkable results dependent entirely on the
colours of bodies, which are not explicable upon the idea of
difference in mechanical arrangement. We know that different
colours are regulated by the powers which structures have of
absorbing and reflecting light; consequently a blue surface must
have a different order of molecular arrangement from a red one. But
there are some physical peculiarities which also influence heat
radiation, quite independently of this surface condition. If we take
pieces of red, black, green, and yellow glass, and expose them when
the dew is condensing, we shall find that moisture will show itself
first on the yellow, then on the green glass, and last of all upon the
black or red glasses. The same thing takes place if we expose
coloured fluids in white glass bottles or troughs, in which case the
surfaces are all alike. If against a sheet of glass, upon which
moisture has been slightly frozen, we place glasses similarly
coloured to those already described, it will be found that the earliest
heat-rays will so warm the red and the black glasses, that the ice will
be melted opposite to them, long before any change will be seen
upon the frozen film covered by the other colours.
The order in which heat permeates coloured media, it has already
been shown, very nearly agrees with their powers of radiation.
These most curious results have engaged the attention of Melloni, to
whose investigations we owe so much; and from the peculiar order
of radiations, which present phenomena of an analogous character
to those of the coloured rays of light, obtained by him from
dissimilarly coloured bodies, he has been led to imagine the
existence of a “heat-colouration.” That is, the heat-rays are
supposed to possess properties like luminous colour although
invisible; and, consequently, that a blue surface has a strong affinity
for the blue heat-rays, a red surface for the red ones, and so on
through the scale. The ingenuity of this hypothesis has procured it
much attention; but now, when the Newtonian hypothesis of the
refrangibility of light is nearly overturned, we must not, upon mere
analogy, rush to the conclusion that the rays of heat have different
orders of refrangibility, which Melloni’s hypothesis requires.[58]
Can anything be more calculated to impress the mind with the
consciousness of the high perfection of natural phenomena, than the
fact, that the colour of a body should powerfully influence the
transmission of a principle which is diffused through all nature, and
also determine the rate with which it is to pass off from its surface.
Some recent experiments have brought us acquainted with other
facts connected with these heat-radiations, and the power of heat,
as influenced by the calorific rays, to produce molecular changes in
bodies, which bear most importantly on our subject.
If we throw upon a plate of polished metal a prismatic spectrum
(deprived, as nearly as possible, of its chemical power, by being
passed through a deep yellow solution—which possesses this
property in a very remarkable manner, as will be explained when we
come to the examination of the chemical action of the sun’s rays)—it
will be found, if we afterwards expose the plate to the action of
vapour, very slowly raised from mercury, that the space occupied by
the red rays, and those which lie without the spectrum below it, will
condense the vapour thickly, while the portion corresponding with
the other rays will be left untouched. This affords us evidence of the
power of solar heat to produce, very readily, a change in the
molecular structure of solid bodies. If we allow the sun’s rays to
permeate coloured glasses, and then fall upon a polished metallic
surface, the result, on exposing the plate to vapourisation, will be
similar to that just described. Under yellow and green glasses no
vapour will be condensed; but on the space on which the rays
permeating a red glass, or even a blackened one, fall, a very copious
deposit of vapour will mark with distinctness the spaces these
glasses covered. More remarkable still, if these or any other coloured
bodies are placed in a box, and a polished metal plate is suspended
a few lines above them, the whole being kept in perfect darkness for
a few hours, precisely the same effect takes place as when the
arrangement is exposed to the full rays of the sun. Here we have
evidence of the radiating heat of bodies, producing even in darkness
the same phenomena as the transmitted heat-rays of the sun. We
must, however, return to the examination of some of these and
other analogous influences under the head of actino-chemistry.
From these curious discoveries of inductive research we learn some
high truths. Associated with light—obeying many of the same laws—
moving in a similar manner—we receive a power which is essential
to the constitution of our planet. This power is often manifested in
such intimate combination with the luminous principle of the solar
rays, that it has been suspected to be but another form of the same
agency. While, however, we are enabled to show the phenomena of
one without producing those which distinguish the other, we are
constrained to regard heat as something dissimilar to light. It is true
that we appear to be tending towards some point of proof on this
problem; but we are not in a position to declare them to be forms of
one common power, or “particular solutions of one great physical
equation.”[59] In many instances it would certainly appear that one
of these forces was directly necessary to the production of the other;
but we have also numerous examples in which they do not stand in
any such correlation.
We learn, from the scientific facts which we have been discussing, a
few of the secrets of natural magic. In their relations to heat, every
flower, which adds to the adornment of the wilds of nature or the
carefully-tended garden of the florist, possesses a power peculiar to
itself;

“Naiad-like lily of the vale,”

and,

“—— The pied wind-flowers, and the tulip tall,

And narcissi, the fairest among them all,”

are, by their different colours, prevented from ever having the same
temperatures under the same sunshine.
Every plant bears within itself the measure of the heat which is
necessary for its well-being, and is endued with functions which
mutely determine the relative amount of dew which shall wet its
coloured leaves. Some of the terrestrial phenomena of this
remarkable principle will still further illustrate the title of this volume.
To commence with the most familiar illustrations, let us consider the
consequences of change of temperature. However slight the
additional heat may be to which a body is subjected, it expands
under its influence; consequently, every atom which goes to form
the mass of the earth moves under the excitation, and the first heat
ray of the morning which touches the earth’s surface, sets up a
vibration which is continued as a tremor to its very centre. The
differences between the temperature of day and night are
considerable; therefore all bodies expand under the influence of the
higher, and contract under that of the lower temperature. During the
day, any cloud obscuring the sun produces, in every solid, fluid, or
aëriform body, within the range of solar influence, a check: the
particles which had been expanding under the force of heat
suddenly contract. Thus there must of necessity be, during the hours
of sunshine, a tendency in all bodies to dilate, and during the hours
of night they must be resuming their original conditions.
