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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
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+status under the laws that apply to them.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #69053 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69053)
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of The conservation of energy, by Balfour
-Stewart
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: The conservation of energy
-
-Author: Balfour Stewart
-
-Release Date: September 27, 2022 [eBook #69053]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: Nina Akalis and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
- https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
- generously made available by The Internet Archive)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONSERVATION OF
-ENERGY ***
-
-
-
-
-
- THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES.
-
- VOLUME VII.
-
-
-
-
-THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES.
-
-_Works already Published._
-
-
- I. FORMS OF WATER, IN CLOUDS, RAIN, RIVERS, ICE, AND GLACIERS. By
- Prof. JOHN TYNDALL, LL. D., F. R. S. 1 vol. Cloth. Price, $1.50.
-
- II. PHYSICS AND POLITICS; OR, THOUGHTS ON THE APPLICATION OF
- THE PRINCIPLES OF “NATURAL SELECTION” AND “INHERITANCE” TO
- POLITICAL SOCIETY. By WALTER BAGEHOT, Esq., author of “The English
- Constitution.” 1 vol. Cloth. Price, $1.50.
-
- III. FOODS. By EDWARD SMITH, M. D., LL. B., F. R. S. 1 vol. Cloth.
- Price, $1.75.
-
- IV. MIND AND BODY: THE THEORIES OF THEIR RELATIONS. By ALEX. BAIN, LL.
- D., Professor of Logic in the University of Aberdeen, 1 vol., 12mo.
- Cloth. Price, $1.50.
-
- V. THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY. By HERBERT SPENCER. Price, $1.50.
-
- VI. THE NEW CHEMISTRY. By Prof. JOSIAH P. COOKE, Jr., of Harvard
- University. 1 vol., 12mo. Cloth. Price, $2.00.
-
- VII. THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY. By Prof. BALFOUR STEWART, LL. D., F.
- R. S. 1 vol., 12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.50.
-
- VIII. ANIMAL LOCOMOTION; OR, WALKING, SWIMMING, AND FLYING, WITH A
- DISSERTATION ON AËRONAUTICS. By J. BELL PETTIGREW, M. D., F. R. S. E.,
- F. R. C. P. E. 1 vol., 12mo. Fully illustrated. Price, $1.75.
-
- IX. RESPONSIBILITY IN MENTAL DISEASE. By HENRY MAUDSLEY, M. D. 1 vol.,
- 12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.50.
-
- X. THE SCIENCE OF LAW. By Prof. SHELDON AMOS. 1 vol., 12mo. Cloth.
- Price, $1.75.
-
- XI. ANIMAL MECHANISM. A TREATISE ON TERRESTRIAL AND AËRIAL LOCOMOTION.
- By E. J. MAREY. With 117 Illustrations. Price, $1.75.
-
- XII. THE HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE. By JOHN
- WM. DRAPER, M. D., LL. D., author of “The Intellectual Development of
- Europe.” Price, $1.75.
-
- XIII. THE DOCTRINE OF DESCENT, AND DARWINISM. By Prof. OSCAR SCHMIDT,
- Strasburg University. Price, $1.50.
-
- XIV. THE CHEMISTRY OF LIGHT AND PHOTOGRAPHY. IN ITS APPLICATION TO
- ART, SCIENCE, AND INDUSTRY. By Dr. HERMANN VOGEL. 100 Illustrations.
- Price, $2.00.
-
- XV. FUNGI; THEIR NATURE, INFLUENCE, AND USES. By M. C. COOKE, M.
- A., LL. D. Edited by Rev. M. J. BERKELEY, M. A., F. L. S. With 109
- Illustrations. Price, $1.50.
-
- XVI. THE LIFE AND GROWTH OF LANGUAGE. By Prof. W. D. WHITNEY, of Yale
- College. Price, $1.50.
-
- XVII. THE NATURE OF LIGHT, WITH A GENERAL ACCOUNT OF PHYSICAL
- OPTICS. By Dr. EUGENE LOMMEL, Professor of Physics in the University
- of Erlangen. With 188 Illustrations and a Plate of Spectra in
- Chromo-lithography. (_In press._)
-
-
-
-
- THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES.
-
- THE
-
- CONSERVATION OF ENERGY.
-
- BY
-
- BALFOUR STEWART, LL. D., F.R.S.,
- PROFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AT THE OWENS COLLEGE, MANCHESTER.
-
-
- _WITH AN APPENDIX_,
-
- TREATING OF THE VITAL AND MENTAL APPLICATIONS OF THE
- DOCTRINE
-
-
- NEW YORK:
- D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
- 549 & 551 BROADWAY.
- 1875.
-
-
-
-
- ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by
- D. APPLETON & COMPANY,
- In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
-
-
-
-
-NOTE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
-
-
-The great prominence which the modern doctrine of the Conservation of
-Energy or Correlation of Forces has lately assumed in the world of
-thought, has made a simple and popular explanation of the subject very
-desirable. The present work of Dr. Balfour Stewart, contributed to the
-International Scientific Series, fully meets this requirement, as it
-is probably the clearest and most elementary statement of the question
-that has yet been attempted. Simple in language, copious and familiar
-in illustration, and remarkably lucid in the presentation of facts and
-principles, his little treatise forms just the introduction to the
-great problem of the interaction of natural forces that is required by
-general readers. But Professor Stewart having confined himself mainly
-to the physical aspects of the subject, it was desirable that his views
-should be supplemented by a statement of the operation of the principle
-in the spheres of life and mind. An Appendix has, accordingly, been
-added to the American edition of Dr. Stewart’s work, in which these
-applications of the law are considered.
-
-Professor Joseph Le Conte published a very able essay fourteen years
-ago on the Correlation of the Physical and Vital Forces, which was
-extensively reprinted abroad, and placed the name of the author among
-the leading interpreters of the subject. His mode of presenting it was
-regarded as peculiarly happy, and was widely adopted by other writers.
-After further investigations and more mature reflection, he has
-recently restated his views, and has kindly furnished the revised essay
-for insertion in this volume.
-
-Professor A. Bain, the celebrated Psychologist of Aberdeen, who
-has done so much to advance the study of mind in its physiological
-relations, prepared an interesting lecture not long ago on the
-“Correlation of the Nervous and Mental Forces,” which was read with
-much interest at the time of its publication, and is now reprinted as a
-suitable exposition of that branch of the subject. These two essays, by
-carrying out the principle in the field of vital and mental phenomena,
-will serve to give completeness and much greater value to the present
-volume.
-
- NEW YORK, _December, 1873_.
-
-
-
-
-PREFACE.
-
-
-We may regard the Universe in the light of a vast physical machine, and
-our knowledge of it may be conveniently divided into two branches.
-
-The one of these embraces what we know regarding the structure of the
-machine itself, and the other what we know regarding its method of
-working.
-
-It has appeared to the author that, in a treatise like this, these two
-branches of knowledge ought as much as possible to be studied together,
-and he has therefore endeavored to adopt this course in the following
-pages. He has regarded a universe composed of atoms with some sort of
-medium between them as the machine, and the laws of energy as the laws
-of working of this machine.
-
-The first chapter embraces what we know regarding atoms, and gives
-also a definition of Energy. The various forces and energies of Nature
-are thereafter enumerated, and the law of Conservation is stated. Then
-follow the various transmutations of Energy, according to a list, for
-which the author is indebted to Prof. Tait. The fifth chapter gives
-a short historical sketch of the subject, ending with the law of
-Dissipation; while the sixth and last chapter gives some account of the
-position of living beings in this universe of Energy.
-
- B. S.
-
- _The Owens College, Manchester,
- August, 1873._
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS.
-
-
- NOTE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION, v
-
- PREFACE, vii
-
-
- CHAPTER
-
- I.--WHAT IS ENERGY? 1
-
- II.--MECHANICAL ENERGY AND ITS CHANGE INTO HEAT, 23
-
- III.--THE FORCES AND ENERGIES OF NATURE: THE LAW OF CONSERVATION, 48
-
- IV.--TRANSMUTATIONS OF ENERGY, 87
-
- V.--HISTORICAL SKETCH: THE DISSIPATION OF ENERGY, 131
-
- VI.--THE POSITION OF LIFE, 154
-
-
- APPENDIX
-
- I.--CORRELATION OF VITAL WITH CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL FORCES.
- By JOSEPH LE CONTE, Professor of Geology and Natural
- History in the University of California, 171
-
- II.--CORRELATION OF NERVOUS AND MENTAL FORCES. By ALEXANDER
- BAIN, Professor of Logic and Mental Philosophy in
- the University of Aberdeen, 205
-
-
-
-
-THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-_WHAT IS ENERGY?_
-
-
-_Our Ignorance of Individuals._
-
-1. Very often we know little or nothing of individuals, while we yet
-possess a definite knowledge of the laws which regulate communities.
-
-The Registrar-General, for example, will tell us that the death-rate
-in London varies with the temperature in such a manner that a very
-low temperature is invariably accompanied by a very high death-rate.
-But if we ask him to select some one individual, and explain to us in
-what manner his death was caused by the low temperature, he will, most
-probably, be unable to do so.
-
-Again, we may be quite sure that after a bad harvest there will be a
-large importation of wheat into the country, while, at the same time,
-we are quite ignorant of the individual journeys of the various
-particles of flour that go to make up a loaf of bread.
-
-Or yet again, we know that there is a constant carriage of air from the
-poles to the equator, as shown by the trade winds, and yet no man is
-able to individualize a particle of this air, and describe its various
-motions.
-
-2. Nor is our knowledge of individuals greater in the domains of
-physical science. We know nothing, or next to nothing, of the ultimate
-structure and properties of matter, whether organic or inorganic.
-
-No doubt there are certain cases where a large number of particles
-are linked together, so as to act as one individual, and then we can
-predict its action--as, for instance, in the solar system, where the
-physical astronomer is able to foretell with great exactness the
-positions of the various planets, or of the moon. And so, in human
-affairs, we find a large number of individuals acting together as one
-nation, and the sagacious statesman taking very much the place of the
-sagacious astronomer, with regard to the action and reaction of various
-nations upon one another.
-
-But if we ask the astronomer or the statesman to select an individual
-particle and an individual human being, and predict the motions of
-each, we shall find that both will be completely at fault.
-
-3. Nor have we far to look for the cause of their ignorance. A
-continuous and restless, nay, a very complicated, activity is the order
-of nature throughout all her individuals, whether these be living
-beings or inanimate particles of matter. Existence is, in truth, one
-continued fight, and a great battle is always and everywhere raging,
-although the field in which it is fought is often completely shrouded
-from our view.
-
-4. Nevertheless, although we cannot trace the motions of individuals,
-we may sometimes tell the result of the fight, and even predict how the
-day will go, as well as specify the causes that contribute to bring
-about the issue.
-
-With great freedom of action and much complication of motion in the
-individual, there are yet comparatively simple laws regulating the
-joint result attainable by the community.
-
-But, before proceeding to these, it may not be out of place to take a
-very brief survey of the organic and inorganic worlds, in order that
-our readers, as well as ourselves, may realize our common ignorance of
-the ultimate structure and properties of matter.
-
-5. Let us begin by referring to the causes which bring about disease.
-It is only very recently that we have begun to suspect a large number
-of our diseases to be caused by organic germs. Now, assuming that we
-are right in this, it must nevertheless be confessed that our ignorance
-about these germs is most complete. It is perhaps doubtful whether we
-ever saw one of these organisms,[1] while it is certain that we are in
-profound ignorance of their properties and habits.
-
-We are told by some writers[2] that the very air we breathe is
-absolutely teeming with germs, and that we are surrounded on all sides
-by an innumerable array of minute organic beings. It has also been
-conjectured that they are at incessant warfare among themselves, and
-that we form the spoil of the stronger party. Be this as it may, we
-are at any rate intimately bound up with, and, so to speak, at the
-mercy of, a world of creatures, of which we know as little as of the
-inhabitants of the planet Mars.
-
-6. Yet, even here, with profound ignorance of the individual, we are
-not altogether unacquainted with some of the habits of these powerful
-predatory communities. Thus we know that cholera is eminently a low
-level disease, and that during its ravages we ought to pay particular
-attention to the water we drink. This is a general law of cholera,
-which is of the more importance to us because we cannot study the
-habits of the individual organisms that cause the disease.
-
-Could we but see these, and experiment upon them, we should soon
-acquire a much more extensive knowledge of their habits, and perhaps
-find out the means of extirpating the disease, and of preventing its
-recurrence.
-
-Again, we know (thanks to Jenner) that vaccination will prevent the
-ravages of small-pox, but in this instance we are no better off than
-a band of captives who have found out in what manner to mutilate
-themselves, so as to render them uninteresting to their victorious foe.
-
-7. But if our knowledge of the nature and habits of organized molecules
-be so small, our knowledge of the ultimate molecules of inorganic
-matter is, if possible, still smaller. It is only very recently that
-the leading men of science have come to consider their very existence
-as a settled point.
-
-In order to realize what is meant by an inorganic molecule, let us
-take some sand and grind it into smaller and smaller particles, and
-these again into still smaller. In point of fact we shall never
-reach the superlative degree of smallness by this operation--yet in
-our imagination we may suppose the sub-division to be carried on
-continuously, always making the particles smaller and smaller. In
-this case we should, at last, come to an ultimate molecule of sand or
-oxide of silicon, or, in other words, we should arrive at the smallest
-entity retaining all the properties of sand, so that were it possible
-to divide the molecule further the only result would be to separate it
-into its chemical constituents, consisting of silicon on the one side
-and oxygen on the other.
-
-We have, in truth, much reason to believe that sand, or any other
-substance, is incapable of infinite sub-division, and that all we can
-do in grinding down a solid lump of anything is to reduce it into lumps
-similar to the original, but only less in size, each of these small
-lumps containing probably a great number of individual molecules.
-
-8. Now, a drop of water no less than a grain of sand is built up of a
-very great number of molecules, attached to one another by the force of
-cohesion--a force which is much stronger in the sand than in the water,
-but which nevertheless exists in both. And, moreover, Sir William
-Thomson, the distinguished physicist, has recently arrived at the
-following conclusion with regard to the size of the molecules of water.
-He imagines a single drop of water to be magnified until it becomes
-as large as the earth, having a diameter of 8000 miles, and all the
-molecules to be magnified in the same proportion; and he then concludes
-that a single molecule will appear, under these circumstances, as
-somewhat larger than a shot, and somewhat smaller than a cricket ball.
-
-9. Whatever be the value of this conclusion, it enables us to realize
-the exceedingly small size of the individual molecules of matter,
-and renders it quite certain that we shall never, by means of the
-most powerful microscope, succeed in making visible these ultimate
-molecules. For our knowledge of the sizes, shapes, and properties
-of such bodies, we must always, therefore, be indebted to indirect
-evidence of a very complicated nature.
-
-It thus appears that we know little or nothing about the shape or size
-of molecules, or about the forces which actuate them; and, moreover,
-the very largest masses of the universe share with the very smallest
-this property of being beyond the direct scrutiny of the human
-senses--the one set because they are so far away, and the other because
-they are so small.
-
-10. Again, these molecules are not at rest, but, on the contrary, they
-display an intense and ceaseless energy in their motions. There is,
-indeed, an uninterrupted warfare going on--a constant clashing together
-of these minute bodies, which are continually maimed, and yet always
-recover themselves, until, perhaps, some blow is struck sufficiently
-powerful to dissever the two or more simple atoms that go to form a
-compound molecule. A new state of things thenceforward is the result.
-
-But a simple elementary atom is truly an immortal being, and enjoys the
-privilege of remaining unaltered and essentially unaffected amid the
-most powerful blows that can be dealt against it--it is probably in a
-state of ceaseless activity and change of form, but it is nevertheless
-always the same.
-
-11. Now, a little reflection will convince us that we have in this
-ceaseless activity another barrier to an intimate acquaintance with
-molecules and atoms, for even if we could see them they would not
-remain at rest sufficiently long to enable us to scrutinize them.
-
-No doubt there are devices by means of which we can render visible, for
-instance, the pattern of a quickly revolving coloured disc, for we may
-illuminate it by a flash of electricity, and the disc may be supposed
-to be stationary during the extremely short time of the flash. But we
-cannot say the same about molecules and atoms, for, could we see an
-atom, and could we illuminate it by a flash of electricity, the atom
-would most probably have vibrated many times during the exceedingly
-small time of the flash. In fine, the limits placed upon our senses,
-with respect to space and time, equally preclude the possibility of our
-ever becoming directly acquainted with these exceedingly minute bodies,
-which are nevertheless the raw materials of which the whole universe is
-built.
-
-
-_Action and Reaction, Equal and Opposite._
-
-12. But while an impenetrable veil is drawn over the individual in this
-warfare of clashing atoms, yet we are not left in profound ignorance
-of the laws which determine the ultimate result of all these motions,
-taken together as a whole.
-
-
-_In a Vessel of Goldfish._
-
-Let us suppose, for instance, that we have a glass globe containing
-numerous goldfish standing on the table, and delicately poised on
-wheels, so that the slightest push, the one way or the other, would
-make it move. These goldfish are in active and irregular motion, and he
-would be a very bold man who should venture to predict the movements of
-an individual fish. But of one thing we may be quite certain: we may
-rest assured that, notwithstanding all the irregular motions of its
-living inhabitants, the globe containing the goldfish will remain at
-rest upon its wheels.
-
-Even if the table were a lake of ice, and the wheels were extremely
-delicate, we should find that the globe would remain at rest. Indeed,
-we should be exceedingly surprised if we found the globe going away of
-its own accord from the one side of the table to the other, or from
-the one side of a sheet of ice to the other, in consequence of the
-internal motions of its inhabitants. Whatever be the motions of these
-individual units, yet we feel sure that the globe cannot move itself
-_as a whole_. In such a system, therefore, and, indeed, in every system
-left to itself, there may be strong internal forces acting between
-the various parts, but these _actions and reactions are equal and
-opposite_, so that while the small parts, whether visible or invisible,
-are in violent commotion among themselves, yet the system as a whole
-will remain at rest.
-
-
-_In a Rifle._
-
-13. Now it is quite a legitimate step to pass from this instance of the
-goldfish to that of a rifle that has just been fired. In the former
-case, we imagined the globe, together with its fishes, to form one
-system; and in the latter, we must look upon the rifle, with its powder
-and ball, as forming one system also.
-
-Let us suppose that the explosion takes place through the application
-of a spark. Although this spark is an external agent, yet if we reflect
-a little we shall see that its only office in this case is to summon
-up the internal forces already existing in the loaded rifle, and bring
-them into vigorous action, and that in virtue of these internal forces
-the explosion takes place.
-
-The most prominent result of this explosion is the out-rush of the
-rifle ball with a velocity that may, perhaps, carry it for the best
-part of a mile before it comes to rest; and here it would seem to us,
-at first sight, that the law of equal action and reaction is certainly
-broken, for these internal forces present in the rifle have at least
-propelled part of the system, namely, the rifle ball, with a most
-enormous velocity in one direction.
-
-14. But a little further reflection will bring to light another
-phenomenon besides the out-rush of the ball. It is well known to all
-sportsmen that when a fowling-piece is discharged, there is a kick or
-recoil of the piece itself against the shoulder of the sportsman, which
-he would rather get rid of, but which we most gladly welcome as the
-solution of our difficulty. In plain terms, while the ball is projected
-forwards, the rifle stock (if free to move) is at the same moment
-projected backwards. To fix our ideas, let us suppose that the rifle
-stock weighs 100 ounces, and the ball one ounce, and that the ball is
-projected forwards with the velocity of 1000 feet per second; then it
-is asserted, by the law of action and reaction, that the rifle stock is
-at the same time projected backwards with the velocity of 10 feet per
-second, so that the mass of the stock, multiplied by its velocity of
-recoil, shall precisely equal the mass of the ball, multiplied by its
-velocity of projection. The one product forms a measure of the action
-in the one direction, and the other of the reaction in the opposite
-direction, and thus we see that in the case of a rifle, as well as in
-that of the globe of fish, action and reaction are equal and opposite.
-
-
-_In a Falling Stone._
-
-15. We may even extend the law to cases in which we do not perceive
-the recoil or reaction at all. Thus, if I drop a stone from the
-top of a precipice to the earth, the motion seems all to be in one
-direction, while at the same time it is in truth the result of a mutual
-attraction between the earth and the stone. Does not the earth move
-also? We cannot see it move, but we are entitled to assert that it
-does in reality move upwards to meet the stone, although quite to an
-imperceptible extent, and that the law of action and reaction holds
-here as truly as in a rifle, the only difference being that in the
-one case the two objects are rushing together, while in the other
-they are rushing apart. Inasmuch, however, as the mass of the earth
-is very great compared with that of the stone, it follows that its
-velocity must be extremely small, in order that the mass of the earth,
-multiplied into its velocity upwards, shall equal the mass of the
-stone, multiplied into its velocity downwards.
-
-16. We have thus, in spite of our ignorance of the ultimate atoms and
-molecules of matter, arrived at a general law which regulates the
-action of internal forces. We see that these forces are always mutually
-exerted, and that if A attracts or repels B, B in its turn attracts or
-repels A. We have here, in fact, a very good instance of that kind of
-generalization, which we may arrive at, even in spite of our ignorance
-of individuals.
-
-But having now arrived at this law of action and reaction, do we know
-all that it is desirable to know? have we got a complete understanding
-of what takes place in all such cases--for instance, in that of the
-rifle which is just discharged? Let us consider this point a little
-further.
-
-
-_The Rifle further considered._
-
-17. We define quantity of motion to mean the product of the mass by
-the velocity; and since the velocity of recoil of the rifle stock,
-multiplied by the mass of the stock, is equal to the velocity of
-projection of the rifle ball, multiplied by the mass of the ball, we
-conceive ourselves entitled to say that the quantity of motion, or
-momentum, generated is equal in both directions, so that the law of
-action and reaction holds here also. Nevertheless, it cannot but occur
-to us that, _in some sense_, the motion of the rifle ball is a very
-different thing from that of the stock, for it is one thing to allow
-the stock to recoil against your shoulder and discharge the ball into
-the air, and a very different thing to discharge the ball against your
-shoulder and allow the stock to fly into the air. And if any man
-should assert the absolute equality between the blow of the rifle stock
-and that of the rifle ball, you might request him to put his assertion
-to this practical test, with the absolute certainty that he would
-decline. Equality between the two!--Impossible! Why, if this were the
-case, a company of soldiers engaged in war would suffer much more than
-the enemy against whom they fired, for the soldiers would certainly
-feel each recoil, while the enemy would suffer from only a small
-proportion of the bullets.
-
-
-_The Rifle Ball possesses Energy._
-
-18. Now, what is the meaning of this great difference between the two?
-We have a vivid perception of a mighty difference, and it only remains
-for us to clothe our naked impressions in a properly fitting scientific
-garb.
-
-_The something which the rifle ball possesses in contradistinction to
-the rifle stock is clearly the power of overcoming resistance._ It
-can penetrate through oak wood or through water, or (alas! that it
-should be so often tried) through the human body, and this power of
-penetration is the distinguishing characteristic of a substance moving
-with very great velocity.
-
-19. Let us define by the term _energy_ this power which the rifle
-ball possesses of overcoming obstacles or of doing work. Of course
-we use the word work without reference to the moral character of the
-thing done, and conceive ourselves entitled to sum up, with perfect
-propriety and innocence, the amount of work done in drilling a hole
-through a deal board or through a man.