Not only do dissimilar bodies radiate heat in different degrees, but
they conduct it also with constantly varying rates. Heat passes along
silver or copper with readiness, compared to its progress through
platinum. It is conducted by glass but slowly, and still more slowly by
wood and charcoal. We receive some important intimations of the
molecular structure of matter, from those experiments which prove
that heat is conducted more readily along some lines than others. In
some planes, wood and other substances are better conductors than
in others. The metallic oxides or earths are bad conductors of heat,
by which provision the caloric absorbed by the sun’s rays is not
carried away from the surface of this planet so rapidly as it would
have been had it been of metal, but is retained in the superficial
crust to produce the due temperature for healthful germination and
vegetable growth. The wool and hair of animals are still inferior
conductors, and thus, under changes of climate and of seasons, the
beasts of the field are secured against those violent transitions from
heat to cold which would be fatal to them. Hair is a better conductor
than wool: hence, by nature’s alchemy, hair changed into wool in the
animals of some countries on the approach of winter, and feathers
into down.
It is therefore evident that the rate at which solar heat is conducted
into the crust of the earth must alter with the condition of the
surface upon which it falls. The conducting power of all the rocks
which have been examined is found to vary in some degree.[60]
It follows, as a natural consequence of the position of the sun to the
earth, that the parts near the equator become more heated than
those remote from it. As this heat is conducted into the interior of
the mass, it has a tendency to move to the colder portions of it, and
thus the heat absorbed at the equator flows towards the poles, and
from these parts is carried off by the atmosphere, or radiated into
space. Owing to this, there is a certain depth beneath the surface of
our globe at which an equal temperature prevails, the depth
increasing as we travel north or south from the equator, and
conforming to the contour of the earth’s surface, the line sinking
under the valleys and rising under the hills.[61]
A question of great interest, in a scientific point of view, is the
temperature of the centre of the earth. We are, of course, without
the means of solving this problem; but we advance a little way
onwards in the inquiry by a careful examination of subterranean
temperature at such depths as the enterprise of man enables us to
reach. These researches show us, that where the mean temperature
of the climate is 50°, the temperature of the rock at 59 fathoms
from the surface is 60°; at 132 fathoms it is 70°; at 239 fathoms it is
80°: being an increase of 10° at 59 fathoms deep, or 1° in 35·4
feet; of 10° more at 73 fathoms deeper, or 1° in 43·8 feet; and of
10° more at 114 fathoms still deeper, or 1° in 64·2 feet.[62]
Although this would indicate an increase to a certain depth of about
one degree in every fifty feet, yet it would appear that the rate of
increase diminishes with the depth. It appears therefore probable,
that the heat of the earth, so far as man can examine it, is due to
the absorption of the solar rays by the surface. The evidences of
intense igneous action at a great depth cannot be denied, but the
doctrine of a cooling mass, and of the existence of an incandescent
mass, at the earth’s centre, remains but one of those guesses which
active minds delight in. The mean annual temperature of this planet
is subject to variations, which are probably dependent upon some
physical changes in the sun himself, or in the atmospheric envelope
by which that orb is surrounded. The variations over the earth’s
surface are great. At the equator we may regard the temperature as
uniformly existing at 80°, while at the poles it is below the freezing
point of water; and as far as observations have been made, the
subterranean temperatures bear a close relation to the thermic
condition of the climate of the surface. The circulation of water
through faults or fissures in the strata is, without doubt, one means
of carrying heat downwards much quicker than it would be
conducted by the rocks themselves. It is not, however, found that
the quantity of water increases with the depth. In the mines of
Cornwall, unless where the ground is very loose, miners find that,
after about 150 fathoms (900 feet), the quantity of water rapidly
diminishes. That water must ascend from very much greater depths
is certain, from the high temperatures at which many springs flow
out at the surface. In the United Mines in Cornwall, water rises from
one part of the lode at 90°; and one of the levels in these workings
is so hot that, notwithstanding a stream of cold water is purposely
brought into it to reduce the temperature, the miners work nearly
naked, and will bathe in water at 80° to cool themselves. At the
bottom of Tresavean Mine, in the same county, about 320 fathoms
from the surface, the temperature is 100°.
One cause of the great heat of many of our deep mines, which
appears to have been entirely lost sight of, is the chemical action
going on upon large masses of pyritic matter in their vicinity. The
heat, which is so oppressive in the United Mines, is, without doubt,
due to the decomposition of immense quantities of the sulphurets of
iron and copper known to be in this condition at a short distance
from these mineral works.
The heat which man is enabled to measure beneath the earth’s
surface, appears to be alone due to the conducting powers of the
rocks themselves; it has been observed that the line of equal
temperature follows, as nearly as possible, the elevations and
depressions which prevail upon the surface, and the diminishing rate
of increase beyond this line, certainly is such as would arise, was all
the heat so measured, the result of the passage of the heat by
conduction through the crust of rocks.
Whether or not the subterranean bands of equal heat have any strict
relation, upon a large scale, to the isothermic lines which have been
traced around most portions of our globe, is a point which has not
yet been so satisfactorily determined as to admit of any general
deductions.
The Oriental story-teller makes the inner world a place of rare
beauty—a cavern temple, bestudded with self-luminous gems, in
which reside the spiritual beings to whom the direction of the
inorganic world is confided.
The Philosopher, in the height of his knowledge, has had dreams as
absurd as this; and amid the romances of science, there are not to
be found any more strange visions than those which relate to the
centre of our globe. At the same time it must be admitted, that
many of the peculiar phenomena which modern geological
researches have brought to light, are best explained on the
hypothesis of a cooling sphere, which necessarily involves the
existence of a very high temperature towards the centre.
We have already noticed some remarkable differences between solar
and terrestrial heat; but a class of observations by Delaroche[63] still
requires our attention. Solar heat passes freely through colourless
glass, whereas the radiations from a bright fire or a mass of
incandescent metal are entirely obstructed by this medium. If we
place a lamp or a ball of glowing hot metal before a metallic
reflector, the focus of accumulated heat is soon discovered; but if a
glass mirror be used, the light is reflected, but not the heat;
whereas, with the solar rays, but little difference is detected,
whether vitreous or metallic reflectors are employed. It is well
known that glass lenses refract both the light and heat of the sun,
and they are commonly known as burning-glasses: the heat
accumulated at their focal point being of the highest intensity. If,
instead of the solar beam, we employ, in our experiments, an
intense heat produced by artificial means, the passage of it is
obstructed, and the most delicate thermometers remain undisturbed
in the focus of the lens. Glass exposed in front of a fire becomes
warm, and by conduction the heat passes through it, and a
secondary radiation takes place from the opposite side.[64] It has
been found that glass is transcalescent, or diathermic, to some rays
of terrestrial heat, and adiathemic, or opaque for heat, to others[65]
—that the capability of permeating glass increases with the
temperature of the ignited body—and that rays which have passed
one screen traverse a second more readily. It would, however,
appear that something more than a mere elevation of temperature is
necessary to give terrestrial heat-radiations the power of passing
through glass screens, or, in other words, to acquire the properties
of solar heat.
To give an example. The heat of the oxy-hydrogen flame is most
intense, yet glass obstructs it, although it may be assisted by a
parabolic reflector. If this flame is made to play upon a ball of lime,
by which a most intense light is produced, the heat, which has not
been actually increased, acquires the power of being refracted by a
glass lens, and combustible bodies may be ignited in its focus.
It certainly appears from these results, that the undulatory
hypothesis holds true, so far as the motion of the calorific power is
concerned. At a certain rate the vibrations are thrown back or
stopped by the opposing body, while in a state of higher excitation,
moving with increased rapidity, they permeate the screen.[66] This
does not, indeed, interfere with the refined theory of Prévost,[67]
which supposes a mutual and equal interchange of caloric between
all bodies.
The most general effect of heat is the expansion of matter; solids,
liquids, and airs, all expand under its influence. If a bar of metal is
exposed to calorific action, it increases in size, owing to its particles
being separated farther from each other: by continuing this
influence, after a certain time the cohesion of the mass is so
reduced that it melts, or becomes liquid, and, under the force of a
still higher temperature, this molten metal may be dissipated in
vapour. It would appear as if, under the agency of the heat applied
to a body, its atoms expanded, until at last, owing to the tenuity of
the outer layer or envelope of each atom, they were enabled to
move freely over each other, or to interpenetrate without difficulty.
That heat does really occasion a considerable disturbance in the
corpuscular arrangement of bodies, may be proved by a very
interesting experiment. A bar of heated metal is placed to cool, with
one end supported upon a wedge or a ring of a different metal the
other resting on the ground. In cooling, a distinct musical sound is
given out, owing to the vibratory action set up among the particles
of matter moving as the temperature declines.[68]
Heat is diffused through all bodies in nature, and, as we shall
presently see, may be developed in many different ways. We may,
therefore, infer, that in converting a sphere of ice into water, and
that again into steam, we have done nothing more than
interpenetrate the mass with a larger quantity of heat, by which its
atoms are more widely separated, and that thus its molecules
become free to move about each other. Hence, from a solid state,
the water becomes fluid; and then, if the expansive force is
continued, an invisible vapour. If these limits are passed by the
powers of any greatly increased thermic action, the natural
consequence, it must be seen, will be the separation of the atoms
from each other, to such an extent that the molecule is destroyed,
and chemical decomposition takes place.
By the agency of the electricity of the voltaic battery, we are enabled
to produce the most intense heat with which we are acquainted, and
by a peculiarly ingenious arrangement Mr. Grove has succeeded in
resolving water by the mere action of heat into its constituent
elements—oxygen and hydrogen gases. That this decomposition is
not due to the voltaic current, but to the heat produced by it, was
subsequently proved by employing platina heated by the oxy-
hydrogen flame.[69]
This interesting question has been examined with great care by Dr.
Robinson of Armagh, who has shown that, as the temperature of
water is increased, the affinity of its elements is lessened, until at a
certain point it is eventually destroyed. This new and startling fact
appears scarcely consistent with our knowledge that a body heated
so as to be luminous has the power of causing the combination of
the elements of water with explosive violence.[70] But as this acute
experimental philosopher somewhat boldly but still most reasonably
inquires: “Is it not probable that, if not light, some other actinic
power (like that which accompanies light in the spectrum, and is
revealed to us by its chemical effects in the processes of
photography) is evolved by the heat, and, though invisible,
determines, in conjunction with the affinity, that atomic change
which transforms the three volumes of oxygen and hydrogen into
two of steam?”[71]
This speculation explains, in a very satisfactory manner, some results
which were obtained by Count Rumford, in 1798. In a series of
experiments instituted for the purpose of examining “those chemical
properties of light which have been attributed to it,” he has shown
that many cases of chemical decomposition occur in perfect
darkness, under the influence of heat, which are precisely similar to
those produced by exposure to the sun’s rays.[72]
It must, however, be remembered, that both solar light and heat are
sometimes found in direct antagonism to actinic power, and that the
most decided chemical changes are produced by those rays in which
neither heat nor light can be detected. The most remarkable
phenomena of this class will be explained under the head of
actinism.
One of the most curious relations which as yet have been discovered
between light and heat is, that, the temperature at which all bodies
become incandescent, excepting such as are phosphorescent, is
uniform. The point on the thermometer (Fahrenheit’s scale) when
the eye by perfect repose is enabled to detect the first luminous
influence, may probably be regarded as, or very near, 1000°. Daniel
has fixed this point at 980°, Wedgwood at 947°, and Draper at 977°.