-
-20. A body such as a rifle ball, moving with very great velocity,
-has, therefore, energy, and it requires very little consideration
-to perceive that this _energy will be proportional to its weight or
-mass_, for a ball of two ounces moving with the velocity of 1000 feet
-per second will be the same as two balls of one ounce moving with this
-velocity, but the energy of two similarly moving ounce balls will
-manifestly be double that of one, so that the energy is proportional
-to the weight, if we imagine that, meanwhile, the velocity remains the
-same.
-
-21. But, on the other hand, the energy is not simply proportional to
-the velocity, for, if it were, the energy of the rifle stock and of the
-rifle ball would be the same, inasmuch as the rifle stock would gain as
-much by its superior mass as it would lose by its inferior velocity.
-Therefore, the energy of a moving body increases with the velocity more
-quickly than a simple proportion, so that if the velocity be doubled,
-the energy is more than doubled. Now, in what manner does the energy
-increase with the velocity? That is the question we have now to answer,
-and, in doing so, we must appeal to the familiar facts of everyday
-observation and experience.
-
-22. In the first place, it is well known to artillerymen, that if
-a ball have a double velocity, its penetrating power or energy is
-increased nearly fourfold, so that it will pierce through four, or
-nearly four, times as many deal boards as the ball with only a single
-velocity--in other words, they will tell us in mathematical language,
-that the energy varies as the square of the velocity.
-
-
-_Definition of Work._
-
-23. And now, before proceeding further, it will be necessary to tell
-our readers how to measure work in a strictly scientific manner. We
-have defined energy to be the power of doing work, and although every
-one has a general notion of what is meant by work, that notion may not
-be sufficiently precise for the purpose of this volume. How, then, are
-we to measure work? Fortunately, we have not far to go for a practical
-means of doing this. Indeed, there is a force at hand which enables us
-to accomplish this measurement with the greatest precision, and this
-force is gravity. Now, the first operation in any kind of numerical
-estimate is to fix upon our unit or standard. Thus we say a rod is
-so many inches long, or a road so many miles long. Here an inch and
-a mile are chosen as our standards. In like manner, we speak of so
-many seconds, or minutes, or hours, or days, or years, choosing that
-standard of time or duration which is most convenient for our purpose.
-So in like manner we must choose our unit of work, but in order to
-do so we must first of all choose our units of weight and of length,
-and for these we will take the _kilogramme_ and the _metre_, these
-being the units of the metrical system. The kilogramme corresponds
-to about 15,432·35 English grains, being rather more than two pounds
-avoirdupois, and the metre to about 39·371 English inches.
-
-Now, if we raise a kilogramme weight one metre in vertical height,
-we are conscious of putting forth an effort to do so, and of being
-resisted in the act by the force of gravity. In other words, we spend
-energy and do work in the process of raising this weight.
-
-Let us agree to consider the energy spent, or the work done, in this
-operation as one unit of work, and let us call it the _kilogrammetre_.
-
-24. In the next place, it is very obvious that if we raise the
-kilogramme two metres in height, we do two units of work--if three
-metres, three units, and so on.
-
-And again, it is equally obvious that if we raise a weight of two
-kilogrammes one metre high, we likewise do two units of work, while if
-we raise it two metres high, we do four units, and so on.
-
-From these examples we are entitled to derive the following
-rule:--_Multiply the weight raised (in kilogrammes) by the vertical
-height (in metres) through which it is raised, and the result will be
-the work done (in kilogrammetres)._
-
-
-_Relation between Velocity and Energy._
-
-25. Having thus laid a numerical foundation for our superstructure,
-let us next proceed to investigate the relation between velocity and
-energy. But first let us say a few words about velocity. This is one
-of the few cases in which everyday experience will aid, rather than
-hinder, us in our scientific conception. Indeed, we have constantly
-before us the example of bodies moving with variable velocities.
-
-Thus a railway train is approaching a station and is just beginning to
-slacken its pace. When we begin to observe, it is moving at the rate of
-forty miles an hour. A minute afterwards it is moving at the rate of
-twenty miles only, and a minute after that it is at rest. For no two
-consecutive moments has this train continued to move at the same rate,
-and yet we may say, with perfect propriety, that at such a moment the
-train was moving, say, at the rate of thirty miles an hour. We mean, of
-course, that had it continued to move for an hour with the speed which
-it had when we made the observation, it would have gone over thirty
-miles. We know that, as a matter of fact, it did not move for two
-seconds at that rate, but this is of no consequence, and hardly at all
-interferes with our mental grasp of the problem, so accustomed are we
-all to cases of variable velocity.
-
-26. Let us now imagine a kilogramme weight to be shot vertically
-upwards, with a certain initial velocity--let us say, with the velocity
-of 9·8 metres in one second. Gravity will, of course, act against the
-weight, and continually diminish its upward speed, just as in the
-railway train the break was constantly reducing the velocity. But yet
-it is very easy to see what is meant by an initial velocity of 9·8
-metres per second; it means that if gravity did not interfere, and if
-the air did not resist, and, in fine, if no external influence of any
-kind were allowed to act upon the ascending mass, it would be found to
-move over 9·8 metres in one second.
-
-Now, it is well known to those who have studied the laws of motion,
-that a body, shot upwards with the velocity of 9·8 metres in one
-second, will be brought to rest when it has risen 4·9 metres in height.
-If, therefore, it be a kilogramme, its upward velocity will have
-enabled it to raise itself 4·9 metres in height against the force of
-gravity, or, in other words, it will have done 4·9 units of work; and
-we may imagine it, when at the top of its ascent, and just about to
-turn, caught in the hand and lodged on the top of a house, instead of
-being allowed to fall again to the ground. We are, therefore, entitled
-to say that a kilogramme, shot upwards with the velocity of 9·8 metres
-per second, has energy equal to 4·9, inasmuch as it can raise itself
-4·9 metres in height.
-
-27. Let us next suppose that the velocity with which the kilogramme
-is shot upwards is that of 19·6 metres per second. It is known to all
-who have studied dynamics that the kilogramme will now mount not only
-twice, but four times as high as it did in the last instance--in other
-words, it will now mount 19·6 metres in height.
-
-Evidently, then, in accordance with our principles of measurement,
-the kilogramme has now four times as much energy as it had in the
-last instance, because it can raise itself four times as high, and
-therefore do four times as much work, and thus we see that the energy
-is increased four times by doubling the velocity.
-
-Had the initial velocity been three times that of the first instance,
-or 29·4 metres per second, it might in like manner be shown that the
-height attained would have been 44·1 metres, so that by tripling the
-velocity the energy is increased nine times.
-
-28. We thus see that whether we measure the energy of a moving body by
-the thickness of the planks through which it can pierce its way, or by
-the height to which it can raise itself against gravity, the result
-arrived at is the same. _We find the energy to be proportional to the
-square of the velocity_, and we may formularize our conclusion as
-follows:--
-
-Let _v_ = the initial velocity expressed in metres per second, then
-the energy in kilogrammetres = _v_²/19·6. Of course, if the body shot
-upwards weighs two kilogrammes, then everything is doubled, if three
-kilogrammes, tripled, and so on; so that finally, if we denote by
-_m_ the mass of the body in kilogrammes, we shall have the energy in
-kilogrammetres = _mv_²/19·6. To test the truth of this formula, we have
-only to apply it to the cases described in Arts. 26 and 27.
-
-29. We may further illustrate it by one or two examples. For instance,
-let it be required to find the energy contained in a mass of five
-kilogrammes, shot upwards with the velocity of 20 metres per second.
-
-Here we have _m_ = 5 and _v_ = 20, hence--
-
- Energy = 5(20)²/(19·6) = 2000/(19·6) = 102·04 nearly.
-
-Again, let it be required to find the height to which the mass of the
-last question will ascend before it stops. We know that its energy is
-102·04, and that its mass is 5. Dividing 102·04 by 5, we obtain 20·408
-as the height to which this mass of five kilogrammes must ascend in
-order to do work equal to 102·04 kilogrammetres.
-
-30. In what we have said we have taken no account either of the
-resistance or of the buoyancy of the atmosphere; in fact, we have
-supposed the experiments to be made in vacuo, or, if not in vacuo,
-made by means of a heavy mass, like lead, which will be very little
-influenced either by the resistance or buoyancy of the air.
-
-We must not, however, forget that if a sheet of paper, or a feather,
-be shot upwards with the velocities mentioned in our text, they will
-certainly not rise in the air to nearly the height recorded, but
-will be much sooner brought to a stop by the very great resistance
-which they encounter from the air, on account of their great surface,
-combined with their small mass.
-
-On the other hand, if the substance we make use of be a large light bag
-filled with hydrogen, it will find its way upwards without any effort
-on our part, and we shall certainly be doing no work by carrying it
-one or more metres in height--it will, in reality, help to pull us up,
-instead of requiring help from us to cause it to ascend. In fine, what
-we have said is meant to refer to the force of gravity alone, without
-taking into account a resisting medium such as the atmosphere, the
-existence of which need not be considered in our present calculations.
-
-31. It should likewise be remembered, that while the energy of a moving
-body depends upon its velocity, it is independent of the direction in
-which the body is moving. We have supposed the body to be shot upwards
-with a given velocity, but it might be shot horizontally with the same
-velocity, when it would have precisely the same energy as before. A
-cannon ball, if fired vertically upwards, may either be made to spend
-its energy in raising itself, or in piercing through a series of deal
-boards. Now, if the same ball be fired horizontally with the same
-velocity it will pierce through the same number of deal boards.
-
-In fine, direction of motion is of no consequence, and the only reason
-why we have chosen vertical motion is that, in this case, there is
-always the force of gravity steadily and constantly opposing the motion
-of the body, and enabling us to obtain an accurate measure of the work
-which it does by piercing its way upwards against this force.
-
-32. But gravity is not the only force, and we might measure the energy
-of a moving body by the extent to which it would bend a powerful
-spring or resist the attraction of a powerful magnet, or, in fine,
-we might make use of the force which best suits our purpose. If this
-force be a constant one, we must measure the energy of the moving body
-by the space which it is able to traverse against the action of the
-force--just as, in the case of gravity, we measured the energy of the
-body by the space through which it was able to raise itself against its
-own weight.
-
-33. We must, of course, bear in mind that if this force be more
-powerful than gravity, a body moved a short distance against it will
-represent the expenditure of as much energy as if it were moved a
-greater distance against gravity. In fine, we must take account both of
-the strength of the force and of the distance moved over by the body
-against it before we can estimate in an accurate matter the work which
-has been done.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] It is said that there are one or two instances where the microscope
-has enlarged them into visibility.
-
-[2] _See_ Dr. Angus Smith on Air and Rain.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-_MECHANICAL ENERGY AND ITS CHANGE INTO HEAT._
-
-
-_Energy of Position. A Stone high up._
-
-34. In the last chapter it was shown what is meant by energy, and how
-it depends upon the velocity of a moving body; and now let us state
-that this same energy or power of doing work may nevertheless be
-possessed by a body absolutely at rest. It will be remembered (Art.
-26) that in one case where a kilogramme was shot vertically upwards,
-we supposed it to be caught at the summit of its flight and lodged on
-the top of a house. Here, then, it rests without motion, but yet not
-without the power of doing work, and hence not without energy. For we
-know very well that if we let it fall it will strike the ground with
-as much velocity, and, therefore, with as much energy, as it had when
-it was originally projected upwards. Or we may, if we choose, make use
-of its energy to assist us in driving in a pile, or utilize it in a
-multitude of ways.
-
-In its lofty position it is, therefore, not without energy, but this is
-of a quiet nature, and not due in the least to motion. To what, then,
-is it due? We reply--to the position which the kilogramme occupies at
-the top of the house. For just as a body in motion is a very different
-thing (as regards energy) from a body at rest, so is a body at the top
-of a house a very different thing from a body at the bottom.
-
-To illustrate this, we may suppose that two men of equal activity and
-strength are fighting together, each having his pile of stones with
-which he is about to belabour his adversary. One man, however, has
-secured for himself and his pile an elevated position on the top of a
-house, while his enemy has to remain content with a position at the
-bottom. Now, under these circumstances, you can at once tell which of
-the two will gain the day--evidently the man on the top of the house,
-and yet not on account of his own superior energy, but rather on
-account of the energy which he derives from the elevated position of
-his pile of stones. We thus see that there is a kind of energy derived
-from position, as well as a kind derived from velocity, and we shall,
-in future, call the former _energy of position_, and the latter _energy
-of motion_.
-
-
-_A Head of Water._
-
-35. In order to vary our illustration, let us suppose there are two
-mills, one with a large pond of water near it and at a high level,
-while the other has also a pond, but at a lower level than itself. We
-need hardly ask which of the two is likely to work--clearly the one
-with the pond at a low level can derive from it no advantage whatever,
-while the other may use the high level pond, or head of water, as
-this is sometimes called, to drive its wheel, and do its work. There
-is, thus, a great deal of work to be got out of water high up--real
-substantial work, such as grinding corn or thrashing it, or turning
-wood or sawing it. On the other hand, there is no work at all to be got
-from a pond of water that is low down.
-
-
-_A Cross-bow bent. A Watch wound up._
-
-36. In both of the illustrations now given, we have used the force of
-gravity as that force against which we are to do work, and in virtue
-of which a stone high up, or a head of water, is in a position of
-advantage, and has the power of doing work as it falls to a lower
-level. But there are other forces besides gravity, and, with respect to
-these, bodies may be in a position of advantage and be able to do work
-just as truly as the stone, or the head of water, in the case before
-mentioned.
-
-Let us take, for instance, the force of elasticity, and consider what
-happens in a cross-bow. When this is bent, the bolt is evidently in a
-position of advantage with regard to the elastic force of the bow; and
-when it is discharged, this energy of position of the bolt is converted
-into energy of motion, just as, when a stone on the top of a house
-is allowed to fall, its energy of position is converted into that of
-actual motion.
-
-In like manner a watch wound up is in a position of advantage with
-respect to the elastic force of the mainspring, and as the wheels of
-the watch move this is gradually converted into energy of motion.
-
-
-_Advantage of Position._
-
-37. It is, in fact, the fate of all kinds of energy of position to be
-ultimately converted into energy of motion.
-
-The former may be compared to money in a bank, or capital, the latter
-to money which we are in the act of spending; and just as, when we have
-money in a bank, we can draw it out whenever we want it, so, in the
-case of energy of position, we can make use of it whenever we please.
-To see this more clearly, let us compare together a watermill driven by
-a head of water, and a windmill driven by the wind. In the one case we
-may turn on the water whenever it is most convenient for us, but in the
-other we must wait until the wind happens to blow. The former has all
-the independence of a rich man; the latter, all the obsequiousness of
-a poor one. If we pursue the analogy a step further, we shall see that
-the great capitalist, or the man who has acquired a lofty position, is
-respected because he has the disposal of a great quantity of energy;
-and that whether he be a nobleman or a sovereign, or a general in
-command, he is powerful only from having something which enables him
-to make use of the services of others. When the man of wealth pays a
-labouring man to work for him, he is in truth converting so much of
-his energy of position into actual energy, just as a miller lets out a
-portion of his head of water in order to do some work by its means.
-
-
-_Transmutations of Visible Energy.--A Kilogramme shot upwards._
-
-38. We have thus endeavoured to show that there is an energy of repose
-as well as a living energy, an energy of position as well as of motion;
-and now let us trace the changes which take place in the energy of a
-weight, shot vertically upwards, as it continues to rise. It starts
-with a certain amount of energy of motion, but as it ascends, this is
-by degrees changed into that of position, until, when it gets to the
-top of its flight, its energy is entirely due to position.
-
-To take an example, let us suppose that a kilogramme is projected
-vertically upwards with the velocity of 19·6 metres in one second.
-According to the formula of Art. 28, it contains 19·6 units of energy
-due to its actual velocity.
-
-If we examine it at the end of one second, we shall find that it has
-risen 14·7 metres in height, and has now the velocity of 9·8. This
-velocity we know (Art. 26) denotes an amount of actual energy equal
-to 4·9, while the height reached corresponds to an energy of position
-equal to 14·7. The kilogramme has, therefore, at this moment a total
-energy of 19·6, of which 14·7 units are due to position, and 4·9 to
-actual motion.
-
-If we next examine it at the end of another second, we shall find that
-it has just been brought to rest, so that its energy of motion is
-_nil_; nevertheless, it has succeeded in raising itself 19·6 metres in
-height, so that its energy of position is 19·6.
-
-There is, therefore, no disappearance of energy during the rise of
-the kilogramme, but merely a gradual change from one kind to another.
-It starts with actual energy, and this is gradually changed into that
-of position; but if, at any stage of its ascent, we add together the
-actual energy of the kilogramme, and that due to its position, we shall
-find that their sum always remains the same.
-
-39. Precisely the reverse takes place when the kilogramme begins its
-descent. It starts on its downward journey with no energy of motion
-whatever, but with a certain amount of energy of position; as it falls,
-its energy of position becomes less, and its actual energy greater, the
-sum of the two remaining constant throughout, until, when it is about
-to strike the ground, its energy of position has been entirely changed
-into that of actual motion, and it now approaches the ground with the
-velocity, and, therefore, with the energy, which it had when it was
-originally projected upwards.
-
-
-_The Inclined Plane._
-
-40. We have thus traced the transmutations, as regards energy, of a
-kilogramme shot vertically upwards, and allowed to fall again to the
-earth, and we may now vary our hypothesis by making the kilogramme
-rise vertically, but descend by means of a smooth inclined plane
-without friction--imagine in fact, the kilogramme to be shaped like a
-ball or roller, and the plane to be perfectly smooth. Now, it is well
-known to all students of dynamics, that in such a case the velocity
-which the kilogramme has when it has reached the bottom of the plane
-will be equal to that which it would have had if it had been dropped
-down vertically through the same height, and thus, by introducing a
-smooth inclined plane of this kind, you neither gain nor lose anything
-as regards energy.
-
-In the first place, you do not gain, for think what would happen if the
-kilogramme, when it reached the bottom of the inclined plane, should
-have a greater velocity than you gave it originally, when you shot it
-up. It would evidently be a profitable thing to shoot up the kilogramme
-vertically, and bring it down by means of the plane, for you would get
-back more energy than you originally spent upon it, and in every sense
-you would be a gainer. You might, in fact, by means of appropriate
-apparatus, convert the arrangement into a perpetual motion machine, and
-go on accumulating energy without limit--but this is not possible.
-
-On the other hand, the inclined plane, unless it be rough and angular,
-will not rob you of any of the energy of the kilogramme, but will
-restore to you the full amount, when once the bottom has been reached.
-Nor does it matter what be the length or shape of the plane, or
-whether it be straight, or curved, or spiral, for in all cases, if it
-only be smooth and of the same vertical height, you will get the same
-amount of energy by causing the kilogramme to fall from the top to the
-bottom.
-
-41. But while the energy remains the same, the time of descent will
-vary according to the length and shape of the plane, for evidently the
-kilogramme will take a longer time to descend a very sloping plane
-than a very steep one. In fact, the sloping plane will take longer to
-generate the requisite velocity than the steep one, but both will have
-produced the same result as regards energy, when once the kilogramme
-has arrived at the bottom.
-
-
-_Functions of a Machine._
-
-42. Our readers are now beginning to perceive that energy cannot be
-created, and that by no means can we coax or cozen Dame Nature into
-giving us back more than we are entitled to get. To impress this
-fundamental principle still more strongly upon our minds, let us
-consider in detail one or two mechanical contrivances, and see what
-they amount to as regards energy.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
-
-Let us begin with the second system of pulleys. Here we have a power
-P attached to the one end of a thread, which passes over all the
-pulleys, and is ultimately attached, by its other extremity, to a
-hook in the upper or fixed block. The weight W is, on the other hand,
-attached to the lower or moveable block, and rises with it. Let us
-suppose that the pulleys are without weight and the cords without
-friction, and that W is supported by six cords, as in the figure.
-Now, when there is equilibrium in this machine, it is well known
-that W will be equal to six times P; that is to say, a power of one
-kilogramme will, in such a machine, balance or support a weight of six
-kilogrammes. If P be increased a single grain more, it will overbalance
-W, and P will descend, while W will begin to rise. In such a case,
-after P has descended, say six metres, its weight being, say, one
-kilogramme, it has lost a quantity of energy of position equal to six
-units, since it is at a lower level by six metres than it was before.
-We have, in fact, expended upon our machine six units of energy. Now,
-what return have we received for this expenditure? Our return is
-clearly the rise of W, and mechanicians will tell us that in this case
-W will have risen one metre.
-
-But the weight of W is six kilogrammes, and this having been raised
-one metre represents an energy of position equal to six. We have thus
-spent upon our machine, in the fall of P, an amount of energy equal to
-six units, and obtained in the rise of W an equivalent amount equal to
-six units also. We have, in truth, neither gained nor lost energy, but
-simply changed it into a form more convenient for our use.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
-
-43. To impress this truth still more strongly, let us take quite a
-different machine, such as the hydrostatic press. Its mode of action
-will be perceived from Fig. 2. Here we have two cylinders, a wide and
-a narrow one, which are connected together at the bottom by means of
-a strong tube. Each of these cylinders is provided with a water-tight
-piston, the space beneath being filled with water. It is therefore
-manifest, since the two cylinders are connected together, and since
-water is incompressible, that when we push down the one piston the
-other will be pushed up. Let us suppose that the area of the small
-piston is one square centimetre,[3] and that of the large piston
-one hundred square centimetres, and let us apply a weight of ten
-kilogrammes to the smaller piston. Now, it is known, from the laws of
-hydrostatics, that every square centimetre of the larger piston will be
-pressed upwards with the force of ten kilogrammes, so that the piston
-will altogether mount with the force of 1000 kilogrammes--that is to
-say, it will raise a weight of this amount as it ascends.
-
-Here, then, we have a machine in virtue of which a pressure of ten
-kilogrammes on the small piston enables the large piston to rise with
-the force of 1000 kilogrammes. But it is very easy to see that, while
-the small piston falls one metre, the large one will only rise one
-centimetre. For the quantity of water under the pistons being always
-the same, if this be pushed down one metre in the narrow cylinder, it
-will only rise one centimetre in the wide one.
-
-Let us now consider what we gain by this machine. The power of ten
-kilogrammes applied to the smaller piston is made to fall through one
-metre, and this represents the amount of energy which we have expended
-upon our machine, while, as a return, we obtain 1000 kilogrammes raised
-through one single centimetre. Here, then, as in the case of the
-pulleys, the return of energy is precisely the same as the expenditure,
-and, provided we ignore friction, we neither gain nor lose anything
-by the machine. All that we do is to transmute the energy into a
-more convenient form--what we gain in power we lose in space; but we
-are willing to sacrifice space or quickness of motion in order to
-obtain the tremendous pressure or force which we get by means of the
-hydrostatic press.
-
-
-_Principle of Virtual Velocities._
-
-44. These illustrations will have prepared our readers to perceive the
-true function of a machine. This was first clearly defined by Galileo,
-who saw that in any machine, no matter of what kind, if we raise a
-large weight by means of a small one, it will be found that the small
-weight, multiplied into the space through which it is lowered, will
-exactly equal the large weight, multiplied into that through which it
-is raised.