[73] Dr. Robinson and Dr. Draper, by independent observations, have
both arrived at the conclusion, that the first gleam of light which
appears from heated platina is not red, but of a lavender gray, the
same in character of colour as that detected by Sir John Herschel
among the most refrangible rays of the solar spectrum.[74]
It must be admitted, that the question of the identity, or otherwise,
of light and radiant heat, is beset with difficulties. Many of their
phenomena are very similar—many of their modes of action are
alike: they are often found as allied agencies; but they as frequently
exhibit extreme diversity of action, and they may be separated from
each other.
We have now examined the physical conditions and properties of
this most important element, and we must proceed to learn
something of the means by which it may be developed,
independently of its solar source.
This extraordinary principle exists in a latent state in all bodies, and
may be pressed out of them. The blacksmith hammers a nail until it
becomes red hot, and from it he lights the match with which he
kindles the fire of his forge. The iron has by this process become
more dense, and percussion will not again produce incandescence
until the bar has been exposed in fire to a red heat. The only
inference we can draw from this result is, that by hammering the
particles have been driven closer together, and the heat driven out;
now further hammering will not force the atoms nearer, and
consequently no additional quantity of heat can be developed; the
iron is made hot in a fire, it absorbs heat, the particles are restored
to their former state, and we can now again by hammering develope
both heat and light. The Indian produces a spark by the attrition of
two pieces of wood. By friction, two pieces of ice may be made to
melt each other; and could we, by mechanical pressure, force water
into a solid state, an immense quantity of heat would be set free. By
the condensation of hydrogen and oxygen gases, pulverulent
platinum will become glowing red-hot, and, with certain precautions,
even the compact metal, platinum, itself; the heat being derived
from the gases, the union of which it has effected. A body passing
from the solid to the fluid state absorbs heat from all surrounding
substances, and hence a degree of cold is produced. The heat which
is thus removed is not destroyed—it is held combined with the fluid;
it exists in a latent state. Fluids, in passing into a gaseous form, also
rob all surrounding bodies of an amount of heat necessary to
maintain the aëriform condition. From the air or from the fluid, this
heat may, as we have shown above, be again extracted. Locked in a
pint measure of air, there exists sufficient heat to raise several
square inches of metal to glowing redness. By the compression of
atmospheric air this may be shown, and with a small condensing
syringe a sufficient quantity of heat may be set free to fire the
Boletus igniarius, which, impregnated with nitre, is known as
amadou. We are acquainted with various sources from which heat
may be developed for artificial purposes: the flint-and-steel is an
example of the production of heat by mechanical force, and the
modern lucifer-match, of the combined action of friction and
chemical affinity. These of themselves would admit of a lengthened
discourse; but it is necessary that we carefully examine some of the
less familiar phenomena of heat under the influences of changes of
chemical condition.
If spirits of wine and water are mixed together, a considerable
degree of heat is given out, and by mixing sulphuric acid and water,
an infinitely larger quantity. If sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) and spirit
of wine, or nitric acid (aquafortis) and spirits of turpentine, at
common temperatures, be suddenly mixed, so much heat is set free
as to ignite the spirit. In each of these instances there is a
condensation of the fluid. In nearly all cases of solution, cold is
produced by the absorption of the heat necessary to sustain the salt
in a liquid form; but when potash dissolves in water, heat is given
out, which is a fact we cannot yet explain. If potassium is placed on
water, it seizes the oxygen of the water and sets fire to the hydrogen
gas liberated by the heat produced in the change of form. Antimony
and many other metals thrown into chlorine gas ignite and burn with
brilliancy: the same phenomenon takes place in the vapours of
iodine or bromine. Many chemical combinations, as the chloride of
potassium and sulphur explode with a blow; whilst the slightest
friction occasions the detonation of the fulminating salts of silver,
mercury, and gold. Compounds of nitrogen and chlorine, or iodine,
are still more delicately combined—the former exploding with fearful
violence on the contact of any oleaginous body, and the latter by the
smallest elevation of temperature: both of them destroying the
vessels in which they may be contained.
Gun cotton presents some peculiar phenomena which may merit
brief attention. This peculiar compound is prepared by the action of
nitric acid on cotton fibre. The general appearance of the cotton is
not altered, but a remarkable physical change has taken place. It is
now soluble in ether, and forms a gelatinous compound:—it explodes
violently at a temperature which is insufficient for the combustion of
gunpowder. Indeed, from, as it would appear, slight electrical
disturbances taking place in the gun cotton itself, it not unfrequently
explodes spontaneously. These fearful disturbances of the forces
which hold bodies in combination are explained with difficulty. May it
not be, that an enormous quantity of the calorific and chemical
principles is held in a state of extreme tension around the particles
of the compound, and that the equilibrium being destroyed, the
whole is developed in destructive rapidity?
The fact of great heat being evolved during the conversion of a body
from a solid to a gaseous state, as in the explosion of gunpowder or
gun cotton, which is a striking exception to the law of latent heat, as
it prevails in most cases, admits of no more satisfactory explanation.