-
-This principle, known as that of virtual velocities, enables us to
-perceive at once our true position. We see that the world of mechanism
-is not a manufactory, in which energy is created, but rather a mart,
-into which we may bring energy of one kind and change or barter it
-for an equivalent of another kind, that suits us better--but if we
-come with nothing in our hand, with nothing we shall most assuredly
-return. A machine, in truth, does not create, but only transmutes, and
-this principle will enable us to tell, without further knowledge of
-mechanics, what are the conditions of equilibrium of any arrangement.
-
-For instance, let it be required to find those of a lever, of which the
-one arm is three times as long as the other. Here it is evident that if
-we overbalance the lever by a single grain, so as to cause the long arm
-with its power to fall down while the short one with its weight rises
-up, then the long arm will fall three inches for every inch through
-which the short arm rises; and hence, to make up for this, a single
-kilogramme on the long arm will balance three kilogrammes on the short
-one, or the power will be to the weight as one is to three.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 3.]
-
-45. Or, again, let us take the inclined plane as represented in Fig.
-3. Here we have a smooth plane and a weight held upon it by means of a
-power P, as in the figure. Now, if we overbalance P by a single grain,
-we shall bring the weight W from the bottom to the top of the plane.
-But when this has taken place, it is evident that P has fallen through
-a vertical distance equal to the length of the plane, while on the
-other hand W has only risen through a vertical distance equal to the
-height. Hence, in order that the principle of virtual velocities shall
-hold, we must have P multiplied into its fall equal to W multiplied
-into its rise, that is to say,
-
- P × Length of plane = W × Height of plane,
-
- or P/W = (Height.)/(Length.)
-
-
-_What Friction does._
-
-46. The two examples now given are quite sufficient to enable our
-readers to see the true function of a machine, and they are now
-doubtless disposed to acknowledge that no machine will give back more
-energy than is spent upon it. It is not, however, equally clear that
-it will not give back less; indeed, it is a well-known fact that it
-constantly does so. For we have supposed our machine to be without
-friction--but no machine is without friction--and the consequence is
-that the available out-come of the machine is more or less diminished
-by this drawback. Now, unless we are able to see clearly what part
-friction really plays, we cannot prove the conservation of energy.
-We see clearly enough that energy cannot be created, but we are
-not equally sure that it cannot be destroyed; indeed, we may say
-we have apparent grounds for believing that it is destroyed--that
-is our present position. Now, if the theory of the conservation
-of energy be true--that is to say, if energy is in any sense
-indestructible--friction will prove itself to be, not the destroyer
-of energy, but merely the converter of it into some less apparent and
-perhaps less useful form.
-
-47. We must, therefore, prepare ourselves to study what friction really
-does, and also to recognize energy in a form remote from that possessed
-by a body in visible motion, or by a head of water. To friction we may
-add percussion, as a process by which energy is apparently destroyed;
-and as we have (Art. 39) considered the case of a kilogramme shot
-vertically upwards, demonstrating that it will ultimately reach the
-ground with an energy equal to that with which it was shot upwards,
-we may pursue the experiment one step further, and ask what becomes
-of its energy after it has struck the ground and come to rest? We
-may vary the question by asking what becomes of the energy of the
-smith’s blow after his hammer has struck the anvil, or what of the
-energy of the cannon ball after it has struck the target, or what of
-that of the railway train after it has been stopped by friction at
-the break-wheel? All these are cases in which percussion or friction
-appears at first sight to have destroyed visible energy; but before
-pronouncing upon this seeming destruction, it clearly behoves us to ask
-if anything else makes its appearance at the moment when the visible
-energy is apparently destroyed. For, after all, energy may be like the
-Eastern magicians, of whom we read that they had the power of changing
-themselves into a variety of forms, but were nevertheless very careful
-not to disappear altogether.
-
-
-_When Motion is destroyed, Heat appears._
-
-48. Now, in reply to the question we have put, it may be confidently
-asserted that whenever visible energy is apparently destroyed by
-percussion or friction, something else makes its appearance, and that
-something is _heat_. Thus, a piece of lead placed upon an anvil may
-be greatly heated by successive blows of a blacksmith’s hammer. The
-collision of flint and steel will produce heat, and a rapidly-moving
-cannon ball, when striking against an iron target, may even be heated
-to redness. Again, with regard to friction, we know that on a dark
-night sparks are seen to issue from the break-wheel which is stopping a
-railway train, and we know, also, that the axles of railway carriages
-get alarmingly hot, if they are not well supplied with grease.
-
-Finally, the schoolboy will tell us that he is in the habit of rubbing
-a brass button upon the desk, and applying it to the back of his
-neighbour’s hand, and that when his own hand has been treated in this
-way, he has found the button unmistakeably hot.
-
-
-_Heat a species of Motion._
-
-49. For a long time this appearance of heat by friction or percussion
-was regarded as inexplicable, because it was believed that heat was
-a kind of matter, and it was difficult to understand where all this
-heat came from. The partisans of the material hypothesis, no doubt,
-ventured to suggest that in such processes heat might be drawn from the
-neighbouring bodies, so that the Caloric (which was the name given to
-the imaginary substance of heat) was squeezed or rubbed out of them,
-according as the process was percussion or friction. But this was
-regarded by many as no explanation, even before Sir Humphry Davy, about
-the end of last century, clearly showed it to be untenable.
-
-50. Davy’s experiments consisted in rubbing together two pieces of ice
-until it was found that both were nearly melted, and he varied the
-conditions of his experiments in such a manner as to show that the heat
-produced in this case could not be abstracted from the neighbouring
-bodies.
-
-51. Let us pause to consider the alternatives to which we are driven
-by this experiment. If we still choose to regard heat as a substance,
-since this has not been taken from the surrounding bodies, it must
-necessarily have been created in the process of friction. But if we
-choose to regard heat as a species of motion, we have a simpler
-alternative, for, inasmuch as the energy of visible motion has
-disappeared in the process of friction, we may suppose that it has been
-transformed into a species of molecular motion, which we call heat; and
-this was the conclusion to which Davy came.
-
-52. About the same time another philosopher was occupied with a similar
-experiment. Count Rumford was superintending the boring of cannon at
-the arsenal at Munich, and was forcibly struck with the very great
-amount of heat caused by this process. The source of this heat appeared
-to him to be absolutely inexhaustible, and, being unwilling to regard
-it as the creation of a species of matter, he was led like Davy to
-attribute it to motion.
-
-53. Assuming, therefore, that heat is a species of motion, the next
-point is to endeavour to comprehend what kind of motion it is, and in
-what respects it is different from ordinary visible motion. To do this,
-let us imagine a railway carriage, full of passengers, to be whirling
-along at a great speed, its occupants quietly at ease, because,
-although they are in rapid motion, they are all moving at the same rate
-and in the same direction. Now, suppose that the train meets with a
-sudden check;--a disaster is the consequence, and the quiet placidity
-of the occupants of the carriage is instantly at an end.
-
-Even if we suppose that the carriage is not broken up and its occupants
-killed, yet they are all in a violent state of excitement; those
-fronting the engine are driven with force against their opposite
-neighbours, and are, no doubt, as forcibly repelled, each one taking
-care of himself in the general scramble. Now, we have only to
-substitute particles for persons, in order to obtain an idea of what
-takes place when percussion is converted into heat. We have, or suppose
-we have, in this act the same violent collision of atoms, the same
-thrusting forward of A upon B, and the same violence in pushing back on
-the part of B--the same struggle, confusion, and excitement--the only
-difference being that particles are heated instead of human beings, or
-their tempers.
-
-54. We are bound to acknowledge that the proof which we have now given
-is not a direct one; indeed, we have, in our first chapter, explained
-the impossibility of our ever seeing these individual particles, or
-watching their movements; and hence our proof of the assertion that
-heat consists in such movements cannot possibly be direct. We cannot
-see that it does so consist, but yet we may feel sure, as reasonable
-beings, that we are right in our conjecture.
-
-In the argument now given, we have only two alternatives to start
-with--either heat must consist of a motion of particles, or, when
-percussion or friction is converted into heat, a peculiar substance
-called caloric must be created, for if heat be not a species of motion
-it must necessarily be a species of matter. Now, we have preferred to
-consider heat as a species of motion to the alternative of supposing
-the creation of a peculiar kind of matter.
-
-55. Nevertheless, it is desirable to have something to say to an
-opponent who, rather than acknowledge heat to be a species of motion,
-will allow the creation of matter. To such an one we would say that
-innumerable experiments render it certain that a hot body is not
-sensibly heavier than a cold one, so that if heat be a species of
-matter it is one that is not subject to the law of gravity. If we burn
-iron wire in oxygen gas, we are entitled to say that the iron combines
-with the oxygen, because we know that the product is heavier than the
-original iron by the very amount which the gas has lost in weight. But
-there is no such proof that during combustion the iron has combined
-with a substance called caloric, and the absence of any such proof is
-enough to entitle us to consider heat to be a species of motion, rather
-than a species of matter.
-
-
-_Heat a Backward and Forward Motion._
-
-56. We shall now suppose that our readers have assented to our
-proposition that heat is a species of motion. It is almost unnecessary
-to add that it must be a species of backward and forward motion; for
-nothing is more clear than that _a heated substance is not in motion as
-a whole_, and will not, if put upon a table, push its way from the one
-end to the other.
-
-Mathematicians express this peculiarity by saying that, although there
-is violent internal motion among the particles, yet the centre of
-gravity of the substance remains at rest; and since, for most purposes,
-we may suppose a body to act as if concentrated at its centre of
-gravity, we may say that the body is at rest.
-
-57. Let us here, before proceeding further, borrow an illustration from
-that branch of physics which treats of sound. Suppose, for instance,
-that a man is accurately balanced in a scale-pan, and that some water
-enters his ear; of course he will become heavier in consequence, and if
-the balance be sufficiently delicate, it will exhibit the difference.
-But suppose a sound or a noise enters his ear, he may say with truth
-that something has entered, but yet that something is not matter, nor
-will he become one whit heavier in consequence of its entrance, and he
-will remain balanced as before. Now, a man into whose ear sound has
-entered may be compared to a substance into which heat has entered;
-we may therefore suppose a heated body to be similar in many respects
-to a sounding body, and just as the particles of a sounding body move
-backwards and forwards, so we may suppose that the particles of a
-heated body do the same.
-
-We shall take another opportunity (Art. 162) to enlarge upon this
-likeness; but, meanwhile, we shall suppose that our readers perceive
-the analogy.
-
-
-_Mechanical Equivalent of Heat._
-
-58. We have thus come to the conclusion that when any heavy body, say
-a kilogramme weight, strikes the ground, the visible energy of the
-kilogramme is changed into heat; and now, having established the fact
-of a relationship between these two forms of energy, our next point
-is to ascertain according to what law the heating effect depends upon
-the height of fall. Let us, for instance, suppose that a kilogramme of
-water is allowed to drop from the height of 848 metres, and that we
-have the means of confining to its own particles and retaining there
-the heating effect produced. Now, we may suppose that its descent
-is accomplished in two stages; that, first of all, it falls upon a
-platform from the height of 424 metres, and gets heated in consequence,
-and that then the heated mass is allowed to fall other 424 metres. It
-is clear that the water will now be doubly heated; or, in other words,
-the heating effect in such a case will be proportional to the height
-through which the body falls--that is to say, it will be proportional
-to the actual energy which the body possesses before the blow has
-changed this into heat. In fact, just as the actual energy represented
-by a fall from a height is proportional to the height, so is the
-heating effect, or molecular energy, into which the actual energy is
-changed proportional to the height also. Having established this point,
-we now wish to know through how many metres a kilogramme of water must
-fall in order to be heated one degree centigrade.
-
-59. For a precise determination of this important point, we are
-indebted to Dr. Joule, of Manchester, who has, perhaps, done more than
-any one else to put the science of energy upon a sure foundation. Dr.
-Joule made numerous experiments, with the view of arriving at the
-exact relation between mechanical energy and heat; that is to say, of
-determining the mechanical equivalent of heat. In some of the most
-important of these he took advantage of the friction of fluids.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 4.]
-
-60. These experiments were conducted in the following manner. A certain
-fixed weight was attached to a pulley, as in the figure. The weight
-had, of course, a tendency to descend, and hence to turn the pulley
-round. The pulley had its axle supported upon friction wheels, at _f_
-and _f_, by means of which the friction caused by the movement of the
-pulley was very much reduced. A string, passing over the circumference
-of the pulley, was wrapped round _r_, so that, as the weight descended,
-the pulley moved round, and the string of the pulley caused _r_ to
-rotate very rapidly. Now, the motion of the axis _r_ was conducted
-within the covered box B, where there was attached to _r_ a system of
-paddles, of which a sketch is given in figure; and therefore, as _r_
-moved, these paddles moved also. There were, altogether, eight sets of
-these paddles revolving between four stationary vanes. If, therefore,
-the box were full of liquid, the paddles and the vanes together would
-churn it about, for these stationary vanes would prevent the liquid
-being carried along by the paddles in the direction of rotation.
-
-Now, in this experiment, the weight was made to descend through a
-certain fixed distance, which was accurately measured. As it descended,
-the paddles were set in motion, and the energy of the descending weight
-was thus made to churn, and hence to heat some water contained in the
-box B. When the weight had descended a certain distance, by undoing a
-small peg _p_, it could be wound up again without moving the paddles
-in B, and thus the heating effect of several falls of the weight could
-be accumulated until this became so great as to be capable of being
-accurately measured by a thermometer. It ought to be mentioned that
-great care was taken in these experiments, not only to reduce the
-friction of the axles of the pulley as much as possible, but also to
-estimate and correct for this friction as accurately as possible; in
-fact, every precaution was taken to make the experiment successful.
-
-61. Other experiments were made by Joule, in some of which a disc was
-made to rotate against another disc of cast-iron pressed against it,
-the whole arrangement being immersed in a cast-iron vessel filled
-with mercury. From all these experiments, Dr. Joule concluded that
-the quantity of heat produced by friction, if we can preserve and
-accurately measure it, will always be found proportional to the
-quantity of work expended. He expressed this proportion by stating the
-number of units of work in kilogrammetres necessary to raise by 1° C.
-the temperature of one kilogramme of water. This was 424, as determined
-by his last and most complete experiments; and hence we may conclude
-that if a kilogramme of water be allowed to fall through 424 metres,
-and if its motion be then suddenly stopped, sufficient heat will be
-generated to raise the temperature of the water through 1° C., and so
-on, in the same proportion.
-
-62. Now, if we take the kilogrammetre as our unit of work, and the heat
-necessary to raise a kilogramme of water 1° C. as our unit of heat,
-this proportion may be expressed by saying that _one heat unit is equal
-to 424 units of work_.
-
-This number is frequently spoken of as the mechanical equivalent of
-heat; and in scientific treatises it is denoted by J., the initial of
-Dr. Joule’s name.
-
-63. We have now stated the exact relationship that subsists between
-mechanical energy and heat, and before proceeding further with proofs
-of the great law of conservation, we shall endeavour to make our
-readers acquainted with other varieties of energy, on the ground that
-it is necessary to penetrate the various disguises that our magician
-assumes before we can pretend to explain the principles that actuate
-him in his transformations.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[3] That is to say, a square the side of which is one centimetre, or
-the hundredth part of a metre.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-_THE FORCES AND ENERGIES OF NATURE: THE LAW OF CONSERVATION._
-
-
-64. In the last chapter we introduced our readers to two varieties of
-energy, one of them visible, and the other invisible or molecular; and
-it will now be our duty to search through the whole field of physical
-science for other varieties. Here it is well to bear in mind that all
-energy consists of two kinds, that of _position_ and that of _actual
-motion_, and also that this distinction holds for invisible molecular
-energy just as truly as it does for that which is visible. Now, energy
-of position implies a body in a position of advantage with respect
-to some force, and hence we may with propriety begin our search by
-investigating the various forces of nature.
-
-
-_Gravitation._
-
-65. The most general, and perhaps the most important, of these
-forces is _gravitation_, and the law of action of this force may be
-enunciated as follows:--_Every particle of the universe attracts every
-other particle with a force depending jointly upon the mass of the
-attracting and of the attracted particle, and varying inversely as the
-square of distance between the two._ A little explanation will make
-this plain.
-
-Suppose a particle or system of particles of which the mass is unity to
-be placed at a distance equal to unity from another particle or system
-of particles of which the mass is also unity--the two will attract each
-other. Let us agree to consider the mutual attraction between them
-equal to unity also.
-
-Suppose, now, that we have on the one side two such systems with a mass
-represented by 2, and on the other side the same system as before,
-with a mass represented by unity, the distance, meanwhile, remaining
-unaltered. It is clear the double system will now attract the single
-system with a twofold force. Let us next suppose the mass of both
-systems to be doubled, the distance always remaining the same. It is
-clear that we shall now have a fourfold force, each unit of the one
-system attracting each unit of the other. In like manner, if the mass
-of the one system is 2, and that of the other 3, the force will be 6.
-We may, for instance, call the components of the one system A_{1},
-A₂, and those of the other A_{3}, A_{4}, A_{5}, and we shall have
-A_{1} pulled towards A_{3}, A_{4}, and A_{5}, with a threefold force,
-and A₂ pulled towards A_{3}, A_{4}, and A_{5}, with a threefold
-force, making altogether a force equal to 6.
-
-In the next place, let the masses remain unaltered, but let the
-distance between them be doubled, then the force will be reduced
-fourfold. Let the distance be tripled, then the force will be reduced
-ninefold, and so on.
-
-66. Gravitation may be described as a very weak force, capable of
-acting at a distance, or at least of appearing to do so. It takes the
-mass of the whole earth to produce the force with which we are so
-familiar at its surface, and the presence of a large mass of rock or
-mountain does not produce any appreciable difference in the weight of
-any substance. It is the gravitation of the earth, lessened of course
-by distance, which acts upon the moon 240,000 miles away, and the
-gravitation of the sun influences in like manner the earth and the
-various other planets of our system.
-
-
-_Elastic Forces._
-
-67. Elastic forces, although in their mode of action very different
-from gravity, are yet due to visible arrangements of matter; thus,
-when a cross-bow is bent, there is a visible change produced in the
-bow, which, as a whole, resists this bending, and tends to resume its
-previous position. It therefore requires energy to bend a bow, just as
-truly and visibly as it does to raise a weight above the earth, and
-elasticity is, therefore, as truly a species of force as gravity is.
-We shall not here attempt to discuss the various ways in which this
-force may act, or in which a solid elastic substance will resist all
-attempts to deform it; but in all cases it is clearly manifest that
-work must be spent upon the body, and the force of elasticity must be
-encountered and overcome throughout a certain space before any sensible
-deformation can take place.
-
-
-_Force of Cohesion._
-
-68. Let us now leave the forces which animate large masses of matter,
-and proceed to discuss those which subsist between the smaller
-particles of which these large masses are composed. And here we must
-say one word more about molecules and atoms, and the distinction we
-feel ourselves entitled to draw between these very small bodies, even
-although we shall never be able to see either the one or the other.
-
-In our first chapter (Art. 7) we supposed the continual sub-division of
-a grain of sand until we had arrived at the smallest entity retaining
-all the properties of sand--this we called a _molecule_, and nothing
-smaller than this is entitled to be called sand. If we continue this
-sub-division further, the molecule of sand separates itself into its
-chemical constituents, consisting of silicon on the one side, and
-oxygen on the other. Thus we arrive at last at the smallest body which
-can call itself silicon, and the smallest which can call itself oxygen,
-and we have no reason to suppose that either of these is capable of
-sub-division into something else, since we regard oxygen and silicon as
-elementary or simple bodies. Now, these constituents of the silicon
-molecule are called _atoms_, so that we say the sand molecule is
-divisible into atoms of silicon and of oxygen. Furthermore, we have
-strong reason for supposing that such molecules and atoms really exist,
-but into the arguments for their existence we cannot now enter--it is
-one of those things that we must ask our readers to take for granted.
-
-69. Let us now take two molecules of sand. These, when near together,
-have a very strong attraction for each other. It is, in truth, this
-attraction which renders it difficult to break up a crystalline
-particle of sand or rock crystal. But it is only exerted when the
-molecules are near enough together to form a homogeneous crystalline
-structure, for let the distance between them be somewhat increased, and
-we find that all attraction entirely vanishes. Thus there is little
-or no attraction between different particles of sand, even although
-they are very closely packed together. In like manner, the integrity
-of a piece of glass is due to the attraction between its molecules;
-but let these be separated by a flaw, and it will soon be found that
-this very small increase of distance greatly diminishes the attraction
-between the particles, and that the structure will now fall to pieces
-from the slightest cause. Now, these examples are sufficient to show
-that molecular attraction or _cohesion_, as this is called, is a force
-which acts very powerfully through a certain small distance, but which
-vanishes altogether when this distance becomes perceptible. Cohesion
-is strongest in solids, while in liquids it is much diminished, and in
-gases it may be said to vanish altogether. The molecules of gases are,
-in truth, so far away from one another, as to have little or no mutual
-attraction, a fact proved by Dr. Joule, whose name was mentioned in the
-last chapter.
-
-
-_Force of Chemical Affinity._
-
-70. Let us now consider the mutual forces between atoms. These may be
-characterized as even stronger than the forces between molecules, but
-as disappearing still more rapidly when the distance is increased. Let
-us, for instance, take carbon and oxygen--two substances which are
-ready to combine together to form carbonic acid, whenever they have a
-suitable opportunity. In this case, each atom of carbon will unite with
-two of oxygen, and the result will be something quite different from
-either. Yet under ordinary circumstances carbon, or its representative,
-coal, will remain unchanged in the presence of oxygen, or of
-atmospheric air containing oxygen. There will be no tendency to combine
-together, because although the particles of the oxygen would appear to
-be in immediate contact with those of the carbon, yet the nearness is
-not sufficient to permit of chemical affinity acting with advantage.
-When, however, the nearness becomes sufficient, then chemical affinity
-begins to operate. We have, in fact, the familiar act of combustion,
-and, as its consequence, the chemical union of the carbon or coal with
-the oxygen of the air, carbonic acid being the result. Here, then, we
-have a very powerful force acting only at a very small distance, which
-we name _chemical affinity_, inasmuch as it represents the attraction
-exerted between atoms of different bodies in contradistinction to
-cohesion, which denotes the attraction between molecules of the same
-body.
-
-71. If we regard gravitation as the representative of forces that act
-or appear to act, at a distance, we may regard cohesion and chemical
-affinity as the representatives of those forces which, although very
-powerful, only act or appear to act through a very small interval of
-distance.
-
-A little reflection will show us how inconvenient it would be if
-gravitation diminished very rapidly with the distance; for then
-even supposing that the bond which retains us to the earth were to
-hold good, that which retains the moon to the earth might vanish
-entirely, as well as that which retains the earth to the sun, and the
-consequences would be far from pleasant. Reflection will also show
-us how inconvenient it would be if chemical affinity existed at all
-distances; if coal, for instance, were to combine with oxygen without
-the application of heat, it would greatly alter the value of this fuel
-to mankind, and would materially check the progress of human industry.
-
-
-_Remarks on Molecular and Atomic Forces._
-
-72. Now, it is important to remember that we must treat cohesion and
-chemical affinity exactly in the same way as gravity has been treated;
-and just as we have energy of position with respect to gravity, so
-may we have as truly a species of energy of position with respect to
-cohesion and chemical affinity. Let us begin with cohesion.
-
-73. We have hitherto regarded heat as a peculiar motion of the
-molecules of matter, without any reference to the force which actuates
-these molecules. But it is a well-known fact that bodies in general
-expand when heated, so that, in virtue of this expansion, the molecules
-of a body are driven violently apart against the force of cohesion.
-Work has in truth been done against this force, just as truly as, when
-a kilogramme is raised from the earth, work is done against the force
-of gravity. When a substance is heated, we may, therefore, suppose that
-the heat has a twofold office to perform, part of it going to increase
-the actual motions of the molecules, and part of it to separate these
-molecules from one another against the force of cohesion. Thus, if I
-swing round horizontally a weight (attached to my hand by an elastic
-thread of india-rubber), my energy will be spent in two ways--first
-of all, it will be spent in communicating a velocity to the weight;
-and, secondly, in stretching the india-rubber string, by means of the
-centrifugal tendency of the weight. Work will be done against the
-elastic force of the string, as well as spent in increasing the motion
-of the weight.
-
-Now, something of this kind may be taking place when a body is heated,
-for we may very well suppose heat to consist of a vertical or circular
-motion, the tendency of which would be to drive the particles asunder
-against the force of cohesion. Part, therefore, of the energy of heat
-will be spent in augmenting the motion, and part in driving asunder the
-particles. We may, however, suppose that, in ordinary cases, the great
-proportion of the energy of heat goes towards increasing the molecular
-motion, rather than in doing work against the force of cohesion.
-
-74 In certain cases, however, it is probable that the greater part
-of the heat applied is spent in doing work against molecular forces,
-instead of increasing the motions of molecules.
-
-Thus, when a solid melts, or when a liquid is rendered gaseous, a
-considerable amount of heat is spent in the process, which does not
-become sensible, that is to say, does not affect the thermometer. Thus,
-in order to melt a kilogramme of ice, heat is required sufficient to
-raise a kilogramme of water through 80° C., and yet, when melted, the
-water is no warmer than the ice. We express this fact by saying that
-the latent heat of water is 80. Again, if a kilogramme of water at
-100° be converted entirely into steam, as much heat is required as
-would raise the water through 537° C., or 537 kilogrammes of water
-through one degree; but yet the steam is no hotter than the water, and
-we express this fact by saying that the latent heat of steam is 537.
-Now, in both of these instances it is at least extremely probable that
-a large portion of the heat is spent in doing work against the force
-of cohesion; and, more especially, when a fluid is converted into a
-gas, we know that the molecules are in that process separated so far
-from one another as to lose entirely any trace of mutual force. We may,
-therefore, conclude that although in most cases the greater portion of
-the heat applied to a body is spent in increasing its molecular motion,
-and only a small part in doing work against cohesion, yet when a solid
-melts, or a liquid vaporizes, a large portion of the heat required
-is not improbably spent in doing work against molecular forces. But
-the energy, though spent, is not lost, for when the liquid again
-freezes, or when the vapour again condenses, this energy is once more
-transformed into the shape of sensible heat, just as when a stone is
-dropped from the top of a house, its energy of position is transformed
-once more into actual energy.
-
-75. A single instance will suffice to give our readers a notion of
-the strength of molecular forces. If a bar of wrought iron, whose
-temperature is 10° C. above that of the surrounding medium, be tightly
-secured at its extremities, it will draw these together with a force of
-at least one ton for each square inch of section. In some cases where
-a building has shown signs of bulging outwards, iron bars have been
-placed across it, and secured while in a heated state to the walls.
-On cooling, the iron contracted with great force, and the walls were
-thereby pulled together.
-
-76. We are next brought to consider atomic forces, or those which lead
-to chemical union, and now let us see how these are influenced by heat.
-We have seen that heat causes a separation between the molecules of a
-body, that is to say, it increases the distance between two contiguous
-molecules, but we must not suppose that, meanwhile, the molecules
-themselves are left unaltered.
-
-The tendency of heat to cause separation is not confined to increasing
-the distance between molecules, but acts also, no doubt, in increasing
-the distance between parts of the same molecule: in fact, the energy
-of heat is spent in pulling the constituent atoms asunder against the
-force of chemical affinity, as well as in pulling the molecules asunder
-against the force of cohesion, so that, at a very high temperature, it
-is probable that most chemical compounds would be decomposed, and many
-are so, even at a very moderate heat.
-
-Thus the attraction between oxygen and silver is so slight that at
-a comparatively low temperature the oxide of silver is decomposed.
-In like manner, limestone, or carbonate of lime, is decomposed when
-subjected to the heat of a lime-kiln, carbonic acid being given off,
-while quick-lime remains behind. Now, in separating heterogeneous
-atoms against the powerful force of chemical affinity, work is done as
-truly as it is in separating molecules from one another against the
-force of cohesion, or in separating a stone from the earth against the
-force of gravity.
-
-77. Heat, as we have seen, is very frequently influential in performing
-this separation, and its energy is spent in so doing; but other
-energetic agents produce chemical decomposition as well as heat. For
-instance, certain rays of the sun decompose carbonic acid into carbon
-and oxygen in the leaves of plants, and their energy is spent in the
-process; that is to say, it is spent in pulling asunder two such
-powerfully attracting substances against the affinity they have for one
-another. And, again, the electric current is able to decompose certain
-substances, and of course its energy is spent in the process.
-
-Therefore, whenever two powerfully attracting atoms are separated,
-energy is spent in causing this separation as truly as in separating
-a stone from the earth, and when once the separation has been
-accomplished we have a species of energy of position just as truly as
-we have in a head of water, or in a stone at the top of a house.
-
-78. It is this chemical separation that is meant when we speak of coal
-as a source of energy. Coal, or carbon, has a great attraction for
-oxygen, and whenever heat is applied the two bodies unite together.
-Now oxygen, as it exists in the atmosphere, is the common inheritance
-of all, and if, in addition to this, some of us possess coal in our
-cellars, or in pits, we have thus secured a store of energy of
-position which we can draw upon with more facility than if it were a
-head of water, for, although we can draw upon the energy of a head of
-water whenever we choose, yet we cannot carry it about with us from
-place to place as we can with coal. We thus perceive that it is not
-the coal, by itself, that forms the source of energy, but this is due
-to the fact that we have coal, or carbon, in one place, and oxygen in
-another, while we have also the means of causing them to unite with
-each other whenever we wish. If there were no oxygen in the air, coal
-by itself would be of no value.
-
-
-_Electricity: its Properties._
-
-79. Our readers have now been told about the force of cohesion that
-exists between molecules of the same body, and also about that of
-chemical affinity existing between atoms of different bodies. Now,
-heterogeneity is an essential element of this latter force--there must
-be a difference of some kind before it can exhibit itself--and under
-these circumstances its exhibitions are frequently characterized by
-very extraordinary and interesting phenomena.
-
-We allude to that peculiar exhibition arising out of the forces
-of heterogeneous bodies which we call _electricity_, and, before
-proceeding further, it may not be out of place to give a short sketch
-of the mode of action of this very mysterious, but most interesting,
-agent.
-
-80. The science of electricity is of very ancient origin; but its
-beginning was very small. For a couple of thousand years it made little
-or no progress, and then, during the course of little more than a
-century, developed into the giant which it now is. The ancient Greeks
-were aware that amber, when rubbed with silk, had the property of
-attracting light bodies; and Dr. Gilbert, about three hundred years
-ago, showed that many other things, such as sulphur, sealing-wax, and
-glass, have the same property as amber.
-
-In the progress of the science it came to be known that certain
-substances are able to carry away the peculiar influence produced,
-while others are unable to do so; the former are called _conductors_,
-and the latter _non-conductors, or insulators_, of electricity. To make
-the distinction apparent, let us take a metal rod, having a glass stem
-attached to it, and rub the glass stem with a piece of silk, care being
-taken that both silk and glass are warm and dry. We shall find that the
-glass has now acquired the property of attracting little bits of paper,
-or elder pith; but only where it has been rubbed, for the peculiar
-influence acquired by the glass has not been able to spread itself over
-the surface.
-
-If, however, we take hold of the glass stem, and rub the metal rod,
-we may, perhaps, produce the same property in the metal, but it will
-spread over the whole, not confining itself to the part rubbed. Thus
-we perceive that metal is a conductor, while glass is an insulator, or
-non-conductor, of electricity.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 5.]
-
-81. We would next observe that _this influence is of two kinds_. To
-prove this, let us perform the following experiment. Let us suspend a
-small pith ball by a very slender silk thread, as in Fig. 5. Next, let
-us rub a stick of warm, dry glass with a piece of warm silk, and with
-this excited stick touch the pith ball. The pith ball, after being
-touched, will be repelled by the excited glass. Let us next excite, in
-a similar manner, a stick of dry sealing-wax with a piece of warm, dry
-flannel, and on approaching this stick to the pith ball it will attract
-it, although the ball, in its present state, is repelled by the excited
-glass.
-
-Thus a pith ball, touched by excited glass, is repelled by excited
-glass, but attracted by excited sealing-wax.
-
-In like manner, it might be shown that a pith ball, touched by excited
-sealing-wax, will be afterwards repelled by excited sealing-wax, but
-attracted by excited glass.
-
-Now, what the excited glass did to the pith ball, was to communicate to
-it part of its own influence, after which the ball was repelled by the
-glass; or, in other words, _bodies charged with similar electricities
-repel one another_.
-
-Again, since the pith ball, when charged with the electricity from
-glass, was attracted to the electrified sealing-wax, we conclude that
-_bodies charged with unlike electricities attract one another_. The
-electricity from glass is sometimes called _vitreous_, and that from
-sealing-wax _resinous_, electricity, but more frequently the former
-is known as _positive_, and the latter as _negative_, electricity--it
-being understood that these words do not imply the possession of a
-positive nature by the one influence, or of a negative nature by the
-other, but are merely terms employed to express the apparent antagonism
-which exists between the two kinds of electricity.
-
-82. The next point worthy of notice is that _whenever one electricity
-is produced, just as much is produced of an opposite description_.
-Thus, in the case of glass excited by silk, we have positive
-electricity developed upon the glass, while we have also negative
-electricity developed upon the silk to precisely the same extent.
-And, again, when sealing-wax is rubbed with flannel, we have negative
-electricity developed upon the sealing-wax, and just as much positive
-upon the flannel.
-
-83. These facts have given rise to a theory of electricity, or at
-least to a method of regarding it, which, if not absolutely correct,
-seems yet to unite together the various phenomena. According to this
-hypothesis, a neutral, unexcited body is supposed to contain a store of
-the two electricities combined together, so that whenever such a body
-is excited, a separation is produced between the two. The phenomena
-which we have described are, therefore, due to this electrical
-separation, and inasmuch as the two electricities have a great affinity
-for one another, it requires the expenditure of energy to produce this
-separation, just as truly as it does to separate a stone from the earth.
-
-84. Now, it is worthy of note that _electrical separation is only
-produced when heterogeneous bodies are rubbed together_. Thus, if
-flannel be rubbed upon glass, we have electricity; but if flannel be
-rubbed upon glass covered with flannel, we have none. In like manner,
-if silk be rubbed upon sealing-wax covered with silk, or, in fine,
-if two portions of the same substance be rubbed together, we have no
-electricity.
-
-On the other hand, a very slight difference of texture is sometimes
-sufficient to produce electrical separation. Thus, if two pieces of the
-same silk ribbon be rubbed together lengthwise, we have no electricity;
-but if they be rubbed across each other, the one is positively, and the
-other negatively, electrified.
-
-In fact, this element of heterogeneity is an all important one
-in electrical development, and this leads us to conjecture that
-_electrical attraction may probably be regarded as peculiarly allied to
-that force which we call chemical affinity_. At any rate, electricity
-and chemical affinity are only manifested between bodies that are, in
-some respects, dissimilar.
-
-85. The following is a list of bodies arranged according to the
-electricity which they develop when rubbed together, each substance
-being positively electrified when rubbed with any substance beneath it
-in the list.
-
- 1. Cat’s skin.
- 2. Flannel.
- 3. Ivory.
- 4. Glass.
- 5. Silk.
- 6. Wood.
- 7. Shellac.
- 8. Resin.
- 9. Metals.
- 10. Sulphur.
- 11. Caoutchouc.
- 12. Gutta-percha.
- 13. Gun-cotton.
-
-Thus, if resin be rubbed with cat’s skin, or with flannel, the
-cat’s skin or flannel will be positively, and the resin negatively,
-electrified; while if glass be rubbed with silk, the glass will be
-positively, and the silk negatively, electrified, and so on.
-
-86. It is not our purpose here to describe at length the _electrical
-machine_, but we may state that it consists of two parts, one for
-generating electricity by means of the friction of a rubber against
-glass, and another consisting of a system of brass tubes, of
-considerable surface, supported on glass stems, for collecting and
-retaining the electricity so produced. This latter part of the machine
-is called its _prime conductor_.
-
-
-_Electric Induction._
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 6.]
-
-87. Let us now suppose that we have set in action a machine of this
-kind, and accumulated a considerable quantity of positive electricity
-in its prime conductor at A. Let us next take two vessels, B and C,
-made of brass, supported on glass stems. These two vessels are supposed
-to be in contact, but at the same time to be capable of being separated
-from one another at their middle point, where the line is drawn in Fig.
-6. Now let us cause B and C to approach A together. At first, B and C
-are not electrified, that is to say, their two electricities are not
-separated from each other, but are mixed together; but mark what will
-happen as they are pushed towards A. The positive electricity of A will
-decompose the two electricities of B and C, attracting the negative
-towards itself, and repelling the positive as far away as possible.
-The disposition of electricities will, therefore, be as in the figure.
-If we now pull C away from B, we have obtained a quantity of positive
-electricity on C, by help of the original electricity which was in A;
-in fact, we have made use of the original stock or electrical capital
-in A, in order to obtain positive electricity in C, without, however,
-diminishing the amount of our original stock. Now, this distant action
-or help, rendered by the original electricity in separating that of B
-and C, is called electric induction.
-
-88. The experiment may, however, be performed in a somewhat different
-manner--we may allow B and C to remain together, and gradually push
-them nearer to A. As B and C approach A, the separation of their
-electricities will become greater and greater, until, when A and
-B are only divided by a small thickness of air, the two opposite
-electricities then accumulated will have sufficient strength to rush
-together through the air, and unite with each other by means of a spark.
-
-89. The principle of induction may be used with advantage, when it is
-wished to accumulate a large quantity of electricity.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 7.]
-
-In this case, an instrument called a _Leyden jar_ is very frequently
-employed. It consists of a glass jar, coated inside and outside with
-tin foil, as in Fig. 7. A brass rod, having a knob at the end of it,
-is connected metallically with the inside coating, and is kept in its
-place by being passed through a cork, which covers the mouth of the
-jar. We have thus two metallic coatings which are not electrically
-connected with one another. Now, in order to charge a jar of this kind,
-let the outside coating be connected by a chain with the earth, while
-at the same time positive electricity from the prime conductor of an
-electrical machine is communicated to the inside knob.
-
-The positive electricity will accumulate on the inside coating
-with which the knob is connected. It will then decompose the two
-electricities of the outside coating, driving the positive electricity
-to the earth, and there dissipating it, but attracting the negative
-to itself. There will thus be positive electricity on the inside,
-and negative on the outside coating. These two electricities may be
-compared to two hostile armies watching each other, and very anxious
-to get together, while, however, they are separated from one another
-by means of an insurmountable obstacle. They will thus remain facing
-each other, and at their posts, while each side is, meanwhile, being
-recruited by the same operation as before. We may by this means
-accumulate a vast quantity of opposite electricities on the two
-coatings of such a jar, and they will remain there for a long time,
-especially if the surrounding atmosphere and the glass surface of the
-jar be quite dry. When, however, electric connection of any kind is
-made between the two coatings, the electricities rush together and
-unite with one another in the shape of a spark, while if the human body
-be the instrument of connecting them a severe shock will be felt.
-
-90. It would thus appear that, when two bodies charged with opposite
-electricities are brought near each other, the two electricities rush
-together, forming a current, and the ultimate result is a spark.
-Now, this spark implies heat, and is, in truth, nothing else than
-small particles of intensely heated matter of some kind. We have here,
-therefore, first of all, the conversion of electrical separation into a
-current of electricity, and, secondly, the conversion of this current
-into heat. In this case, however, the current lasts only a very small
-time; the discharge, as it is called, of a Leyden jar being probably
-accomplished in ¹⁄₂₄₀₀₀th of a second.
-
-
-_The Electric Current._
-
-91. In other cases we have electrical currents which, although not so
-powerful as that produced by discharging a Leyden jar, yet last longer,
-and are, in fact, continuous instead of momentary.
-
-We may see a similar difference in the case of visible energy. Thus we
-might, by means of gunpowder, send up in a moment an enormous mass of
-water; or we might, by means of a fountain, send up the same mass in
-the course of time, and in a very much quieter manner. We have the same
-sort of difference in electrical discharges, and having spoken of the
-rushing together of two opposite electricities by means of an explosion
-and a spark, let us now speak of the eminently quiet and effective
-_voltaic current_, in which we have a continuous coming together of the
-same two agents.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 8.]
-
-92. It is not our object here to give a complete description, either
-historical or scientific, of the voltaic battery, but rather to give
-such an account as will enable our readers to understand what the
-arrangement is, and what sort of effect it produces; and with this
-object we shall at once proceed to describe the battery of Grove, which
-is perhaps the most efficacious of all the various arrangements for the
-purpose of producing an electric current. In this battery we have a
-number of cells connected together, as in Fig. 8, which shows a battery
-of three cells. Each cell consists of two vessels, an outer and an
-inner one; the outer vessel being made of glass or ordinary stone ware,
-while the inner one is made of unglazed porcelain, and is therefore
-porous. The outer vessel is filled with dilute sulphuric acid, and a
-plate of amalgamated zinc--that is to say, of metallic zinc having
-its outer surface brightened with mercury,--is immersed in this acid.
-Again, in the inner or porous vessel we have strong nitric acid, in
-which a plate of platinum foil is immersed, this being at the same time
-electrically connected with the zinc plate of the next outer vessel,
-by means of a clamp, as in the figure. Both metals must be clean where
-they are pressed together, that is to say, the true metallic surfaces
-of both must be in contact. Finally, a wire is metallically connected
-with the platinum of the left-hand cell, and a similar wire with the
-zinc of the right-hand cell, and these connecting wires ought, except
-at their extremities, to be covered over with gutta-percha or thread.
-The loose extremities of these wires are called the _poles_ of the
-battery.
-
-93. Let us now suppose that we have a battery containing a good many
-cells of this description, and let the whole arrangement be insulated,
-by being set upon glass supports, or otherwise separated from the
-earth. If now we test, by appropriate methods, the extremity of the
-wire connected with the left-hand platinum plate, it will be found to
-be charged with positive electricity, while the extremity of the other
-wire will be found charged with negative electricity.
-
-94. In the next place, if we connect these poles of the battery with
-one another, the two electricities will rush together and unite, or,
-in other words, there will be an electric current; but it will not be
-a momentary but a continuous one, and for some time, provided these
-poles are kept together, a current of electricity will pass through the
-wires, and indeed through the whole arrangement, including the cells.
-
-The direction of the current will be such that _positive electricity
-may be supposed to pass from the zinc to the platinum, through the
-liquid; and back again through the wire, from the platinum at the
-left hand, to the zinc at the right_; in fact, to go in the direction
-indicated by the arrow-head.
-
-95. Thus we have two things. In the first place, before the two
-terminals, or poles, have been brought together, we have them charged
-with opposite electricities; and, secondly, when once they have been
-brought together, we have the production of a continuous current of
-electricity. Now, this current is an energetic agent, in proof of which
-we shall proceed to consider the various properties which it has,--the
-various things which it can do.
-
-
-_Its Magnetic Effects._
-
-96. In the first place, _it can deflect the magnetic needle_. For
-instance, let a compass needle be swung freely, and let a current of
-electricity circulate along a wire placed near this needle, and in the
-direction of its length, then the direction in which the needle points
-will be immediately altered. This direction will now depend upon that
-of the current, conveyed by the wire, and the needle will endeavour to
-place itself at right angles to this wire.
-
-In order to remember the connection between the direction of the
-current and that of the magnet, imagine your body to form part of the
-positive current, which may be supposed to enter in at your head, and
-go out at your feet; also imagine that your face is turned towards
-the magnet. In this case, the pole of the magnet, which points to the
-north, will always be deflected by the current towards your right
-hand. The strength of a current may be measured by the amount of the
-deflection it produces upon a magnetic needle, and the instrument by
-which this measurement is made is called a _galvanometer_.
-
-97. In the next place, _the current is able_, not merely to deflect
-a magnet, but also _to render soft iron magnetic_. Let us take, for
-instance, the wire connected with the one pole of the battery, and
-cover it with thread, in order to insulate it, and let us wrap this
-wire round a cylinder of soft iron, as in Fig. 9. If we now make a
-communication between the other extremity of the wire, and the other
-pole of the battery, so as to make the current pass, it will be found
-that our cylinder of soft iron has become a powerful magnet, and that
-if an iron keeper be attached to it as in the figure, the keeper will
-be able to sustain a very great weight.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 9.]
-
-
-_Its Heating Effect._
-
-98. _The electric current has likewise the property of heating a wire
-through which it passes._ To prove this, let us connect the two poles
-of a battery by means of a fine platinum wire, when it will be found
-that the wire will, in a few seconds, become heated to redness. In
-point of fact, the current will heat a thick wire, but not so much as a
-thin one, for we may suppose it to rush with great violence through the
-limited section of the thin wire, producing in its passage great heat.
-
-
-_Its Chemical Effect._
-
-99. Besides its magnetic and heating effects, _the current has also the
-power of decomposing compound substances_, under certain conditions.
-Suppose, for instance, that the poles of a battery, instead of being
-brought together, are plunged into a vessel of water, decomposition
-will at once begin, and small bubbles of oxygen will rise from the
-positive pole, while small bubbles of hydrogen will make their
-appearance at the negative. If the two gases are collected together in
-a vessel, they may be exploded, and if collected separately, it may
-be proved by the ordinary tests, that the one is oxygen and the other
-hydrogen.
-
-
-_Attraction and Repulsion of Currents._
-
-100. We have now described very shortly the magnetic, the heating, and
-the chemical effects of currents; it remains for us to describe the
-effects of currents upon one another.
-
-In the first place, suppose that we have two wires which are parallel
-to one another, and carry currents going in the same direction; and
-let us further suppose that these wires are capable of moving, then it
-is found that they will attract one another. If, however, the wires,
-although parallel, convey currents going in opposite directions, they
-will then repel one another. A good way of showing this experimentally
-is to cause two circular currents to float on water. If these currents
-both go either in the same direction as the hands of a watch, or in
-the opposite direction, then the two will attract one another; but if
-the one goes in the one direction, and the other in the other, they
-will then repel one another.
-
-
-_Attraction and Repulsion of Magnets._
-
-101. Ampère, who discovered this property of currents, has likewise
-shown us that in very many respects a magnet may be likened to a
-collection of circular currents all parallel to one another, their
-direction being such that, if you look towards the north pole of a
-freely suspended cylindrical magnet facing it, the positive current
-will descend on the east or left-hand side, and ascend on the west or
-right-hand side. If we adopt this method of viewing magnets, we can
-easily account for the attraction between the unlike and the repulsion
-between the like poles of a magnet, for when unlike poles are placed
-near each other, the circular currents which face each other are then
-all going in the same direction, and the two will, therefore, attract
-one another, but if like poles are placed in this position, the
-currents that face each other are going in opposite directions, and the
-poles will, therefore, repel one another.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 10.]