As mechanical force produces calorific excitation, so we find that
every movement of sap in vegetables, and of the blood and fluids in
the animal economy, causes a sensible increase of heat. The
chemical processes constantly going on in plants and animals are
another source of heat, in addition to which nervous energy and
muscular movement must be regarded as producing the caloric
which is essential to the health and life of the latter. Digestion has
been considered as a process of combustion; and the action
between the elements of food, and the oxygen conveyed by the
circulation of the blood to every part of the body, regarded as the
source of animal heat; and, without doubt, it is one great source,
although it can scarcely be regarded as the only one.[75]
The vis vitæ, or vital power, influences the delicate and beautiful
system of nerves; and as life (an essence of the rarest and most
subtile order, a diffusive influence) runs through them, from the
brain to the extremities of the members of the body, it sets those
tender threads in rapid vibration, and heat is developed. By this
action, the circulation of the blood is effected; the muscle is
maintained in an elastic condition, ready to perform the tasks of the
will; and through these agencies is the warm and fluid blood fitted to
receive its chemical restoratives in the lungs, and the stomach to
support changes for which it is designed—chemical also—by which
more heat is liberated. Was digestion—Eremacausis, as the slow
combustion produced by combination with oxygen is called—the only
source of animal heat, why should the injury of one filmy nerve
place a member of the body for ever in the condition of stony
coldness? Or why, chemical action being most actively continued
after a violent death, by the action of the gastric juices upon the
animal tissues, should not animal heat be maintained for a much
longer period than it is found to be after respiration has ceased?[76]
In studying the influences of caloric upon the conditions of matter,
we must regard the effects of extreme heat, and also of the greatest
degrees of cold which have been obtained.
There are a set of experiments by the Baron Cagniard de la Tour,
which appear to have a very important bearing on some conditions
that may be supposed to prevail in nature, particularly if we adopt
the view of a constantly increasing temperature towards the centre
of our earth. If water, alcohol, or ether, is put into a strong glass
tube of small bore, the ends hermetically sealed, and the whole
exposed to a strong heat, the fluid disappears, being converted into
a transparent gas; but, upon cooling, it is again condensed, without
loss, into its original fluid state.[77] In this experiment, fluid bodies
have been converted into elastic transparent gases with but small
change of volume, under the pressure of their own atmospheres. We
can readily conceive a similar result occurring upon a far more
extensive scale. In volcanic districts, at great depths, and
consequently under the pressure of the superincumbent mass, the
siliceous rocks, or even metals, may, from the action of intense heat,
be brought into a fluid, or even a gaseous condition, without any
change of volume, since the elastic force of heat is opposed by the
rigid resistance of the pressure of the surrounding rocks. Some
beautiful experiments by Mr. Hopkins, of Cambridge, have proved
that the temperature necessary to melt a body must be considerably
elevated as the mechanical pressure to which it is subjected is
increased.
Directly connected with the results of Cagniard de la Tour are a yet
more remarkable set of phenomena, which have been investigated
by M. Boutigny,[78] and generally known as the “spheroidal
condition” of bodies. If water is projected upon very hot metal it
instantly assumes a spheroidal form—an internal motion of its
particles may be observed—it revolves with rapidity, and evaporates
very slowly. If a silver or platinum capsule, when brought to a bright
red heat, is filled with cold water, the whole mass assumes the
spheroidal state, the temperature of the fluid remaining considerably
below the boiling point, so long as the red heat is maintained. If we
allow the vessel to cool below redness in the dark, the water then
bursts into active ebullition, and is dissipated into vapour with almost
explosive violence. An equal quantity of water being projected into
two similar vessels, over the fire, one cold and the other red hot, it
will be found that the water in the cold vessel will boil and evaporate
long before that in the one which is red hot.
Another form of this experiment is exceedingly instructive. If a mass
of white hot metal is suddenly plunged into a vessel of cold water,
the incandescence is not quenched, the metal shines with a bright
white light, and the water is seen to circulate around, but at some
distance from the glowing mass, being actually repelled by calorific
agency. At length, when the metal cools, the water comes in contact
with it, and boils with energy.
A result similar to this was observed by Perkins, but its correctness
most unjustly doubted. Having made an iron shell containing water,
and carefully plugged up, white hot, it was found that the steam
never exerted sufficient force to burst the vessel, as it was expected
it would do. He caused a hole to be drilled into the bottom of the
white-hot shell, and he was surprised to find that no water flowed
through the orifice, until the iron was considerably cooled, when it
issued forth with violence in the form of steam. Here we have the
Cagniard de la Tour state first induced, and the calorific repulsion of
the spheroidal state supervenes. If water is poured upon an iron
sieve, the wires of which are made red hot, it will not percolate; but
on cooling, it runs through rapidly. M. Boutigny, pursuing this curious
inquiry, has recently proved that the moisture upon the skin is
sufficient to protect it from disorganization, if the arm is plunged into
baths of melted metal. The resistance of the surfaces is so great,
that little elevation of temperature is experienced.[79] Professor
Plücker, of Bonn, has stated that by washing the arm with ether
previously to plunging it into melted metal, the sensation produced,
while in the molten mass, is that of freezing coldness.
We have now seen that heat at different degrees of intensity
appears to produce chemical composition—that it decomposes
combined elements—that it alters the conditions of bodies, and
actually maintains so powerfully a repellent force, that fluids cannot
touch the heated body. More than this, it exerts a most powerful
antagonistic influence over all chemical relations. If, to give one
example, the volatile element iodine is put into a glowing hot
capsule, it resolves itself immediately into a spheroid. Potash rapidly
combines with iodine; but if a piece of this alkali is thrown upon it in
the capsule, it also takes the spheroidal form, and both bodies
revolve independently of each other, their chemical affinities being
entirely suspended;—but allow the capsule to cool, and they
combine immediately. Science teaches us that a temperature so
exalted as not to burn organic bodies may be produced, and points
to us this remarkable fact, that the destructive limits of heat are
measured between certain degrees—beyond which a fire, by reason
of its intensity, ceases to develope heat. What is the radiant force
into which this principle changes?
The experiments of Cagniard de la Tour and of Boutigny (d’Evreux),
connect themselves, in a striking manner, with those of Mr. Grove
and Dr. Robinson; and they teach us that but a very slight alteration
in the proportions of the calorific principle given to this planet would
completely change the character of every material substance of
which it is composed, unless there was an alteration in the physical
condition of the elements themselves.