-
-_Induction of Currents._
-
-102. Before closing this short sketch of electrical phenomena, we must
-allude to the inductive effect of currents upon each other. Let us
-suppose (Fig. 10) that we have two circular coils of wire, covered with
-thread, and placed near each other. Let both the extremities of the
-right-hand coil be connected with the poles of a battery, so as to make
-a current of electricity circulate round the coil. On the other hand,
-let the left-hand coil be connected with a galvanometer, thus enabling
-us to detect the smallest current of electricity which may pass through
-this coil. Now, it is found that when we first connect the right-hand
-coil, so as to pass the battery current through it, a momentary current
-will pass through the left-hand coil, and will deflect the needle of
-the galvanometer, but this current will go in an opposite direction to
-that which circulates round the right-hand coil.
-
-103. Again, as long as the current continues to flow through the
-right-hand coil there will be no current through the other, but at
-the moment of breaking the contact between the right-hand coil and
-the battery there will again be a momentary current in the left-hand
-coil, but this time in the same direction as that of the right-hand
-coil, instead of being, as before, in the opposite direction. In other
-words, when contact is _made_ in the right-hand coil, there is a
-momentary current in the left-hand coil, but in an opposite direction
-to that in the right, while, when contact is _broken_ in the right-hand
-coil, there is a momentary current in the left-hand coil in the same
-direction as that in the right.
-
-104. In order to exemplify this induction of currents, it is not even
-necessary to make and break the current in the right-hand coil, for we
-may keep it constantly going and arrange so as to make the right-hand
-coil (always retaining its connection with the battery) alternately
-approach and recede from the other; when it approaches the other, the
-effect produced will be the same as when the contact was made in the
-above experiment--that is to say, we shall have an induced current in
-an opposite direction to that of the primary, while, when it recedes
-from the other, we shall have a current in the same direction as that
-of the primary.
-
-105. Thus we see that whether we keep both coils stationary, and
-suddenly produce a current in the right-hand coil, or whether, keeping
-this current constantly going, we suddenly bring it near the other
-coil, the inductive effect will be precisely the same, for in both
-cases the left-hand coil is suddenly brought into the presence of a
-current. And again, it is the same, whether we suddenly break the
-right-hand current, or suddenly remove it from the left-hand coil, for
-in both cases this coil is virtually removed from the presence of a
-current.
-
-
-_List of Energies._
-
-106. We are now in a position to enumerate the various kinds of
-energy which occur in nature; but, before doing so, we must warn our
-readers that this enumeration has nothing absolute or complete about
-it, representing, as it does, not so much the present state of our
-knowledge as of our want of knowledge, or rather profound ignorance, of
-the ultimate constitution of matter. It is, in truth, only a convenient
-classification, and nothing more.
-
-107. To begin, then, with visible energy. We have first of all--
-
-
-_Energy of Visible Motion._
-
- (A.) Visible energy of actual motion--in the planets, in meteors, in
- the cannon ball, in the storm, in the running stream, and in other
- instances of bodies in actual visible motion, too numerous to be
- mentioned.
-
-
-_Visible Energy of Position._
-
- (B.) We have also visible energy of position--in a stone on the top of
- a cliff, in a head of water, in a rain cloud, in a cross-bow bent, in
- a clock or watch wound up, and in various other instances.
-
-108. Then we have, besides, several cases in which there is an
-alternation between (A) and (B).
-
-A pendulum, for instance, when at its lowest point, has only the
-energy (A), or that of actual motion, in virtue of which it ascends a
-certain distance against the force of gravity. When, however, it has
-completed its ascent, its energy is then of the variety (B), being
-due to position, and not to actual motion; and so on it continues to
-oscillate, alternately changing the nature of its energy from (A) to
-(B), and from (B) back again to (A).
-
-109. A vibrating body is another instance of this alternation. Each
-particle of such a body may be compared to an exceedingly small
-pendulum oscillating backwards and forwards, only very much quicker
-than an ordinary pendulum; and just as the ordinary pendulum in passing
-its point of rest has its energy all of one kind, while in passing its
-upper point it has it all of another, so when a vibrating particle is
-passing its point of rest, its energy is all of the variety (A), and
-when it has reached its extreme displacement, it is all of the variety
-(B).
-
-
-_Heat Motion._
-
- 110. (C.) Coming now to molecular or invisible energy, we have, in
- the first place, that motion of the molecules of bodies which we term
- heat. A better term would be _absorbed heat_, to distinguish it from
- _radiant heat_, which is a very different thing. That peculiar motion
- which is imparted by heat when absorbed into a body is, therefore, one
- variety of molecular energy.
-
-
-_Molecular Separation._
-
- (D.) Analogous to this is that effect of heat which represents
- position rather than actual motion. For part of the energy of absorbed
- heat is spent in pulling asunder the molecules of the body under the
- attractive force which binds them together (Art. 73), and thus a store
- of energy of position is laid up, which disappears again after the
- body is cooled.
-
-
-_Atomic or Chemical Separation._
-
- 111. (E.) The two previous varieties of energy may be viewed as
- associated with molecules rather than with atoms, and with the force
- of cohesion rather than with that of chemical affinity. Proceeding now
- to atomic force, we have a species of energy of position due to the
- separation of different atoms under the strong chemical attraction
- they have for one another. Thus, when we possess coal or carbon and
- also oxygen in a state of separation from one another, we are in
- possession of a source of energy which may be called that of chemical
- separation.
-
-
-_Electrical Separation._
-
- 112 (F.) The attraction which heterogeneous atoms possess for one
- another, sometimes, however, gives rise to a species of energy which
- manifests itself in a very peculiar form, and appears as electrical
- separation, which is thus another form of energy of position.
-
-
-_Electricity in Motion._
-
- 113 (G.) But we have another species of energy connected with
- electricity, for we have that due to electricity in motion, or in
- other words, an electric current which probably represents some form
- of actual motion.
-
-
-_Radiant Energy._
-
- 114 (H.) It is well known that there is no ordinary matter, or at
- least hardly any, between the sun and the earth, and yet we have a
- kind of energy which we may call radiant energy, which proceeds
- to us from the sun, and proceeds also with a definite, though very
- great velocity, taking about eight minutes to perform its journey.
- Now, this radiant energy is known to consist of the vibrations of an
- elastic medium pervading all space, which is called ether, or the
- _ethereal medium_. Inasmuch, therefore, as it consists of vibrations,
- it partakes of the character of pendulum motion, that is to say, the
- energy of any ethereal particle is alternately that of position and
- that of actual motion.
-
-
-_Law of Conservation._
-
-115. Having thus endeavoured, provisionally at least, to catalogue our
-various energies, we are in a position to state more definitely what
-is meant by the conservation of energy. For this purpose, let us take
-the universe as a whole, or, if this be too large, let us conceive, if
-possible, a small portion of it to be isolated from the rest, as far as
-force or energy is concerned, forming a sort of microcosm, to which we
-may conveniently direct our attention.
-
-This portion, then, neither parts with any of its energy to the
-universe beyond, nor receives any from it. Such an isolation is, of
-course, unnatural and impossible, but it is conceivable, and will,
-at least, tend to concentrate our thoughts. Now, whether we regard
-the great universe, or this small microcosm, the principle of the
-conservation of energy asserts that the sum of all the various energies
-is a constant quantity, that is to say, adopting the language of
-Algebra--
-
- (A) + (B) + (C) + (D) + (E) + (F) + (G) + (H) = a constant quantity.
-
-116. This does not mean, of course, that (A) is constant in itself, or
-any other of the left-hand members of this equation, for, in truth,
-they are always changing about into each other--now, some visible
-energy being changed into heat or electricity; and, anon, some heat or
-electricity being changed back again into visible energy--but it only
-means that the sum of all the energies taken together is constant. We
-have, in fact, in the left hand, eight variable quantities, and we
-only assert that their sum is constant, not by any means that they are
-constant themselves.
-
-117. Now, what evidence have we for this assertion? It may be replied
-that we have the strongest possible evidence which the nature of the
-case admits of. The assertion is, in truth, a peculiar one--peculiar
-in its magnitude, in its universality, in the subtle nature of the
-agents with which it deals. If true, its truth certainly cannot be
-proved after the manner in which we prove a proposition in Euclid.
-Nor does it even admit of a proof so rigid as that of the somewhat
-analogous principle of the conservation of matter, for in chemistry we
-may confine the products of our chemical combination so completely
-as to prove, beyond a doubt, that no heavy matter passes out of
-existence that--when coal, for instance, burns in oxygen gas--what we
-have is merely a change of condition. But we cannot so easily prove
-that no energy is destroyed in this combination, and that the only
-result is a change from the energy of chemical separation into that of
-absorbed heat, for during the process it is impossible to isolate the
-energy--do what we may, some of it will escape into the room in which
-we perform the experiment; some of it will, no doubt, escape through
-the window, while a little will leave the earth altogether, and go
-out into space. All that we can do in such a case is to estimate, as
-completely as possible, how much energy has gone away, since we cannot
-possibly prevent its going. But this is an operation involving great
-acquaintance with the laws of energy, and very great exactness of
-observation: in fine, our readers will at once perceive that it is much
-more difficult to prove the truth of the conservation of energy than
-that of the conservation of matter.
-
-118. But if it be difficult to prove our principle in the most rigorous
-manner, we are yet able to give the strongest possible indirect
-evidence of its truth.
-
-Our readers are no doubt familiar with a method which Euclid frequently
-adopts in proving his propositions. Starting with the supposition
-that they are not true, and reasoning upon this hypothesis, he comes
-to an absurd conclusion--hence he concludes that they are true. Now,
-we may adopt a method somewhat similar with regard to our principle,
-only instead of supposing it untrue, let us suppose it true. It may
-then be shown that, if it be true, under certain test conditions we
-ought to obtain certain results--for instance, if we increase the
-pressure, we ought to lower the freezing point of water. Well, we make
-the experiment, and find that, in point of fact, the freezing point of
-water is lowered by increasing the pressure, and we have thus derived
-an argument in favour of the conservation of energy.
-
-119. Or again, if the laws of energy are true, it may be shown that,
-whenever a substance contracts when heated, it will become colder
-instead of hotter by compression. Now, we know that ice-cold water,
-or water just a little above its freezing point, contracts instead
-of expanding up to 4° C.; and Sir William Thomson has found, by
-experiment, that water at this temperature is cooled instead of heated
-by sudden compression. India-rubber is another instance of this
-relation between these two properties, for if we stretch a string of
-india-rubber it gets hotter instead of colder, that is to say, its
-temperature rises by extension, and gets lower by contraction; and
-again, if we heat the string, we find that it contracts in length
-instead of expanding like other substances as its temperature increases.
-
-120. Numberless instances occur in which we are enabled to predict
-what will happen by assuming the truth of the laws of energy; in other
-words, these laws are proved to be true in all cases where we can put
-them to the test of rigorous experiment, and probably we can have no
-better proof than this of the truth of such a principle. We shall
-therefore proceed upon the assumption that the conservation of energy
-holds true in all cases, and give our readers a list of the various
-transmutations of this subtle agent as it goes backwards and forwards
-from one abode to another, making, meanwhile, sundry remarks that may
-tend, we trust, to convince our readers of the truth of our assumption.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-_TRANSMUTATIONS OF ENERGY._
-
-
-_Energy of Visible Motion._
-
-121. Let us begin our list of transmutations with the energy of
-visible motion. This is changed into _energy of position_ when a stone
-is projected upwards above the earth, or, to take a case precisely
-similar, when a planet or a comet goes from perihelion, or its position
-nearest the sun, to aphelion, or its position furthest from the sun.
-We thus see why a heavenly body should move fastest at perihelion, and
-slowest at aphelion. If, however, a planet were to move round the sun
-in an orbit exactly circular, its velocity would be the same at all the
-various points of this orbit, because there would be no change in its
-distance from the centre of attraction, and therefore no transmutation
-of energy.
-
-122. We have already (Arts. 108, 109) said that the energy in an
-oscillating or vibrating body is alternately that of actual motion, and
-that of position. In this respect, therefore, a pendulum is similar to
-a comet or heavenly body with an elliptical orbit. Nevertheless the
-change of energy is generally more complete in a pendulum or vibrating
-body than it is in a heavenly body; for in a pendulum, when at its
-lowest point, the energy is entirely that of actual motion, while at
-its upper point it is entirely that of position. Now, in a heavenly
-body we have only a lessening, but not an entire destruction, of the
-velocity, as the body passes from perihelion to aphelion--that is to
-say, we have only a partial conversion of the one kind of energy into
-the other.
-
-123. Let us next consider the change of actual visible energy into
-_absorbed heat_. This takes place in all cases of friction, percussion,
-and resistance. In friction, for instance, we have the conversion of
-work or energy into heat, which is here produced through the rubbing
-of surfaces against each other; and Davy has shown that two pieces of
-ice, both colder than the freezing point, may be melted by friction.
-In percussion, again, we have the energy of the blow converted into
-heat; while, in the case of a meteor or cannon ball passing through the
-air with great velocity, we have the loss of energy of the meteor or
-cannon ball through its contact with the air, and at the same time the
-production of heat on account of this resistance.
-
-The resistance need not be atmospheric, for we may set the cannon ball
-to pierce through wooden planks or through sand, and there will equally
-be a production of heat on account of the resistance offered by the
-wooden planks or by the sand to the motion of the ball. We may even
-generalize still further, and assert that whenever the visible momentum
-of a body is transferred to a larger mass, there is at the same time
-the conversion of visible energy into heat.
-
-124. A little explanation will be required to make this point clear.
-
-The third law of motion tells us that action and reaction are equal and
-opposite, so that when two bodies come into collision the forces at
-work generate equal and opposite quantities of momentum. We shall best
-see the meaning of this law by a numerical example, bearing in mind
-that momentum means the product of mass into velocity.
-
-For instance, let us suppose that an inelastic body of mass 10 and
-velocity 20 strikes directly another inelastic body of mass 15 and
-velocity 15, the direction of both motions being the same.
-
-Now, it is well known that the united mass will, after impact, be
-moving with the velocity 17. What, then, has been the influence of the
-forces developed by collision? The body of greater velocity had before
-impact a momentum 10 × 20 = 200, while its momentum after impact is
-only 10 × 17 = 170; it has therefore suffered a loss of 30 units as
-regards momentum, or we may consider that a momentum of 30 units has
-been impressed upon it in an opposite direction to its previous motion.
-
-On the other hand, the body of smaller velocity had before impact a
-momentum 15 × 15 = 225, while after impact it has 15 × 17 = 255 units,
-so that its momentum has been increased by 30 units in its previous
-direction.
-
-The force of impact has therefore generated 30 units of momentum in two
-opposite directions, so that, taking account of direction, the momentum
-of the system is the same before and after impact; for before impact we
-had a momentum of 10 × 20 + 15 × 15 = 425, while after it we have the
-united mass 25 moving with the velocity 17, giving the momentum 425 as
-before.
-
-125. But while the momentum is the same before and after impact, the
-visible energy of the moving mass is undoubtedly less after impact
-than before it. To see this we have only to turn to the expression
-of Art. 28, from which we find that the energy before impact was as
-follows:--Energy in kilogrammetres = (_m v_²)/(19 · 6) = (10 × 20² + 15
-× 15²)/19·6 = 376 nearly; while that after impact = (25 × 17²)/19·6 =
-368 nearly.
-
-126. The loss of energy will be still more manifest if we suppose an
-inelastic body in motion to strike against a similar body at rest. Thus
-if we have a body of mass 20 and velocity 20 striking against one of
-equal mass, but at rest, the velocity of the double mass after impact
-will obviously be only 10; but, as regards energy, that before impact
-will be (20 × 20²)/19·6 = ⁸⁰⁰⁰⁄₁₉·6 while that after impact will be
-(40 × 10²)/19·6 = ⁴⁰⁰⁰⁄₁₉·6 or only half the former.
-
-127. Thus there is in all such cases an apparent loss of visible
-energy, while at the same time there is the production of heat on
-account of the blow which takes place. If, however, the substances that
-come together be perfectly elastic (which no substance is), the visible
-energy after impact will be the same as that before, and in this case
-there will be no conversion into heat. This, however, is an extreme
-supposition, and inasmuch as no substance is perfectly elastic, we
-have in all cases of collision a greater or less conversion of visible
-motion into heat.
-
-128. We have spoken (Art. 122) about the change of energy in an
-oscillating or vibrating body, as if it were entirely one of actual
-energy into energy of position, and the reverse.
-
-But even here, in each oscillation or vibration, there is a greater
-or less conversion of visible energy into heat. Let us, for instance,
-take a pendulum, and, in order to make the circumstances as favourable
-as possible, let it swing on a knife edge, and in vacuo; in this case
-there will be a slight but constant friction of the knife edge against
-the plane on which it rests, and though the pendulum may continue to
-swing for hours, yet it will ultimately come to rest.
-
-And, again, it is impossible to make a vacuum so perfect that there is
-absolutely no air surrounding the pendulum, so that part of the motion
-of the pendulum will always be carried off by the residual air of the
-vacuum in which it swings.
-
-129. Now, something similar happens in that vibratory motion which
-constitutes sound. Thus, when a bell is in vibration, part of the
-energy of the vibration is carried off by the surrounding air, and it
-is in virtue of this that we hear the sound of the bell; but, even if
-there were no air, the bell would not go on vibrating for ever. For
-there is in all bodies a greater or less amount of internal viscosity,
-a property which prevents perfect freedom of vibration, and which
-ultimately converts vibrations into heat.
-
-A vibrating bell is thus very much in the same position as an
-oscillating pendulum, for in both part of the energy is given off to
-the air, and in both there is unavoidable friction--in the one taking
-the shape of internal viscosity, and in the other that of friction of
-the knife edge against the plane on which it rests.
-
-130. In both these cases, too, that portion of the energy which goes
-into the air takes ultimately the shape of heat. The oscillating
-pendulum communicates a motion to the air, and this motion ultimately
-heats the air. The vibrating bell, or musical instrument, in like
-manner communicates part of its energy to the air. This communicated
-energy first of all moves through the air with the well-known velocity
-of sound, but during its progress it, too, no doubt becomes partly
-converted into heat. Ultimately, it is transmitted by the air to other
-bodies, and by means of their internal viscosity is sooner or later
-converted into heat. Thus we see that heat is the form of energy, into
-which all visible terrestrial motion, whether it be rectilinear, or
-oscillatory, or vibratory, is ultimately changed.
-
-131. In the case of a body in visible rectilinear motion on the earth’s
-surface, this change takes place very soon--if the motion be rotatory,
-such as that of a heavy revolving top, it may, perhaps, continue longer
-before it is ultimately stopped, by means of the surrounding air, and
-by friction of the pivot; if it be oscillatory, as in the pendulum, or
-vibratory, as in a musical instrument, we have seen that the air and
-internal friction are at work, in one shape or another, to carry it
-off, and will ultimately succeed in converting it into heat.
-
-132. But, it may be said, why consider a body moving on the earth’s
-surface? why not consider the motion of the earth itself? Will this
-also ultimately take the shape of heat?
-
-No doubt it is more difficult to trace the conversion in such a case,
-inasmuch as it is not proceeding at a sensible rate before our eyes. In
-other words, the very conditions that make the earth habitable, and a
-fit abode for intelligent beings like ourselves, are those which unfit
-us to perceive this conversion of energy in the case of the earth. Yet
-we are not without indications that it is actually taking place. For
-the purpose of exhibiting these, we may divide the earth’s motion into
-two--a motion of rotation, and one of revolution.
-
-133. Now, with regard to the earth’s rotation, the conversion of the
-visible energy of this motion into heat is already well recognized. To
-understand this we have only to study the nature of the moon’s action
-upon the fluid portions of our globe. In the following diagram (Fig.
-11) we have an exaggerated representation of this, by which we see that
-the spherical earth is converted into an elongated oval, of which one
-extremity always points to the moon. The solid body of the earth itself
-revolves as usual, but, nevertheless, this fluid protuberance remains
-always pointing towards the moon, as we see in the figure, and hence
-the earth rubs against the protuberance as it revolves. The friction
-produced by this action tends evidently to lessen the rotatory energy
-of the earth--in other words, it acts like a break--and we have, just
-as by a break-wheel, the conversion of visible energy into heat. This
-was first recognized by Mayer and J. Thomson.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 11.]
-
-134. But while there can be no doubt about the fact of such a
-conversion going on, the only question is regarding its rate of
-progress, and the time required before it can cause a perceptible
-impression upon the rotative energy of the earth.
-
-Now, it is believed by astronomers that they have detected evidence of
-such a change, for our knowledge of the motions of the sun and moon has
-become so exact, that not only can we carry forward our calculations so
-as to predict an eclipse, but also carry them backwards, and thus fix
-the dates and even the very details of the ancient historical eclipses.
-
-If, however, between those times and the present, the earth has lost a
-little rotative energy on account of this peculiar action of the moon,
-then it is evident that the calculated circumstances of the ancient
-total eclipse will not quite agree with those actually recorded; and by
-a comparison of this nature it is believed that we have detected a very
-slight falling off in the rotative energy of our earth. If we carry out
-the argument, we shall be driven to the conclusion that the rotative
-energy of our globe will, on account of the moon’s action, always get
-less and less, until things are brought into such a state that the
-rotation comes to be performed in the same time as the revolution of
-the moon, so that then the same portion of the terrestrial surface
-being always presented to the moon, it is evident that there will be no
-effort made by the solid substance of the earth, to glide from under
-the fluid protuberance, and there will in consequence be no friction,
-and no further loss of energy.
-
-135. If the fate of the earth be ultimately to turn the same face
-always to the moon, we have abundant evidence that this very fate has
-long since overtaken the moon herself. Indeed, the much stronger effect
-of our earth upon the moon has produced this result, probably, even in
-those remote periods when the moon was chiefly fluid; and it is a fact
-well known, not merely to astronomers, but to all of us, that the moon
-nowadays turns always the same face to the earth.[4] No doubt this fate
-has long since overtaken the satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, and the
-other large planets; and there are independent indications that, at
-least in the case of Jupiter, the satellites turn always the same face
-to their primary.
-
-136. To come now to the energy of revolution of the earth, in her
-orbit round the sun, we cannot help believing that there is a material
-medium of some kind between the sun and the earth; indeed, the
-undulatory theory of light requires this belief. But if we believe in
-such a medium, it is difficult to imagine that its presence will not
-ultimately diminish the motion of revolution of the earth in her orbit;
-indeed, there is a strong scientific probability, if not an absolute
-certainty, that such will be the case. There is even some reason to
-think that the energy of a comet of small period, called Encke’s
-comet, is gradually being stopped from this cause; in fine, there can
-be hardly any doubt that the cause is really in operation, and will
-ultimately affect the motions of the planets and other heavenly bodies,
-even although its rate of action may be so slow that we are not able to
-detect it.
-
-We may perhaps generalize by saying, that wherever in the universe
-there is a differential motion, that is to say, a motion of one part
-of it towards or from another, then, in virtue of the subtle medium,
-or cement, that binds the various parts of the universe together, this
-motion is not unattended by something like friction, in virtue of which
-the differential motion will ultimately disappear, while the loss of
-energy caused by its disappearance will assume the form of heat.