Supposing the ordeal of fiery purification to take place upon this
earth, these experiments appear to indicate the mighty changes
which would thence result. There would be no annihilation, but
everything would be transformed from the centre of the globe to the
verge of its atmosphere—old things would pass away, all things
become new, and the beautiful mythos of the phœnix be realized in
the fresh creation.
The deductions to be drawn from the results obtained by abstracting
heat from bodies are equally instructive. By taking advantage of the
cooling produced by the rapid solution of salts of several kinds in
water, an intense degree of coldness may be produced.[80] Indeed,
the absorption of heat by liquefaction may be shown by the use of
metallic bodies alone. If lead, tin, and bismuth, are melted together,
and reduced to a coarse powder by being poured into water, and the
alloy then dissolved in a large quantity of quicksilver, the
thermometer will sink nearly 50 degrees. An intense amount of cold
will result from the mixture of muriate of lime and snow, by which a
temperature of 50° below the zero of Fahrenheit, or 82° below the
freezing point of water, is produced. By such a freezing mixture as
this, mercury will be rendered solid. A degree of cold, however, far
exceeding it, has lately been obtained by the use of solid carbonic
acid and ether.[81] Solid carbonic acid is itself procured from the gas
liquefied by pressure; which liquid, when allowed to escape into the
air, evaporates so rapidly that a large quantity of it is congealed by
being robbed of its combined heat by the vaporizing portion. When
this solid acid is united with ether, a bath is formed in which the
carbonic acid will remain solid for twenty or thirty minutes. By a
mixture of this kind, placed under the receiver of an air-pump, a
good exhaustion being sustained, a degree of cold 166° below zero
is secured. By this intense cold, many of the bodies which have
hitherto been known to us only in the gaseous state have been
condensed into liquids and solids. Olefiant gas, a compound of
hydrogen and carbon, was brought into a liquid form. Hydriodic and
hydrobromic acids could be condensed into either a liquid or a solid
form. Phosphuretted hydrogen, a gas which inflames spontaneously
when brought into contact with the air or with oxygen, became a
transparent liquid at this great reduction of temperature. Sulphurous
acid may be condensed, by pressure and a reduction of temperature,
into a liquid which boils at 14° Fahrenheit, but by the carbonic acid
bath it is converted into a solid body, transparent and without colour.
Sulphuretted hydrogen gas solidifies at 122° below zero, and forms a
white substance resembling a mass of crystals of sea-salt.
A combination of the two gases, chlorine and oxygen, becomes solid
at -75°, and the protoxide of nitrogen at -150°. Cyanogen, a
compound of carbon and nitrogen—the base of prussic acid—is
solidified at 30° below the zero of our thermometric scale. The well-
known pungent compound, ammonia, so exceedingly volatile at
common temperatures, is converted into a crystalline, translucent,
white substance at the temperature of -103°. The difficulties which
necessarily attend the exposure of a body to extreme cold and great
pressure at the same time, appear to be the only obstacle to the
condensation of oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen gases. A sufficient
amount of condensation was, however, effected by Dr. Faraday, to
lead him to the conclusion, arrived at also by other evidences, that
hydrogen, the lightest of the ponderable bodies, partakes of the
nature of a metal.[82]
During the solidification of water by freezing, some remarkable facts
may be noticed.
Water, in cooling, gradually condenses in volume until it arrives at
40° Fahr., which appears to be the point of greatest density. From
this temperature to that of 32°, the point at which it begins to
solidify, its volume remains unchanged,[82] as crystallisation
(freezing) begins, the bulk increases, the mass becomes specifically
lighter, and it swims on the surface of the fluid. From 40° to 32° the
particles of water must be taking up that new position which is
essential to the formation of the solid—ice; and while this is taking
place, every substance held in solution by the water is rejected.
If we mix with water the deepest colouring matter—the strongest
acid or the most acrid poison—they are each and all rejected during
the process of freezing, and if the water has been kept in a state of
agitation during the process—so that the liberated particles may not
be mechanically entangled—the ice will be transparent, colourless,
tasteless, and inert—the substances rejected being gathered
together in the centre of the frozen mass in a state of intense
concentration. In like manner, even the atmospheric air, which is
always held in solution, is rejected, and hence the reason why all the
ice which forms upon still ponds is full of air-bubbles, while the ice
which is produced in agitated water is perfectly free from them. This
in itself is a remarkable condition, the entire bearing of which is not
clearly understood; but a still more singular fact has been discovered
in intimate connection with the rejection of all matter from a freezing
solution. Water, which in this way is freed entirely of air, will not boil
at 212° F., the ordinary boiling point of water.
If a mass of ice formed in the manner described is placed in a
vessel, and being just covered with a film of oil, to prevent the
absorption of air, is melted over a lamp or fire, and the heat
continued, it will, so far from being converted into steam at 212°,
continue to increase in temperature up to 270° or more, and then
burst into ebullition with such explosive violence as to rend the
vessel in which it is confined.
From this experiment we learn that did water exist in any other
condition than that in which we find it—even with the apparently
simple difference of containing no air—it would not be safe to
employ it in any culinary or manufacturing operation, since its use
would be followed by explosions as dangerous as those of
gunpowder.
Such researches as these prove to us the admirable adaptation of all
things to their especial ends—the beautiful adjustment of the
balance of forces throughout creation.
The refinements of Grecian philosophy saw, without the aids of
inductive science, that the outward vesture of nature covered a host
of mysterious agencies to which its characteristics were directly due.
In their dream of the four elements, fire, the external and visible
form of heat, was regarded as the cause of vitality, and the disposer
of every organised and unorganised condition of matter. Their
idealisations have assumed another form, but the researches of
modern science have only established their universality and truth.
The great agents at work in nature—the mighty spirits bound to
never-ending tasks, which they pursue with unremitting toil, are of
so refined a character, that they will probably remain for ever
unknown to us. The arch-evocator, with the wand of induction, calls;
but the only answer to his evocation is the manifestation of power in
startling effects. Science pursues her inquiries with zeal and care:
she tries and tortures nature to compel her to reveal her secrets.
Bounds are, however, set to the powers of mortal search: we may
not yet have reached the limits within which we are free to exercise
our mental strength; but, those limits reached, we shall find an
infinite region beyond us, into which even conjecture wanders
eyeless and aimless, as the blind Cyclops groping in his melancholy
cave.[83]
All we know of heat is, that striking effects are produced which we
measure by sensation, and by instruments upon which we have
observed that given results will be produced under certain
conditions: of anything approaching to the cause of these we are
totally ignorant. The wonder-working mover of some of the grandest
phenomena in nature—giving health to the organic world, and form
to the inorganic mass—producing genial gales and dire tornadoes—
earthquake strugglings and volcanic eruptions—ministering to our
comforts in the homely fire, and to advancement in civilisation in the
mighty furnace, and the ingenious engine which drains our mines, or
traverses our country with bird-like speed,—will, in all probability,
remain for ever unknown to man. The immortal Newton, many of
whose guesses have a prophetic value, thus expresses himself:
—“Heat consists in a minute vibratory motion in the particles of
bodies, and this motion is communicated through an apparent
vacuum by the undulations of a very subtile elastic medium, which is
also concerned in the phenomena of light.”
Our experimental labours and our mathematical investigations have
considerably advanced our knowledge since the time of Newton; yet
still each theory of heat strangely resembles the mystic lamp which
the Rosicrucian regarded as a type of eternal life—a dim and
flickering symbol, in the tongue-like flame of which imagination, like
a child, can conjure many shapes.
Modern theory regards heat as a manifestation of motion, and
experiment proves that a body falling through a certain space
generates a definite quantity of heat, while observation shows that
the waters at the base of the Falls of Niagara possess a temperature
1° higher than when they first glide over the edge of the precipice.
This increase of temperature is due to the mechanical force due to
the fall, and is no more an evidence of the conversion of motion into
heat, than is the old experiment of rubbing a button until it becomes
hot. At all events, the fact that a given amount of mechanical force
always produces an equivalent of heat is as applicable to the idea of
a “subtile elastic medium” which is diffused through all matter, as to
the, at present, favourite hypothesis.
So far has this view been strained, that the temperature of the
planets has been referred to their motions, and speculation has
aided the mathematician in determining the cessation of planetary
motion, by the conversion of it into heat. It is true that other
theorists have supposed points in space upon which this heat might
be concentrated and reflected back again to produce motion.
There may be much of the poetic element in such speculations, but
it is of that order which belongs rather to the romantic than to the
real.
A speculation which has more of truth, and which is, indeed,
demonstrable, cannot fail to impress every mind with its beauty, and
probable correctness.
In the growth of a tree, its wood and all its products are the result of
certain external forces effecting chemical changes. Carbonic acid is
decomposed, the carbon is retained, and oxygen given off, and
assimilations of a complex character are in constant progress to
produce the various compounds of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and
carbon.
Every condition of organised forms is due to the external excitation
of light and heat, and in the chemical changes which take place, an
equivalent of these principles, or powers—it signifies but little
according to which view we may regard them—is absorbed, and
retained as essential to the condition of the matter formed. Let us
confine our attention to wood—although the position applies equally
to every organic product. A cubic foot of wood is formed by the
decomposition of a certain quantity of carbonic acid, by the vital
function of the plant, excited by the solar rays, which are involved in
the mass which nature by “her wondrous alchemy” has made.
Eventually this cubic foot of wood is subjected to a process of
chemical change—combustion; by the application of a single spark,
—and in the disintegration of the wood, its carbon combining with
oxygen to form carbonic acid, its hydrogen to form water, which is
returned to the air, a large amount of light and heat is produced.
This is exactly equivalent to the amount which was engaged in its
formation. Indeed, the sunshine which fell upon the leaves of the
forest tree, of which the log formed a part, has been hoarded up,
and we again develope it in its original state of heat and light.
The vast coal beds of England were formed by the rapid growth and
quick decay of a peculiar class of plants under the influence of a
tropical sun. They have been buried myriads of ages, under
hundreds of feet of sandy rock. By the industry of the miner the coal
is brought again to the surface, and we develope from it those
powers by which it was formed.
In the fire which gives comfort to our homes—in the furnace which
generates force for the purposes of manufacture, or to propel the
railway engine and its ponderous train—in the gas with which we
illumine our streets and gladden during the long winter nights our
apartments, we are developing that heat and light which fell upon
the earth with all its quickening influences millions of ages before yet
the Creator had called into existence the monarch Man, for whose
necessities these wondrous formations were designed.

FOOTNOTES:
[43] The following table of the rays penetrating coloured glass
has been given by Melloni, in his memoir On the Free
Transmission of Radiant Heat through Different Bodies:—
Deep violet 53
Yellowish red (flaked) 53
Purple red (flaked) 51
Vivid red 47
Pale violet 45
Orange red 44
Clear blue 42
Deep yellow 40
Bright yellow 34
Golden yellow 33
Deep blue 33
Apple green 26
Mineral green 23
 Very deep blue 19
Translated in the Scientific Memoirs, vol. i. p. 30.
[44] “The physical characters of this species of glass, which acts
so differently from the other species of coloured glass in all the
phenomena of calorific absorption, are, 1st, its intercepting
almost totally the rays which pass through alum; 2nd, its entirely
absorbing the red rays of the solar spectrum. I have already
stated that their colouration is produced almost entirely by the
oxide of copper.