-
-137. There are, indeed, obscure intimations that a conversion of this
-kind is not improbably taking place in the solar system; for, in the
-sun himself, we have the matter near the equator, by virtue of the
-rotation of our luminary, carried alternately towards and from the
-various planets. Now, it would seem that the sun-spots, or atmospheric
-disturbances of the sun, affect particularly his equatorial regions,
-and have likewise a tendency to attain their maximum size in that
-position, which is as far away as possible from the influential
-planets, such as Mercury or Venus;[5] so that if Venus, for instance,
-were between the earth and the sun, there would be few sun-spots in the
-middle of the sun’s disc, because that would be the part of the sun
-nearest Venus.
-
-But if the planets influence sun-spots, the action is no doubt
-reciprocal, and we have much reason to believe that sun-spots
-influence, not only the magnetism, but also the meteorology of our
-earth, so that there are most displays of the Aurora Borealis, as well
-as most cyclones, in those years when there are most sun-spots.[6] Is
-it not then possible that, in these strange, mysterious phenomena, we
-see traces of the machinery by means of which the differential motion
-of the solar system is gradually being changed into heat?
-
-138. We have thus seen that visible energy of actual motion is not
-unfrequently changed into visible energy of position, and that it is
-also very often transformed into absorbed heat. We have now to state
-that it may likewise be transformed into _electrical separation_.
-Thus, when an ordinary electrical machine is in action, considerable
-labour is spent in turning the handle; it is, in truth, harder to turn
-than if no electricity were being produced--in other words, part of
-the energy which is spent upon the machine goes to the production of
-electrical separation. There are other ways of generating electricity
-besides the frictional method. If, for instance, we bring an insulated
-conducting plate near the prime conductor of the electrical machine,
-yet not near enough to cause a spark to pass, and if we then touch the
-insulated plate, we shall find it, after contact, to be charged with an
-electricity the opposite of that in the machine; we may then remove it
-and make use of this electricity.
-
-It requires a little thought to see what labour we have spent in this
-process. We must bear in mind that, by touching the plate, we have
-carried off the electricity of the same name as that of the machine,
-so that, after touching the insulated plate it is more strongly
-attracted to the conductor than it was before. When we begin to remove
-it, therefore, it will cost us an effort to do so, and the mechanical
-energy which we spend in removing it will account for the energy of
-electrical separation which we then obtain.
-
-139. We may thus make use of a small nucleus of electricity, to assist
-us in procuring an unlimited supply, for in the above process the
-electricity of the prime conductor remains unaltered, and we may repeat
-the operation as often as we like, and gather together a very large
-quantity of electricity, without finally altering the electricity of
-the prime conductor, but not, however, without the expenditure of an
-equivalent amount of energy, in the shape of actual work.
-
-140. While, as we have seen, there is a tendency in all motion to be
-changed into heat, there is one instance where it is, in the first
-place at least, changed into _a current of electricity_. We allude
-to the case where a conducting substance moves in the presence of an
-electric current, or of a magnet.
-
-In Art. 104 we found that if one coil connected with a battery were
-quickly moved into the presence of another coil connected with a
-galvanometer, an induced current would be generated in the latter coil,
-and would affect the galvanometer, its direction being the reverse of
-that passing in the other. Now, an electric current implies energy, and
-we may therefore conclude that some other form of energy must be spent,
-or disappear, in order to produce the current which is generated in the
-coil attached to the galvanometer.
-
-Again, we learn from Art. 100 that two currents going in opposite
-directions repel one another. The current generated in the coil
-attached to the galvanometer or secondary current will, therefore,
-repel the primary current, which is moving towards it; this repulsion
-will either cause a stoppage of motion, or render necessary the
-expenditure of energy, in order to keep up the motion of this moving
-coil. We thus find that two phenomena occur simultaneously. In the
-first place, there is the production of energy in the secondary coil,
-in the shape of a current opposite in direction to that of the primary
-coil; in the next case, owing to the repulsion between this induced
-current and the primary current, there is a stoppage or disappearance
-of the energy of actual motion of the moving coil. We have, in fact,
-the creation of one species of energy, and at the same time the
-disappearance of another, and thus we see that the law of conservation
-is by no means broken.
-
-141. We see also the necessary connection between the two electrical
-laws described in Arts. 100 and 104. Indeed, had these laws been other
-than what they are, the principle of conservation of energy would have
-been broken.
-
-For instance, had the induced current in the case now mentioned been
-in the same direction as that of the primary, the two currents would
-have attracted each other, and thus there would have been the creation
-of a secondary current, implying energy, in the coil attached to the
-galvanometer, along with an increase of the visible energy of motion
-of the primary current--that is to say, instead of the creation of
-one kind of energy, accompanied with the disappearance of another, we
-should have had the simultaneous creation of both; and thus the law of
-conservation of energy would have been broken.
-
-We thus see that the principle of conservation enables us to deduce
-the one electrical law from the other, and this is one of the many
-instances which strengthen our belief in the truth of the great
-principle for which we are contending.
-
-142. Let us next consider what will take place if we cause the primary
-current to move from the secondary coil instead of towards it.
-
-In this case we know, from Art. 104, that the induced current will be
-in the same direction as the primary, while we are told by Art. 100
-that the two currents will now attract each other. The tendency of this
-attraction will be to stop the motion of the primary current from
-the secondary one, or, in other words, there will be a disappearance
-of the energy of visible motion, while at the same time there is the
-production of a current. In both cases, therefore, one form of energy
-disappears while another takes its place, and in both there will be a
-very perceptible resistance experienced in moving the primary coil,
-whether towards the secondary or from it. Work will, in fact, have to
-be spent in both operations, and the outcome of this work or energy
-will be the production of a current in the first place, and of heat in
-the second; for we learn from Art. 98 that when a current passes along
-a wire its energy is generally spent in heating the wire.
-
-We have thus two phenomena occurring together. In the first place, in
-moving a current of electricity to and from a coil of wire, or any
-other conductor, or (which is the same thing, since action and reaction
-are equal and opposite) in moving a coil of wire or any other conductor
-to and from a current of electricity, a sense of resistance will be
-experienced, and energy will have to be spent upon the process; in the
-second place, an electrical current will be generated in the conductor,
-and the conductor will be heated in consequence.
-
-143. The result will be rendered very prominent if we cause a metallic
-top, in rapid rotation, to spin near two iron poles, which, by means
-of the battery, we can suddenly convert into the poles of a powerful
-electro-magnet. When this change is made, and the poles become
-magnetic, the motion of the top is very speedily brought to rest,
-just as if it had to encounter a species of invisible friction. This
-curious result can easily be explained. We have seen from Art. 101
-that a magnet resembles an assemblage of electric currents, and in the
-metallic top we have a conductor alternately approaching these currents
-and receding from them; and hence, according to what has been said, we
-shall have a series of secondary currents produced in the conducting
-top which will stop its motion, and which will ultimately take the
-shape of heat. In other words, the visible energy of the top will be
-changed into heat just as truly as if it were stopped by ordinary
-friction.
-
-144. The electricity induced in a metallic conductor, moved in
-the presence of a powerful magnet, has received the name of
-Magneto-Electricity; and Dr. Joule has made use of it as a convenient
-means of enabling him to determine the mechanical equivalent of heat,
-for it is into heat that the energy of motion of the conductor is
-ultimately transformed. But, besides all this, these currents form,
-perhaps, the very best means of obtaining electricity; and recently
-very powerful machines have been constructed by Wild and others with
-this view.
-
-145. These machines, when large, are worked by a steam-engine, and
-their mode of operation is as follows:--The nucleus of the machine
-is a system of powerful permanent steel magnets, and a conducting
-coil is made to revolve rapidly in presence of these magnets. The
-current produced by this moving coil is then used in order to produce
-an extremely powerful electro-magnet, and finally a coil is made to
-move with great rapidity in presence of this powerful electro-magnet,
-thus causing induced currents of vast strength. So powerful are these
-currents, that when used to produce the electric light, small print may
-be read on a dark night at the distance of two miles from the scene of
-operation!
-
-It thus appears that in this machine a double use is made of
-magneto-electricity. Starting with a nucleus of permanent magnetism,
-the magneto-electric currents are used, in the first instance, to
-form a powerful electro-magnet much stronger than the first, and this
-powerful electro-magnet is again made use of in the same way as the
-first, in order to give, by means of magneto-electricity, an induced
-current of very great strength.
-
-146. There is, moreover, a very great likeness between a
-magneto-electric machine like that of Wild’s for generating electric
-currents, and the one which generates statical electricity by means of
-the method already described Art. 139. In both cases advantage is taken
-of a nucleus, for in the magneto-electric machine we have the molecular
-currents of a set of permanent magnets, which are made the means of
-generating enormous electric currents without any permanent alteration
-to themselves, yet not without the expenditure of work.
-
-Again, in an induction machine for generating statical electricity,
-we have an electric nucleus, such as we have supposed to reside in the
-prime conductor of a machine; and advantage may be taken, as we have
-seen, of this nucleus in order to generate a vast quantity of statical
-electricity, without any permanent alteration of the nucleus, but not
-without the expenditure of work.
-
-147. We have now seen under what conditions the visible energy of
-actual motion may be changed--1stly, into energy of position; 2ndly,
-into the two energies which embrace absorbed heat; 3rdly, into
-electrical separation; and finally into electricity in motion. As far
-as we know, visible energy cannot directly be transformed into chemical
-separation, or into radiant energy.
-
-
-_Visible Energy of Position._
-
-148. Having thus exhausted the transmutations of the energy of
-visible motion, we next turn to that of position, and find that it
-is transmuted into motion, but not immediately into any other form
-of energy; we may, therefore, dismiss this variety at once from our
-consideration.
-
-
-_Absorbed Heat._
-
-140. Coming now to these two forms of energy which embrace _absorbed
-heat_, we find that this may be converted into (A) or _actual visible
-energy_ in the case of the steam-engine, the air-engine, and all
-varieties of heat engines. In the steam-engine, for instance, part
-of the heat which passes through it disappears as heat, utterly and
-absolutely, to reappear as mechanical effect. There is, however, one
-condition which must be rigidly fulfilled, whenever heat is changed
-into mechanical effect--there must be a difference of temperature, and
-_heat will only be changed into work, while it passes from a body of
-high temperature to one of low_.
-
-Carnot, the celebrated French physicist, has ingeniously likened the
-mechanical power of heat to that of water; for just as you can get
-no work out of heat unless there be a flow of heat from a higher
-temperature level to a lower, so neither can you get work out of water
-unless it be falling from a higher level to a lower.
-
-150. If we reflect that heat is essentially distributive in its nature,
-we shall soon perceive the reason for this peculiar law; for, in virtue
-of its nature, heat is always rushing from a body of high temperature
-to one of low, and if left to itself it would distribute itself equally
-amongst all bodies, so that they would ultimately become of the same
-temperature. Now, if we are to coax work out of heat, we must humour
-its nature, for it may be compared to a pack of schoolboys, who are
-always ready to run with sufficient violence out of the schoolroom into
-the open fields, but who have frequently to be dragged back with a very
-considerable expenditure of energy. So heat will not allow itself to be
-confined, but will resist any attempt to accumulate it into a limited
-space. Work cannot, therefore, be gained by such an operation, but
-must, on the contrary, be spent upon the process.
-
-151. Let us now for a moment consider the case of an enclosure in which
-everything is of the same temperature. Here we have a dull dead level
-of heat, out of which it will be impossible to obtain the faintest
-semblance of work. The temperature may even be high, and there may be
-immense stores of heat energy in the enclosure, but not a trace of this
-is available in the shape of work. Taking up Carnot’s comparison, the
-water has already fallen to the same level, and lies there without any
-power of doing useful work--dead, in a sense, as far as visible energy
-is concerned.
-
-152. We thus perceive that, firstly, we can get work out of heat when
-it passes from a higher to a lower temperature, but that, secondly,
-we must spend work upon it in order to make it pass from a lower
-temperature to a higher one; and that, thirdly and finally, nothing
-in the shape of work can be got out of heat which is all at the same
-temperature level.
-
-What we have now said enables us to realize the conditions under which
-all heat engines work. The essential point about such engines is, not
-the possession of a cylinder, or piston, or fly wheels, or valves,
-but the possession of two chambers, one of high and the other of low
-temperature, while it performs work in the process of carrying heat
-from the chamber of high to that of low temperature.
-
-Let us take, for example, the low-pressure engine. Here we have the
-boiler or chamber of high, and the condenser or chamber of low,
-temperature, and the engine works while heat is being carried from
-the boiler to the condenser--never while it is being carried from the
-condenser to the boiler.
-
-In like manner in the locomotive we have the steam generated at a high
-temperature and pressure, and cooled by injection into the atmosphere.
-
-153. But, leaving formal engines, let us take an ordinary fire, which
-plays in truth the part of an engine, as far as energy is concerned.
-We have here the cold air streaming in over the floor of the room,
-and rushing into the fire, to be there united with carbon, while
-the rarefied product is carried up the chimney. Dismissing from our
-thoughts at present the process of combustion, except as a means of
-supplying heat, we see that there is a continual in-draught of cold
-air, which is heated by the fire, and then sent to mingle with the
-air above. Heat is, in fact, distributed by this means, or carried
-from a body of high temperature, _i.e._ the fire, to a body of low
-temperature, _i.e._ the outer air, and in this process of distribution
-mechanical effect is obtained in the up-rush of air through the chimney
-with considerable velocity.
-
-154. Our own earth is another instance of such an engine, having
-the equatorial regions as its boiler, and the polar regions as its
-condensers; for, at the equator, the air is heated by the direct
-rays of the sun, and we have there an ascending current of air, up a
-chimney as it were, the place of which is supplied by an in-draught of
-colder air along the ground or floor of the world, from the poles on
-both sides. Thus the heated air makes its way from the equator to the
-poles in the upper regions of the atmosphere, while the cold air makes
-its way from the poles to the equator along the lower regions. Very
-often, too, aqueous vapour as well as air is carried up by means of
-the sun’s heat to the upper and colder atmospheric regions, and there
-deposited in the shape of rain, or hail, or snow, which ultimately
-finds its way back again to the earth, often displaying in its passage
-immense mechanical energy. Indeed, the mariner who hoists his sail,
-and the miller who grinds his corn (whether he use the force of the
-wind or that of running water), are both dependent upon this great
-earth-engine, which is constantly at work producing mechanical effect,
-but always in the act of carrying heat from its hotter to its colder
-regions.
-
-155. Now, if it be essential to an engine to have two chambers, one
-hot and one cold, it is equally important that there should be a
-considerable temperature difference between the two.
-
-If Nature insists upon a difference before she will give us work, we
-shall not be able to pacify her, or to meet her requirements by making
-this difference as small as possible. And hence, _cæteris paribus_, we
-shall obtain a greater proportion of work out of a certain amount of
-heat passing through our engine when the temperature difference between
-its boiler and condenser is as great as possible. In a steam-engine
-this difference cannot be very great, because if the water of the
-boiler were at a very high temperature the pressure of its steam would
-become dangerous; but in an air-engine, or engine that heats and
-cools air, the temperature difference may be much larger. There are,
-however, practical inconveniences in engines for which the temperature
-of the boiler is very high, and it is possible that these may prove
-so formidable as to turn the scale against such engines, although in
-theory they ought to be very economical.
-
-156. The principles now stated have been employed by Professor J.
-Thomson, in his suggestion that the application of pressure would be
-found to lower the freezing point of water; and the truth of this
-suggestion was afterwards proved by Professor Sir W. Thomson. The
-following was the reasoning employed by the former:--
-
-Suppose that we have a chamber kept constantly at the temperature 0°
-C., or the melting point of ice, and that we have a cylinder, of which
-the sectional area is one square metre, filled one metre in height with
-water, that is to say, containing one cubic metre of water. Suppose,
-next, that a well-fitting piston is placed above the surface of the
-water in this cylinder, and that a considerable weight is placed upon
-the piston. Let us now take the cylinder, water and all, and carry it
-into another room, of which the temperature is just a trifle lower. In
-course of time the water will freeze, and, as it expands in freezing,
-it will push up the piston and weight about ⁹⁄₁₀₀ths of a metre; and we
-may suppose that the piston is kept fastened in this position by means
-of a peg. Now carry back the machine into the first room, and in the
-course of time the ice will be melted, and we shall have water once
-more in the cylinder, but there will now be a void space of ⁹⁄₁₀₀ths
-of a metre between the piston and the surface. We have thus acquired
-a certain amount of energy of position, and we have only to pull out
-the peg, and allow the piston with its weight to fall down through
-the vacant space, in order to utilize this energy, after which the
-arrangement is ready to start afresh. Again, if the weight be very
-great, the energy thus gained will be very great; in fact, the energy
-will vary with the weight. In fine, the arrangement now described is
-a veritable heat engine, of which the chamber at 0° C. corresponds to
-the boiler, and the other chamber a trifle lower in temperature to
-the condenser, while the amount of work we get out of the engine--or,
-in other words, its efficiency--will depend upon the weight which is
-raised through the space of ⁹⁄₁₀₀ths of a metre, so that, by increasing
-this weight without limit, we may increase the efficiency of our engine
-without limit. It would thus at first sight appear that by this device
-of having two chambers, one at 0° C., and the other a trifle lower,
-we can get any amount of work out of our water engine; and that,
-consequently, we have managed to overcome Nature. But here Thomson’s
-law come into operation, showing that we cannot overcome Nature by any
-such device, but that if we have a large weight upon our piston, we
-must have a proportionally large difference of temperature between our
-two chambers--that is to say, the freezing point of water, under great
-pressure, will be lower in temperature than its freezing point, if the
-pressure upon it be only small.
-
-Before leaving this subject we must call upon our readers to realize
-what takes place in all heat engines. It is not merely that heat
-produces mechanical effect, but that _a given quantity of heat
-absolutely passes out of existence as heat in producing its equivalent
-of work_. If, therefore, we could measure the mere heat produced in an
-engine by the burning of a ton of coals, we should find it to be less
-when the engine was doing work than when it was at rest.
-
-In like manner, when a gas expands suddenly its temperature falls,
-because a certain amount of its heat passes out of existence in the act
-of producing mechanical effect.
-
-157. We have thus endeavoured to show under what conditions absorbed
-heat may be converted into mechanical effect. This absorbed heat
-embraces (Art. 110) two varieties of energy, one of these being
-molecular motion, and the other molecular energy of position.
-
-Let us now, therefore, endeavour to ascertain under what circumstances
-the one of these varieties may be changed into the other. It is well
-known that it takes a good deal of heat to convert a kilogramme of ice
-into water, and that when the ice is melted the temperature of the
-water is not perceptibly higher than that of the ice. It is equally
-well known that it takes a great deal of heat to convert a kilogramme
-of boiling water into steam, and that when the transformation is
-accomplished, the steam produced is not perceptibly hotter than the
-boiling water. In such cases the heat is said to become latent.
-
-Now, in both these cases, but more obviously in the last, we may
-suppose that the heat has not had its usual office to perform, but
-that, instead of increasing the motion of the molecules of water, it
-has spent its energy in tearing them asunder from each other, against
-the force of cohesion which binds them together.
-
-Indeed, we know as a matter of fact that the force of cohesion which is
-perceptible in boiling water is apparently absent from steam, or the
-vapour of water, because its molecules are too remote from one another
-to allow of this force being appreciable. We may, therefore, suppose
-that a large part, at least, of the heat necessary to convert boiling
-water into steam is spent in doing work against molecular forces.
-
-When the steam is once more condensed into hot water, the heat thus
-spent reassumes the form of molecular motion, and the consequence
-is that we require to take away somehow all the latent heat of a
-kilogramme of steam before we can convert it into boiling water. In
-fact, if it is difficult and tedious to convert water into steam, it is
-difficult and tedious to convert steam into water.
-
-158. Besides the case now mentioned, there are other instances in
-which, no doubt, molecular separation becomes gradually changed into
-heat motion. Thus, when a piece of glass has been suddenly cooled,
-its particles have not had time to acquire their proper position, and
-the consequence is that the whole structure is thrown into a state of
-constraint. In the course of time such bodies tend to assume a more
-stable state, and their particles gradually come closer together.
-
-It is owing to this cause that the bulb of a thermometer recently blown
-gradually contracts, and it is no doubt owing to the same cause that a
-Prince Rupert’s drop, formed by dropping melted glass into water, when
-broken, falls into powder with a kind of explosion. It seems probable
-that in all such cases these changes are attended with heat, and that
-they denote the conversion of the energy of molecular separation into
-that of molecular motion.
-
-159. Having thus examined the transmutations of (C) into (D), and
-of (D) back again into (C), let us now proceed with our list, and
-see under what circumstances absorbed heat is changed into _chemical
-separation_.
-
-It is well known that when certain bodies are heated, they are
-decomposed; for instance, if limestone or carbonate of lime be heated,
-it is decomposed, the carbonic acid being given out in the shape of
-gas, while quick-lime remains behind. Now, heat is consumed in this
-process, that is to say, a certain amount of heat energy absolutely
-passes out of existence _as heat_ and is changed into the energy of
-chemical separation. Again, if the lime so obtained be exposed, under
-certain circumstances, to an atmosphere of carbonic acid, it will
-gradually become changed into carbonate of lime; and in this change
-(which is a gradual one) we may feel assured that the energy of
-chemical separation is once more converted into the energy of heat,
-although we may not perceive any increment of temperature, on account
-of the slow nature of the process.
-
-At very high temperatures it is possible that most compounds are
-decomposed, and the temperature at which this takes place, for any
-compound, has been termed its _temperature of disassociation_.
-
-160. Heat energy is changed into _electrical separation_ when
-tourmalines and certain other crystals are heated.
-
-Let us take, for instance, a crystal of tourmaline and raise its
-temperature, and we shall find one end positively, and the other
-negatively, electrified. Again, let us take the same crystal, and
-suddenly cool it, and we shall find an electrification of the
-opposite kind to the former, so that the end of the axis, which
-was then positive, will now be negative. Now, this separation of
-the electricities denotes energy; and we have, therefore, in such
-crystals a case where the energy of heat has been changed into that
-of electrical separation. In other words, a certain amount of heat has
-passed out of existence _as heat_, while in its place a certain amount
-of electrical separation has been obtained.
-
-161. Let us next see under what circumstances heat is changed
-into _electricity in motion_. This transmutation takes place in
-thermo-electricity.
-
-Suppose, for instance, that we have a bar of copper or antimony, say
-copper, soldered to a bar of bismuth, as in Fig. 12. Let us now heat
-one of the junctions, while the other remains cool. It will be found
-that a current of positive electricity circulates round the bar, in
-the direction of the arrow-head, going from the bismuth to the copper
-across the heated junction, the existence of which may be detected by
-means of a compass needle, as we see in the figure.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 12.]
-
-Here, then, we have a case in which heat energy goes out of existence,
-and is converted into that of an electric current, and we may even
-arrange matters so as to make, on this principle, an instrument which
-shall be an extremely delicate test of the existence of heat.
-
-By having a number of junctions of bismuth and antimony, as in Fig.
-13, and heating the upper set, while the lower remain cool, we get a
-strong current going from the bismuth to the antimony across the heated
-junctions, and we may pass the current so produced round the wire of
-a galvanometer, and thus, by increasing the number of our junctions,
-and also by using a very delicate galvanometer, we may get a very
-perceptible effect for the smallest heating of the upper junctions.
-This arrangement is called the _thermopile_, and, in conjunction with
-the reflecting galvanometer, it affords the most delicate means known
-for detecting small quantities of heat.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 13.]
-
-162. The last transmutation on our list with respect to absorbed heat
-is that in which this species of energy is transformed into _radiant
-light and heat_. This takes place whenever a hot body cools in an open
-space--the sun, for instance, parts with a large quantity of his heat
-in this way; and it is due, in part at least, to this process that
-a hot body cools in air, and wholly to it that such a body cools in
-vacuo. It is, moreover, due to the penetration of our eye by radiant
-energy that we are able to see hot bodies, and thus the very fact that
-we see them implies that they are parting with their heat.
-
-Radiant energy moves through space with the enormous velocity of
-188,000 miles in one second. It takes about eight minutes to come
-from the sun to our earth, so that if our luminary were to be suddenly
-extinguished, we should have eight minutes respite before the
-catastrophe overtook us. Besides the rays that affect the eye, there
-are others which we cannot see, and which may therefore be termed dark
-rays. A body, for instance, may not be hot enough to be self-luminous,
-and yet it may be rapidly cooling and changing its heat into radiant
-energy, which is given off by the body, even although neither the eye
-nor the touch may be competent to detect it. It may nevertheless be
-detected by the thermopile, which was described in Art. 161. We thus
-see how strong is the likeness between a heated body and a sounding
-one. For just as a sounding body gives out part of its sound energy
-to the atmosphere around it, so does a heated body give out part of
-its heat energy to the ethereal medium around it. When, however, we
-consider the rates of motion of these energies through their respective
-media, there is a mighty difference between the two, sound travelling
-through the air with the velocity of 1100 feet a second, while radiant
-energy moves over no less a space than 188,000 miles in the same
-portion of time.
-
-
-_Chemical Separation._
-
-163. We now come to the energy denoted by chemical separation, such
-as we possess when we have coal or carbon in one place, and oxygen in
-another. Very evidently this form of energy of position is transmuted
-into _heat_ when we burn the coal, or cause it to combine with the
-oxygen of the air; and generally, whenever chemical combination
-takes place, we have the production of heat, even although other
-circumstances may interfere to prevent its recognition.
-
-Now, in accordance with the principle of conservation, it may be
-expected that, if a definite quantity of carbon or of hydrogen be
-burned under given circumstances, there will be a definite production
-of heat; that is to say, a ton of coals or of coke, when burned, will
-give us so many heat units, and neither more or less. We may, no doubt,
-burn our ton in such a way as to economize more or less of the heat
-produced; but, as far as the mere production of heat is concerned, if
-the quantity and quality of the material burned and the circumstances
-of combustion be the same, we expect the same amount of heat.
-
-164. The following table, derived from the researches of Andrews, and
-those of Favre and Silbermann, shows us how many units of heat we may
-get by burning a kilogramme of various substances.
-
-
-UNITS _of_ HEAT _developed by_ COMBUSTION _in_ OXYGEN.
-
- Kilogrammes of Water raised 1° C.
- Substance by the combustion of one kilogramme
- Burned. of each substance.
-
- Hydrogen 34,135
- Carbon 7,990
- Sulphur 2,263
- Phosphorus 5,747
- Zinc 1,301
- Iron 1,576
- Tin 1,233
- Olefiant Gas 11,900
- Alcohol 7,016
-
-165. There are other methods, besides combustion, by which chemical
-combination takes place.
-
-When, for instance, we plunge a piece of metallic iron into a solution
-of copper, we find that when we take it out, its surface is covered
-with copper. Part of the iron has been dissolved, taking the place of
-the copper, which has therefore been thrown, in its metallic state,
-upon the surface of the iron. Now, in this operation heat is given
-out--we have in fact burned, or oxidized, the iron, and we are thus
-furnished with a means of arranging the metals, beginning with that
-which gives out most heat, when used to displace the metal at the other
-extremity of the series.
-
-166. The following list has been formed, on this principle, by Dr.
-Andrews:--
-
- 1. Zinc
- 2. Iron
- 3. Lead
- 4. Copper
- 5. Mercury
- 6. Silver
- 7. Platinum
-
---that is to say, the metal platinum can be displaced by any other
-metal of the series, but we shall get most heat if we use zinc to
-displace it.
-
-We may therefore assume that if we displace a definite quantity of
-platinum by a definite quantity of zinc, we shall get a definite amount
-of heat. Suppose, however, that instead of performing the operation
-in one step, we make two of it. Let us, for instance, first of all
-displace copper by means of zinc, and then platinum by means of copper.
-Is it not possible that the one of these processes may be more fruitful
-in heat giving than the other? Now, Andrews has shown us that we cannot
-gain an advantage over Nature in this way, and that if we use our zinc
-first of all to displace iron, or copper, or lead, and then use this
-metal to displace platinum, we shall obtain just the very same amount
-of heat as if we had used the zinc to displace the platinum at once.
-
-167. It ought here to be mentioned that, very generally, chemical
-action is accompanied with a change of molecular condition.
-
-A solid, for instance, may be changed into a liquid, or a gas into
-a liquid. Sometimes the one change counteracts the other as far as
-apparent heat is concerned; but sometimes, too, they co-operate
-together to increase the result. Thus, when a gas is absorbed by water,
-much heat is evolved, and we may suppose the result to be due in part
-to chemical combination, and in part to the condensation of the gas
-into a liquid, by which means its latent heat is rendered sensible. On
-the other hand, when a liquid unites with a solid, or when two solids
-unite with one another, and the product is a liquid, we have very often
-the absorption of heat, the heat rendered latent by the dissolution
-of the solid being more than that generated by combination. Freezing
-mixtures owe their cooling properties to this cause; thus, if snow and
-salt be mixed together, they liquefy each other, and the result is
-brine of a temperature much lower than that of either the ingredients.
-
-168. When heterogeneous metals, such as zinc and copper, are soldered
-together, we have apparently a conversion of the energy of chemical
-separation into that of _electrical separation_. This was first
-suggested by Volta as the origin of the electrical separation which
-we see in the voltaic current, and recently its existence has been
-distinctly proved by Sir W. Thomson.
-
-To render manifest this conversion of energy, let us solder a piece of
-zinc and copper together--if we now test the bar by means of a delicate
-electrometer we shall find that the zinc is positively, while the
-copper is negatively, electrified. We have here, therefore, an instance
-of the transmutation of one form of energy of position into another; so
-much energy of chemical separation disappearing in order to produce so
-much electrical separation. This explains the fact recorded in Art. 93,
-where we saw that if a battery be insulated and its poles kept apart,
-the one will be charged with positive, and the other with negative,
-electricity.
-
-169. But further, when such a voltaic battery is in action, we have a
-transmutation of chemical separation into _electricity in motion_. To
-see this, let us consider what takes place in such a battery.
-
-Here no doubt the sources of electrical excitement are the points of
-contact of the zinc and platinum, where, as we see by our last article,
-we have electrical separation produced. But this of itself would not
-produce a current, for an electrical current implies very considerable
-energy, and must be fed by something. Now, in the voltaic battery we
-have two things which accompany each other, and which are manifestly
-connected together. In the first place we have the combustion, or
-at least the oxidation and dissolution, of the zinc; and we have,
-secondly, the production of a powerful current. Now, evidently, the
-first of these is that which feeds the second, or, in other words, the
-energy of chemical separation of the metallic zinc is transmuted into
-that of an electrical current, the zinc being virtually burned in the
-process of transmutation.
-
-170. Finally, as far as we are aware, the energy of chemical separation
-is not directly transmuted into radiant light and heat.
-
-
-_Electrical Separation._
-
-171. In the first place the energy of electrical separation is
-obviously transmuted into that of _visible motion_, when two oppositely
-electrified bodies approach each other.
-
-172. Again, it is transmuted into a _current of electricity_, and
-ultimately into heat, when a spark passes between two oppositely
-electrified bodies.
-
-It ought, therefore, to be borne in mind that when the flash is seen
-there is no longer electricity, what we see being merely air, or some
-other material, intensely heated by the discharge. Thus a man might
-be rendered insensible by a flash of lightning without his seeing the
-flash--for the effect of the discharge upon the man, and its effect in
-heating the air, might be phenomena so nearly simultaneous that the man
-might become insensible before he could perceive the flash.
-
-
-_Electricity in Motion._
-
-173. This energy is transmuted into that of _visible motion_ when two
-wires conveying electrical currents in the same direction attract each
-other. When, for instance, two circular currents float on water, both
-going in the direction of the hands of a watch, we have seen from Art.
-100 that they will move towards each other. Now, here there is, in
-truth, a lessening of the intensity of each current when the motion is
-taking place, for we know (Art. 104) that when a circuit is moved into
-the presence of another circuit conveying a current, there is produced
-by induction a current in the opposite direction; and hence we perceive
-that, when two similar currents approach each other, each is diminished
-by means of this inductive influence--in fact, a certain amount of
-current energy disappears from existence in order that an equivalent
-amount of the energy of visible motion may be produced.
-
-174. Electricity in motion is transmuted into _heat_ during the passage
-of a current along a thin wire, or any badly conducting substance--the
-wire is heated in consequence, and may even become white hot. Most
-frequently the energy of an electric current is spent in heating the
-wires and other materials that form the circuit. Now, the energy
-of such a current is fed by the burning or oxidation of the metal
-(generally zinc) which is used in the circuit, so that the ultimate
-effect of this combustion is the heating of the various wires and other
-materials through which the current passes.
-
-175. We may, in truth, burn or oxidize zinc in two ways--we may oxidize
-it, as we have just seen, in the voltaic battery, and we shall find
-that by the combustion of a kilogramme of zinc a definite amount of
-heat is produced. Or we may oxidize our zinc by dissolving it in acid
-in a single vessel, when, without going through the intermediate
-process of a current, we shall get just as much heat out of a
-kilogramme of zinc as we did in the former case. In fact, whether we
-oxidize our zinc by the battery, or in the ordinary way, the quantity
-of heat produced will always bear the same relation to the quantity of
-zinc consumed; the only difference being that, in the ordinary way of
-oxidizing zinc, the heat is generated in the vessel containing the zinc
-and acid, while in the battery it may make its appearance a thousand
-miles away, if we have a sufficiently long wire to convey our current.
-
-176. This is, perhaps, the right place for alluding to a discovery
-of Peltier, that a current of positive electricity passing across a
-junction of bismuth and antimony in the direction from the bismuth to
-the antimony appears to produce cold.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 14.]
-
-To understand the significance of this fact we must consider it in
-connection with the thermo-electric current, which we have seen, from
-Art. 161, is established in a circuit of bismuth and antimony, of
-which one junction is hotter than the other. Suppose we have a circuit
-of this kind with both its junctions at the temperature of 100° C.
-to begin with. Suppose, next, that while we protect one junction, we
-expose the other to the open air--it will, of course, lose heat, so
-that the protected junction will now be hotter than the other. The
-consequence will be (Art. 161) that a current of positive electricity
-will pass along the protected junction from the bismuth to the
-antimony.
-
-Now, here we have an apparent anomaly, for the circuit is cooling--that
-is to say, it is losing energy--but at the very same time it is
-manifesting energy in another shape, namely, in that of an electric
-current, which is circulating round it. Clearly, then, some of the heat
-of this circuit must be spent in generating this current; in fact,
-we should expect the circuit to act as a heat engine, only producing
-current energy instead of mechanical energy, and hence (Art. 152)
-we should expect to see a conveyance of heat from the hotter to the
-colder parts of the circuit. Now, this is precisely what the current
-does, for, passing along the hotter junction, in the direction of the
-arrow-head, it cools that junction, and heats the colder one at C,--in
-other words, it carries heat from the hotter to the colder parts of the
-circuit. We should have been very much surprised had such a current
-cooled C and heated H, for then we should have had a manifestation of
-current energy, accompanied with the conveyance of heat from a colder
-to a hotter substance, which is against the principle of Art. 152.
-
-177. Finally, the energy of electricity in motion is converted into
-that of _chemical separation_, when a current of electricity is made to
-decompose a body. Part of the energy of the current is spent in this
-process, and we shall get so much less heat from it in consequence.
-Suppose, for instance, that by oxidizing so much zinc in the battery we
-get, under ordinary circumstances, 100 units of heat. Let us, however,
-set the battery to decompose water, and we shall probably find that by
-oxidizing the same amount of zinc we get now only 80 units of heat.
-Clearly, then, the deficiency or 20 units have gone to decompose the
-water. Now, if we explode the mixed gases which are the result of the
-decomposition, we shall get back these 20 units of heat precisely, and
-neither more nor less; and thus we see that amid all such changes the
-quantity of energy remains the same.
-
-
-_Radiant Energy._
-
-178. This form of energy is converted into _absorbed heat_ whenever
-it falls upon an opaque substance--some of it, however, is generally
-conveyed away by reflexion, but the remainder is absorbed by the body,
-and consequently heats it.
-
-It is a curious question to ask what becomes of the radiant light from
-the sun that is not absorbed either by the planets of our system, or by
-any of the stars. We can only reply to such a question, that _as far as
-we can judge from our present knowledge_, the radiant energy that is
-not absorbed must be conceived to be traversing space at the rate of
-188,000 miles a second.
-
-179. There is only one more transmutation of radiant energy that we
-know of, and that is when it promotes _chemical separation_. Thus,
-certain rays of the sun are known to have the power of decomposing
-chloride of silver, and other chemical compounds. Now, in all such
-cases there is a transmutation of radiant energy into that of chemical
-separation. The sun’s rays, too, decompose carbonic acid in the leaves
-of plants, the carbon going to form the woody fibre of the plant, while
-the oxygen is set free into the air; and of course a certain proportion
-of the energy of the solar rays is consumed in promoting this change,
-and we have so much less heating effect in consequence.
-
-But all the solar rays have not this power--for the property of
-promoting chemical change is confined to the blue and violet rays,
-and some others which are not visible to the eye. Now, these rays are
-entirely absent from the radiation of bodies at a comparatively low
-temperature, such as an ordinary red heat, so that a photographer would
-find it impossible to obtain the picture of a red-hot body, whose only
-light was in itself.
-
-180. The actinic, or chemically active, rays of the sun decompose
-carbonic acid in the leaves of plants, and they disappear in
-consequence, or are absorbed; this may, therefore, be the reason why
-very few such rays are either reflected or transmitted from a sun-lit
-leaf, in consequence of which the photographer finds it difficult to
-obtain an image of such a leaf; in other words, the rays which would
-have produced a chemical change on his photographic plate have all been
-used up by the leaf for peculiar purposes of its own.
-
-181. And here it is important to bear in mind that while animals in
-the act of breathing consume the oxygen of the air, turning it into
-carbonic acid, plants, on the other hand, restore the oxygen to the
-air; thus the two kingdoms, the animal and the vegetable, work into
-each other’s hands, and the purity of the atmosphere is kept up.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[4] This explanation was first given by Professors Thomson and Tait
-in their Natural Philosophy, and by Dr. Frankland in a lecture at the
-Royal Institution of London.
-
-[5] _See_ De La Rue, Stewart, and Loewy’s researches on Solar Physics.
-
-[6] _See_ the Magnetic Researches of Sir E. Sabine, also C. Meldrum on
-the Periodicity of Cyclones.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-_HISTORICAL SKETCH: THE DISSIPATION OF ENERGY._
-
-
-182. In the last chapter we have endeavoured to exhibit the various
-transmutations of energy, and, while doing so, to bring forward
-evidence in favour of the theory of conservation, showing that it
-enables us to couple together known laws, and also to discover new
-ones--showing, in fine, that it bears about with it all the marks of a
-true hypothesis.
-
-It may now, perhaps, be instructive, to look back and endeavour to
-trace the progress of this great conception, from its first beginning
-among the ancients, up to its triumphant establishment by the labours
-of Joule and his fellow-workers.
-
-183. Mathematicians inform us that if matter consists of atoms or
-small parts, which are actuated by forces depending only upon the
-distances between these parts, and not upon the velocity, then it may
-be demonstrated that the law of conservation of energy will hold good.
-Thus we see that conceptions regarding atoms and their forces are
-allied to conceptions regarding energy. A medium of some sort pervading
-space seems also necessary to our theory. In fine, a universe composed
-of atoms, with some sort of medium between them, is to be regarded as
-the machine, and the laws of energy as the laws of working of this
-machine. It may be that a theory of atoms of this sort, with a medium
-between them, is not after all the simplest, but we are probably not
-yet prepared for any more general hypothesis. Now, we have only to
-look to our own solar system, in order to see on a large scale an
-illustration of this conception, for there we have the various heavenly
-bodies attracting one another, with forces depending only on the
-distances between them, and independent of the velocities; and we have
-likewise a medium of some sort, in virtue of which radiant energy is
-conveyed from the sun to the earth. Perhaps we shall not greatly err
-if we regard a molecule as representing on a small scale something
-analogous to the solar system, while the various atoms which constitute
-the molecule may be likened to the various bodies of the solar system.
-The short historical sketch which we are about to give will embrace,
-therefore, along with energy, the progress of thought and speculation
-with respect to atoms and also with respect to a medium, inasmuch as
-these subjects are intimately connected with the doctrines of energy.
-
-
-_Heraclitus on Energy._
-
-184. Heraclitus, who flourished at Ephesus, B.C. 500, declared that
-fire was the great cause, and that all things were in a perpetual
-flux. Such an expression will no doubt be regarded as very vague in
-these days of precise physical statements; and yet it seems clear that
-Heraclitus must have had a vivid conception of the innate restlessness
-and energy of the universe, a conception allied in character to, and
-only less precise than that of modern philosophers, who regard matter
-as essentially dynamical.
-
-
-_Democritus on Atoms._
-
-185. Democritus, who was born 470 B.C., was the originator of the
-doctrine of atoms, a doctrine which in the hands of John Dalton
-has enabled the human mind to lay hold of the laws which regulate
-chemical changes, as well as to picture to itself what is there taking
-place. Perhaps there is no doctrine that has nowadays a more intimate
-connection with the industries of life than this of atoms, and it
-is probable that no intelligent director of chemical industry among
-civilized nations fails to picture to his own mind, by means of this
-doctrine, the inner nature of the changes which he sees with his eyes.
-Now, it is a curious circumstance that Bacon should have lighted upon
-this very doctrine of atoms, in order to point one of his philosophical
-morals.
-
- “Nor is it less an evil” (says he), “that in their philosophies and
- contemplations men spend their labour in investigating and treating of
- the first principles of things, and the extreme limits of nature, when
- all that is useful and of avail in operation is to be found in what is
- intermediate. Hence it happens that men continue to abstract Nature
- till they arrive at potential and unformed matter; and again they
- continue to divide Nature, until they have arrived at the atom; things
- which, even if true, can be of little use in helping on the fortunes
- of men.”
-
-Surely we ought to learn a lesson from these remarks of the great
-Father of experimental science, and be very cautious before we dismiss
-any branch of knowledge or train of thought as essentially unprofitable.
-
-
-_Aristotle on a Medium._
-
-186. As regards the existence of a medium, it is remarked by Whewell
-that the ancients also caught a glimpse of the idea of a medium, by
-which the qualities of bodies, as colours and sounds are perceived, and
-he quotes the following from Aristotle:--
-
- “In a void there could be no difference of up and down; for, as in
- nothing there are no differences, so there are none in a privation or
- negation.”
-
-Upon this the historian of science remarks, “It is easily seen that
-such a mode of reasoning elevates the familiar forms of language, and
-the intellectual connexions of terms, to a supremacy over facts.”
-
-Nevertheless, may it not be replied that our conceptions of matter are
-deduced from the familiar experience, that certain portions of space
-affect us in a certain manner; and, consequently, are we not entitled
-to say there must be something where we experience the difference of
-up or down? Is there, after all, a very great difference between this
-argument and that of modern physicists in favour of a plenum, who tell
-us that matter cannot act where it is not?
-
-Aristotle seems also to have entertained the idea that light is not any
-body, or the emanation of any body (for that, he says, would be a kind
-of body), and that therefore light is an energy or act.
-
-
-_The Ideas of the Ancients were not Prolific._
-
-187. These quotations render it evident that the ancients had, in some
-way, grasped the idea of the essential unrest and energy of things.
-They had also the idea of small particles or atoms, and, finally, of a
-medium of some sort. And yet these ideas were not prolific--they gave
-rise to nothing new.
-
-Now, while the historian of science is unquestionably right in his
-criticism of the ancients, that their ideas were not distinct and
-appropriate to the facts, yet we have seen that they were not wholly
-ignorant of the most profound and deeply-seated principles of the
-material universe. In the great hymn chanted by Nature, the fundamental
-notes were early heard, but yet it required long centuries of patient
-waiting for the practised ear of the skilled musician to appreciate
-the mighty harmony aright. Or, perhaps, the attempts of the ancients
-were as the sketches of a child who just contrives to exhibit, in a
-rude way, the leading outlines of a building; while the conceptions
-of the practised physicist are more allied to those of the architect,
-or, at least, of one who has realized, to some extent, the architect’s
-views.
-
-188. The ancients possessed great genius and intellectual power, but
-they were deficient in physical conceptions, and, in consequence,
-their ideas were not prolific. It cannot indeed be said that we of the
-present age are deficient in such conceptions; nevertheless, it may be
-questioned whether there is not a tendency to rush into the opposite
-extreme, and to work physical conceptions to an excess. Let us be
-cautious that in avoiding Scylla, we do not rush into Charybdis. For
-the universe has more than one point of view, and there are possibly
-regions which will not yield their treasures to the most determined
-physicists, armed only with kilogrammes and metres and standard clocks.
-
-
-_Descartes, Newton, and Huyghens on a Medium._
-
-189. In modern times Descartes, author of the vertical hypothesis,
-necessarily presupposed the existence of a medium in inter-planetary
-spaces, but on the other hand he was one of the originators of that
-idea which regards light as a series of particles shot out from a
-luminous body. Newton likewise conceived the existence of a medium,
-although he became an advocate of the theory of emission. It is
-to Huyghens that the credit belongs of having first conceived the
-undulatory theory of light with sufficient distinctness to account for
-double refraction. After him, Young, Fresnel, and their followers,
-have greatly developed the theory, enabling it to account for the most
-complicated and wonderful phenomena.
-
-
-_Bacon on Heat._
-
-190. With regard to the nature of heat, Bacon, whatever may be thought
-of his arguments, seems clearly to have recognized it as a species
-of motion. He says, “From these instances, viewed together and
-individually, the nature of which heat is the limitation seems to be
-motion;” and again he says, “But when we say of motion that it stands
-in the place of a genus to heat, we mean to convey, not that _heat_
-generates _motion_ or _motion heat_ (although even both may be true in
-some cases), but that essential heat is motion and nothing else.”
-
-Nevertheless it required nearly three centuries before the true theory
-of heat was sufficiently rooted to develop into a productive hypothesis.
-
-
-_Principle of Virtual Velocities._
-
-191. In a previous chapter we have already detailed the labours in
-respect of heat of Davy, Rumford, and Joule. Galileo and Newton, if
-they, did not grasp the dynamical nature of heat, had yet a clear
-conception of the functions of a machine. The former saw that what we
-gain in power we lose in space; while the latter went further, and saw
-that a machine, if left to itself, is strictly limited in the amount of
-work which it can accomplish, although its energy may vary from that of
-motion to that of position, and back again, according to the geometric
-laws of the machine.