“Thus, the colouring matters of the coloured glasses, while they
so powerfully affect the relations of quantity which the different
rays of ordinary light bear to each other, exercise no elective
action on the concomitant calorific rays. This curious
phenomenon is the more remarkable as the colouring matters
absorb almost always a very considerable portion of the heat
naturally transmitted by the glass. The following are, in fact, the
calorific transmissions of the seven coloured glasses referred to;
the transmission of the common glass being represented by 100;
red glass, 82·5; orange, 72·5; yellow, 55; bluish-green, 57·5;
blue, 52·5; indigo, 30; violet, 85. The quantity of heat absorbed
through the action of the colouring substances is, therefore, 17·5
in the red glass, 27·5 in the orange, 45 in the yellow, 42·5 in the
green, 47·5 in the blue, 70 in the indigo, and 15 in the violet.
Now, as these absorptions extinguish a proportional part of each
of the rays which constitute the calorific stream transmitted by
common glass, they may be compared, as we said before, with
the absorbent action exercised on light by matters more or less
deeply brown or dark, when they are immersed in water, or some
other colourless liquid which dissolves, but does not affect them
chemically.”—Annales de Chimie et de Physique, tom. xl. p. 382.
Guided by these principles, the author selected the glass
employed in glazing the Royal Palm-House, at Kew Botanical
Gardens, where it was desired to obstruct the passage of those
rays which have a particular scorching influence. Of this glass a
description was given at the meeting of the British Association at
Oxford, which appears in the Transactions for that year. The
result has been all that could be desired—not a single instance of
scorching having occurred during the three years which have
elapsed.
[45] In the Philosophical Transactions, vol. xc., the following
papers, by Sir William Herschel, may be consulted:—
Investigation of the powers of the prismatic colours to heat and
illuminate objects; with remarks that prove the different
refrangibility of radiant heat. To which is added, an inquiry into
the method of viewing the sun advantageously, with telescopes of
large apertures and high magnifying powers, p. 255. Experiments
on the refrangibility of the invisible rays of the sun, p. 284.
Experiments on the solar and on the terrestrial rays that occasion
heat; with a comparative view of the laws to which light and heat,
or rather the rays which occasion them, are subject; in order to
determine whether they are the same or different, pp. 293, 437.
In connection with this inquiry, Sir William Herschel remarks, that
since a red glass stops no less than 692 out of 1,000 such rays as
are of the refrangibility of red light, we have a direct and simple
proof, in the case of the red glass, that the rays of light are
transmitted, while those of heat are stopped, and that thus they
have nothing in common but a certain equal degree of
refrangibility, which by the power of the glass must occasion them
to be thrown together into the place which is pointed out to us by
the visibility of the rays of light.
On the same subject, a Memoir, by Sir Henry Englefield, in the
Journal of the Royal Institution for 1802, p. 202, may be
consulted; and Researches on Light, by the Author.
[46] Dr. Draper, On the production of light by heat, in the Phil.
Mag. for 1847.
Sir Isaac Newton fixed the temperature at which bodies become
self-luminous at 635°; Sir Humphry Davy at 812°; Mr.
Wedgewood at 947°; and Mr. Daniell at 980°; whilst Dr. Draper
from his experiments gives 977°; and Dr. Robinson 865°.
In a review of the above paper by Melloni, entitled Researches on
the Radiations of Incandescent Bodies, and on the Elementary
Colours of the Solar Spectrum, translated for Silliman’s Journal for
August, 1847, he remarks:—
“I say that they conduct, as do others heretofore known on light
and radiant heat, to a perfect analogy between the general laws
which govern these two great agents of nature. I will add that I
regard the theory of their identity as the only one admissible by
the rules of philosophy; and that I consider myself obliged to
adopt it, until it shall have been proved to me that there is a
necessity of having recourse to two different principles, for the
explanation of a series of phenomena which at present appear to
belong to a solitary agent.”
Reference should also be made to a paper by Dr. Robinson, On
the effects of Heat in lessening the Affinities of the Elements of
Water, in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, 1848,
where he says that “when a platinum wire is traversed by a
current gradually increased till it produces ignition, the first gleam
that appears is not red, but of a colour which, when I first saw it,
I compared to the ‘lavender ray’ discovered by Sir John Herschel
beyond the violet, though I was surprised at seeing the tint of
that most refrangible ray preceding the ray which is least so. It is
quite conspicuous at about 865°; and as the mode in which it
makes its appearance presents nothing abrupt or discontinuous, it
seems likely that it is merely a transition from invisible rays
excited at a lower temperature to ordinary light.”—p. 310.
[47] In the Bakerian Lecture for 1842, On the transparency of the
Atmosphere, and the law of extinction of the solar rays in passing
through it, by James D. Forbes, Esq., F.R.S., &c., will be found a
most complete investigation of this subject.
The experiments were, for the most part, made in Switzerland
with Sir John Herschel’s actinometer, and they prove satisfactorily,
—“That the absorption of the solar rays by the strata of air to
which we have immediate access, is considerable in amount for
even moderate thicknesses.”
[48] After referring to several curious and instructive
experiments, in which peculiar chemical changes are produced
under the influence of the solar rays by their Heat, Sir John
Herschel says:—
“These rays are distinguished from those of Light by being
invisible; they are also distinguished from the pure calorific rays
beyond the spectrum, by their possessing properties (of a
peculiar character, referred to in former papers) either exclusively
of the calorific rays, or in a much higher degree. They may
perhaps not improperly be regarded as bearing the same relation
to the calorific spectrum which the photographic rays do to the
luminous ones. If the restriction to these rays of the term
thermic, as distinct from calorific, be not (as I think, in fact, it is
not) a sufficient distinction, I would propose the term parathermic
rays to designate them. These are the rays which I conceive to be
active in producing those singular molecular affections which
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