-
-
-_Rise of true Conceptions regarding Work._
-
-192. There can, we think, be no question that the great development
-of industrial operations in the present age has indirectly furthered
-our conceptions regarding work. Humanity invariably strives to escape
-as much as possible from hard work. In the days of old those who had
-the power got slaves to work for them; but even then the master had
-to give some kind of equivalent for the work done. For at the very
-lowest a slave is a machine, and must be fed, and is moreover apt to
-prove a very troublesome machine if not properly dealt with. The great
-improvements in the steam engine, introduced by Watt, have done as
-much, perhaps, as the abolition of slavery to benefit the working man.
-The hard work of the world has been put upon iron shoulders, that do
-not smart; and, in consequence, we have had an immense extension of
-industry, and a great amelioration in the position of the lower classes
-of mankind. But if we have transferred our hard work to machines, it is
-necessary to know how to question a machine--how to say to it, At what
-rate can you labour? how much work can you turn out in a day? It is
-necessary, in fact, to have the clearest possible idea of what work is.
-
-Our readers will see from all this that men are not likely to err in
-their method of measuring work. The principles of measurement have
-been stamped as it were with a brand into the very heart and brain of
-humanity. To the employer of machinery or of human labour, a false
-method of measuring work simply means ruin; he is likely, therefore,
-to take the greatest possible pains to arrive at accuracy in his
-determination.
-
-
-_Perpetual Motion._
-
-193. Now, amid the crowd of workers smarting from the curse of labour,
-there rises up every now and then an enthusiast, who seeks to escape
-by means of an artifice from this insupportable tyranny of work.
-Why not construct a machine that will go on giving you work without
-limit without the necessity of being fed in any way. Nature must
-have some weak point in her armour; there must surely be some way
-of getting round her; she is only tyrannous on the surface, and in
-order to stimulate our ingenuity, but will yield with pleasure to the
-persistence of genius.
-
-Now, what can the man of science say to such an enthusiast? He cannot
-tell him that he is intimately acquainted with all the forces of
-Nature, and can prove that perpetual motion is impossible; for, in
-truth, he knows very little of these forces. But he does think that
-he has entered into the spirit and design of Nature, and therefore he
-denies at once the possibility of such a machine. But he denies it
-intelligently, and works out this denial of his into a theory which
-enables him to discover numerous and valuable relations between the
-properties of matter--produces, in fact, the laws of energy and the
-great principle of conservation.
-
-
-_Theory of Conservation._
-
-194. We have thus endeavoured to give a short sketch of the history of
-energy, including its allied problems, up to the dawn of the strictly
-scientific period. We have seen that the unfruitfulness of the earlier
-views was due to a want of scientific clearness in the conceptions
-entertained, and we have now to say a few words regarding the theory of
-conservation.
-
-Here also the way was pointed out by two philosophers, namely, Grove
-in this country, and Mayer on the continent, who showed certain
-relations between the various forms of energy; the name of Séguin
-ought likewise to be mentioned. Nevertheless, to Joule belongs the
-honour of establishing the theory on an incontrovertible basis: for,
-indeed, this is preeminently a case where speculation has to be tested
-by unimpeachable experimental evidence. Here the magnitude of the
-principle is so vast, and its importance is so great, that it requires
-the strong fire of genius, joined to the patient labours of the
-scientific experimentalist, to forge the rough ore into a good weapon
-that will cleave its way through all obstacles into the very citadel of
-Nature, and into her most secret recesses.
-
-Following closely upon the labours of Joule, we have those of William
-and James Thomson, Helmholtz, Rankine, Clausius, Tait, Andrews,
-Maxwell, who, along with many others, have advanced the subject; and
-while Joule gave his chief attention to the laws which regulate the
-transmutation of mechanical energy into heat, Thomson, Rankine, and
-Clausius gave theirs to the converse problem, or that which relates to
-the transmutation of heat into mechanical energy. Thomson, especially,
-has pushed forward so resolutely from this point of view that he has
-succeeded in grasping a principle scarcely inferior in importance to
-that of the conservation of energy itself, and of this principle it
-behoves us now to speak.
-
-
-_Dissipation of Energy._
-
-195. Joule, we have said, proved the law according to which work may
-be changed into heat; and Thomson and others, that according to which
-heat may be changed into work. Now, it occurred to Thomson that there
-was a very important and significant difference between these two laws,
-consisting in the fact that, while you can with the greatest ease
-transform work into heat, you can by no method in your power transform
-all the heat back again into work. In fact, the process is not a
-reversible one; and the consequence is that the mechanical energy of
-the universe is becoming every day more and more changed into heat.
-
-It is easily seen that if the process were reversible, one form of a
-perpetual motion would not be impossible. For, without attempting to
-create energy by a machine, all that would be needed for a perpetual
-motion would be the means of utilizing the vast stores of heat that
-lie in all the substances around us, and converting them into work.
-The work would no doubt, by means of friction and otherwise, be
-ultimately reconverted into heat; but if the process be reversible, the
-heat could again be converted into work, and so on for ever. But the
-irreversibility of the process puts a stop to all this. In fact, I may
-convince myself by rubbing a metal button on a piece of wood how easily
-work can be converted into heat, while the mind completely fails to
-suggest any method by which this heat can be reconverted into work.
-
-Now, if this process goes on, and always in one direction, there can be
-no doubt about the issue. The mechanical energy of the universe will
-be more and more transformed into universally diffused heat, until the
-universe will no longer be a fit abode for living beings.
-
-The conclusion is a startling one, and, in order to bring it more
-vividly before our readers, let us now proceed to acquaint ourselves
-with the various forms of useful energy that are at present at our
-disposal, and at the same time endeavour to trace the ultimate sources
-of these supplies.
-
-
-_Natural Energies and their Sources._
-
-196. Of energy in repose we have the following varieties:--(1.) The
-energy of fuel. (2.) That of food. (3.) That of a head of water. (4.)
-That which may be derived from the tides. (5.) The energy of chemical
-separation implied in native sulphur, native iron, &c.
-
-Then, with regard to energy in action, we have mainly the following
-varieties:--
-
-(1.) The energy of air in motion. (2.) That of water in motion.
-
-
-_Fuel._
-
-197. Let us begin first with the energy implied in fuel. We can, of
-course, burn fuel, or cause it to combine with the oxygen of the air;
-and we are thereby provided with large quantities of heat of high
-temperature, by means of which we may not only warm ourselves and cook
-our food, but also drive our heat-engines, using it, in fact, as a
-source of mechanical power.
-
-Fuel is of two varieties--wood and coal. Now, if we consider the origin
-of these we shall see that they are produced by the sun’s rays. Certain
-of these rays, as we have already remarked (Art. 180), decompose
-carbonic acid in the leaves of plants, setting free the oxygen, while
-the carbon is used for the structure or wood of the plant. Now, the
-energy of these rays is spent in this process, and, indeed, there
-is not enough of such energy left to produce a good photographic
-impression of the leaf of a plant, because it is all spent in making
-wood.
-
-We thus see that the energy implied in wood is derived from the sun’s
-rays, and the same remark applies to coal. Indeed, the only difference
-between wood and coal is one of age: wood being recently turned out
-from Nature’s laboratory, while thousands of years have elapsed since
-coal formed the leaves of living plants.
-
-198. We are, therefore, perfectly justified in saying that the energy
-of fuel is derived from the sun’s rays;[7] coal being the store which
-Nature has laid up as a species of capital for us, while wood is our
-precarious yearly income.
-
-We are thus at present very much in the position of a young heir, who
-has only recently come into his estate, and who, not content with the
-income, is rapidly squandering his realized property. This subject has
-been forcibly brought before us by Professor Jevons, who has remarked
-that not only are we spending our capital, but we are spending the most
-available and valuable part of it. For we are now using the surface
-coal; but a time will come when this will be exhausted, and we shall be
-compelled to go deep down for our supplies. Now, regarded as a source
-of energy, such supplies, if far down, will be less effective, for we
-have to deduct the amount of energy requisite in order to bring them to
-the surface. The result is that we must contemplate a time, however far
-distant, when our supplies of coal will be exhausted, and we shall be
-compelled to resort to other sources of energy.
-
-
-_Food._
-
-199. The energy of food is analogous to that of fuel, and serves
-similar purposes. For just as fuel may be used either for producing
-heat or for doing work, so food has a twofold office to perform. In
-the first place, by its gradual oxidation, it keeps up the temperature
-of the body; and in the next place it is used as a source of energy,
-on which to draw for the performance of work. Thus a man or a horse
-that works a great deal requires to eat more food than if he does not
-work at all. Thus, also, a prisoner condemned to hard labour requires
-a better diet than one who does not work, and a soldier during the
-fatigues of war finds it necessary to eat more than during a time of
-peace.
-
-Our food may be either of animal or vegetable origin--if it be the
-latter, it is immediately derived, like fuel, from the energy of the
-sun’s rays; but if it be the former, the only difference is that it has
-passed through the body of an animal before coming to us: the animal
-has eaten grass, and we have eaten the animal.
-
-In fact, we make use of the animal not only as a variety of nutritious
-food, but also to enable us indirectly to utilize those vegetable
-products, such as grasses, which we could not make use of directly with
-our present digestive organs.
-
-
-_Head of Water._
-
-200. The energy of a head of water, like that of fuel and food, is
-brought about by the sun’s rays. For the sun vaporizes the water,
-which, condensed again in upland districts, becomes available as a head
-of water.
-
-There is, however, the difference that fuel and food are due to the
-actinic power of the sun’s rays, while the evaporation and condensation
-of water are caused rather by their heating effect.
-
-
-_Tidal Energy._
-
-201. The energy derived from the tides has, however, a different
-origin. In Art. 133 we have endeavoured to show how the moon acts upon
-the fluid portions of our globe, the result of this action being a very
-gradual stoppage of the energy of rotation of the earth.
-
-It is, therefore, to this motion of rotation that we must look as the
-origin of any available energy derived from tidal mills.
-
-
-_Native Sulphur, &c._
-
-202. The last variety of available energy of position in our list is
-that implied in native sulphur, native iron, &c. It has been remarked
-by Professor Tait, to whom this method of reviewing our forces is due,
-that this may be the primeval form of energy, and that the interior of
-the earth may, as far as we know, be wholly composed of matter in its
-uncombined form. As a source of available energy it is, however, of no
-practical importance.
-
-
-_Air and Water in Motion._
-
-203. We proceed next to those varieties of available energy which
-represent motion, the chief of which are air in motion and water in
-motion. It is owing to the former that the mariner spreads his sail,
-and carries his vessel from one part of the earth’s surface to another,
-and it is likewise owing to the same influence that the windmill grinds
-our corn. Again, water in motion is used perhaps even more frequently
-than air in motion as a source of motive power.
-
-Both these varieties of energy are due without doubt to the heating
-effect of the sun’s rays. We may, therefore, affirm that with the
-exception of the totally insignificant supply of native sulphur, &c.,
-and the small number of tidal mills which may be in operation, all our
-available energy is due to the sun.
-
-
-_The Sun--a Source of High Temperature Heat._
-
-204. Let us, therefore, now for a moment direct our attention to that
-most wonderful source of energy, the Sun.
-
-We have here a vast reservoir of high temperature heat; now, this
-is a kind of superior energy which has always been in much request.
-Numberless attempts have been made to construct a perpetual light,
-just as similar attempts have been made to construct a perpetual
-motion, with this difference, that a perpetual light was supposed to
-result from magical powers, while a perpetual motion was attributed to
-mechanical skill.
-
-Sir Walter Scott alludes to this belief in his description of the grave
-of Michael Scott, which is made to contain a perpetual light. Thus the
-Monk who buried the wizard tells William of Deloraine--
-
- “Lo, Warrior! now the Cross of Red
- Points to the Grave of the mighty dead;
- Within it burns a wondrous light,
- To chase the spirits that love the night.
- That lamp shall burn unquenchably
- Until the eternal doom shall be.”
-
-And again, when the tomb was opened, we read--
-
- “I would you had been there to see
- How the light broke forth so gloriously,
- Stream’d upward to the chancel roof,
- And through the galleries far aloof!
- No earthly flame blazed e’er so bright.”
-
-No earthly flame--there the poet was right--certainly not of this
-earth, where light and all other forms of superior energy are
-essentially evanescent.
-
-
-_A Perpetual Light Impossible._
-
-205. In truth, our readers will at once perceive that a perpetual light
-is only another name for a perpetual motion, because we can always
-derive visible energy out of high temperature heat--indeed, we do so
-every day in our steam engines.
-
-When, therefore, we burn coal, and cause it to combine with the
-oxygen of the air, we derive from the process a large amount of high
-temperature heat. But is it not possible, our readers may ask, to
-take the carbonic acid which results from the combustion, and by
-means of low temperature heat, of which we have always abundance
-at our disposal, change it back again into carbon and oxygen? All
-this would be possible if what may be termed the temperature of
-disassociation--that is to say, the temperature at which carbonic acid
-separates into its constituents--were a low temperature, and it would
-also be possible if rays from a source of low temperature possessed
-sufficient actinic power to decompose carbonic acid.
-
-But neither of these is the case. Nature will not be caught in a
-trap of this kind. As if for the very purpose of stopping all such
-speculations, the temperatures of disassociation for such substances as
-carbonic acid are very high, and the actinic rays capable of causing
-their decomposition belong only to sources of exceedingly high
-temperature, such as the sun.[8]
-
-
-_Is the Sun an Exception?_
-
-206. We may, therefore, take it for granted that a perpetual light,
-like a perpetual motion, is an impossibility; and we have then to
-inquire if the same argument applies to our sun, or if an exception
-is to be made in his favour. Does the sun stand upon a footing of his
-own, or is it merely a question of time with him, as with all other
-instances of high temperature heat? Before attempting to answer this
-question let us inquire into the probable origin of the sun’s heat.
-
-
-_Origin of the Sun’s Heat._
-
-207. Now, some might be disposed to cut the Gordian knot of such an
-inquiry by asserting that our luminary was at first created hot; yet
-the scientific mind finds itself disinclined to repose upon such an
-assertion. We pick up a round pebble from the beach, and at once
-acknowledge there has been some physical cause for the shape into which
-it has been worn. And so with regard to the heat of the sun, we must
-ask ourselves if there be not some cause not wholly imaginary, but one
-which we know, or at least suspect, to be perhaps still in operation,
-which can account for the heat of the sun.
-
-Now, here it is more easy to show what cannot account for the sun’s
-heat than what can do so. We may, for instance, be perfectly certain
-that it cannot have been caused by chemical action. The most probable
-theory is that which was first worked out by Helmholtz and Thomson;[9]
-and which attributes the heat of the sun to the primeval energy of
-position possessed by its particles. In other words, it is supposed
-that these particles originally existed at a great distance from each
-other, and that, being endowed with the force of gravitation, they have
-since gradually come together, while in this process heat has been
-generated just as it would be if a stone were dropped from the top of a
-cliff towards the earth.
-
-208. Nor is this case wholly imaginary, but we have some reason
-for thinking that it may still be in operation in the case of
-certain nebulæ which, both in their constitution as revealed by the
-spectroscope, and in their general appearance, impress the beholder
-with the idea that they are not yet fully condensed into their ultimate
-shape and size.
-
-If we allow that by this means our luminary has obtained his wonderful
-store of high-class energy, we have yet to inquire to what extent this
-operation is going on at the present moment. Is it only a thing of the
-past, or is it a thing also of the present? I think we may reply that
-the sun cannot be condensing very fast, at least, within historical
-times. For if the sun were sensibly larger than at present his total
-eclipse by the moon would be impossible. Now, such eclipses have
-taken place, at any rate, for several thousands of years. Doubtless a
-small army of meteors may be falling into our luminary, which would
-by this fall tend to augment his heat; yet the supply derived from
-this source must surely be insignificant. But if the sun be not at
-present condensing so fast as to derive any sufficient heat from this
-process, and if his energy be very sparingly recruited from without,
-it necessarily follows that he is in the position of a man whose
-expenditure exceeds his income. He is living upon his capital, and is
-destined to share the fate of all who act in a similar manner. We must,
-therefore, contemplate a future period when he will be poorer in energy
-than he is at present, and a period still further in the future when he
-will altogether cease to shine.
-
-
-_Probable Fate of the Universe._
-
-209. If this be the fate of the high temperature energy of the
-universe, let us think for a moment what will happen to its visible
-energy. We have spoken already about a medium pervading space, the
-office of which appears to be to degrade and ultimately extinguish
-all differential motion, just as it tends to reduce and ultimately
-equalize all difference of temperature. Thus the universe would
-ultimately become an equally heated mass, utterly worthless as far as
-the production of work is concerned, since such production depends upon
-difference of temperature.
-
-Although, therefore, in a strictly mechanical sense, there is a
-conservation of energy, yet, as regards usefulness or fitness
-for living beings, the energy of the universe is in process of
-deterioration. Universally diffused heat forms what we may call the
-great waste-heap of the universe, and this is growing larger year by
-year. At present it does not sensibly obtrude itself, but who knows
-that the time may not arrive when we shall be practically conscious of
-its growing bigness?
-
-210. It will be seen that in this chapter we have regarded the
-universe, not as a collection of matter, but rather as an energetic
-agent--in fact, as a lamp. Now, it has been well pointed out by
-Thomson, that looked at in this light, the universe is a system that
-had a beginning and must have an end; for a process of degradation
-cannot be eternal. If we could view the universe as a candle not lit,
-then it is perhaps conceivable to regard it as having been always in
-existence; but if we regard it rather as a candle that has been lit,
-we become absolutely certain that it cannot have been burning from
-eternity, and that a time will come when it will cease to burn. We are
-led to look to a beginning in which the particles of matter were in
-a diffuse chaotic state, but endowed with the power of gravitation,
-and we are led to look to an end in which the whole universe will be
-one equally heated inert mass, and from which everything like life or
-motion or beauty will have utterly gone away.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[7] This fact seems to have been known at a comparatively early period
-to Herschel and the elder Stephenson.
-
-[8] This remark is due to Sir William Thomson.
-
-[9] Mayer and Waterston seem first to have caught the rudiments of this
-idea.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-_THE POSITION OF LIFE._
-
-
-211. We have hitherto confined ourselves almost entirely to a
-discussion of the laws of energy, as these affect inanimate matter,
-and have taken little or no account of the position of life. We have
-been content very much to remain spectators of the contest, apparently
-forgetful that we are at all concerned in the issue. But the conflict
-is not one which admits of on-lookers,--it is a universal conflict in
-which we must all take our share. It may not, therefore, be amiss if we
-endeavour to ascertain, as well as we can, our true position.
-
-
-_Twofold nature of Equilibrium._
-
-212. One of our earliest mechanical lessons is on the twofold nature
-of equilibrium. We are told that this may be of two kinds, _stable_
-and _unstable_, and a very good illustration of these two kinds is
-furnished by an egg. Let us take a smooth level table, and place an egg
-upon it; we all know in what manner the egg will lie on the table.
-It will remain at rest, that is to say, it will be in equilibrium;
-and not only so, but it will be in stable equilibrium. To prove
-this, let us try to displace it with our finger, and we shall find
-that when we remove the pressure the egg will speedily return to its
-previous position, and will come to rest after one or two oscillations.
-Furthermore, it has required a sensible expenditure of energy to
-displace the egg. All this we express by saying that the egg is in
-stable equilibrium.
-
-
-_Mechanical Instability._
-
-213. And now let us try to balance the egg upon its longer axis.
-Probably, a sufficient amount of care will enable us to achieve this
-also. But the operation is a difficult one, and requires great delicacy
-of touch, and even after we have succeeded we do not know how long
-our success may last. The slightest impulse from without, the merest
-breath of air, may be sufficient to overturn the egg, which is now most
-evidently in unstable equilibrium. If the egg be thus balanced at the
-very edge of the table, it is quite probable that in a few minutes it
-may topple over upon the floor; it is what we may call _an even chance_
-whether it will do so, or merely fall upon the table. Not that mere
-chance has anything to do with it, or that its movements are without
-a cause, but we mean that its movements are decided by some external
-impulse so exceedingly small as to be utterly beyond our powers of
-observation. In fact, before making the trial we have carefully
-removed everything like a current of air, or want of level, or external
-impulse of any kind, so that when the egg falls we are completely
-unable to assign the origin of the impulse that has caused it to do so.
-
-214. Now, if the egg happens to fall over the table upon the floor,
-there is a somewhat considerable transmutation of energy; for the
-energy of position of the egg, due to the height which it occupied
-on the table, has all at once been changed into energy of motion, in
-the first place, and into heat in the second, when the egg comes into
-contact with the floor.
-
-If, however, the egg happens to fall upon the table, the transmutation
-of energy is comparatively small.
-
-It thus appears that it depends upon some external impulse, so
-infinitesimally small as to elude our observation, whether the egg
-shall fall upon the floor and give rise to a comparatively large
-transmutation of energy, or whether it shall fall upon the table and
-give rise to a transmutation comparatively small.
-
-
-_Chemical Instability._
-
-215. We thus see that a body, or system, in unstable equilibrium may
-become subject to a very considerable transmutation of energy, arising
-out of a very small cause, or antecedent. In the case now mentioned,
-the force is that of gravitation, the arrangement being one of visible
-mechanical instability. But we may have a substance, or system, in
-which the force at work is not gravity, but chemical affinity, and the
-substance, or system, may, under certain peculiar conditions, become
-_chemically unstable_.
-
-When a substance is chemically unstable, it means that the slightest
-impulse of any kind may determine a chemical change, just as in the
-case of the egg the slightest impulse from without occasioned a
-mechanical displacement.
-
-In fine, a substance, or system, chemically unstable bears a relation
-to chemical affinity somewhat similar to that which a mechanically
-unstable system bears to gravity. Gunpowder is a familiar instance
-of a chemically unstable substance. Here the slightest spark may
-prove the precursor of a sudden chemical change, accompanied by the
-instantaneous and violent generation of a vast volume of heated gas.
-The various explosive compounds, such as gun-cotton, nitro-glycerine,
-the fulminates, and many more, are all instances of structures which
-are chemically unstable.
-
-
-_Machines are of two kinds._
-
-216. When we speak of a structure, or a machine, or a system, we simply
-mean a number of individual particles associated together in producing
-some definite result. Thus, the solar system, a timepiece, a rifle,
-are examples of inanimate machines; while an animal, a human being,
-an army, are examples of animated structures or machines. Now, such
-machines or structures are of two kinds, which differ from one another
-not only in the object sought, but also in the means of attaining that
-object.
-
-217. In the first place, we have structures or machines in which
-systematic action is the object aimed at, and in which all the
-arrangements are of a conservative nature, the element of instability
-being avoided as much as possible. The solar system, a timepiece,
-a steam-engine at work, are examples of such machines, and the
-characteristic of all such is their _calculability_. Thus the skilled
-astronomer can tell, with the utmost precision, in what place the
-moon or the planet Venus will be found this time next year. Or again,
-the excellence of a timepiece consists in its various hands pointing
-accurately in a certain direction after a certain interval of time. In
-like manner we may safely count upon a steamship making so many knots
-an hour, at least while the outward conditions remain the same. In all
-these cases we make our calculations, and we are not deceived--the end
-sought is regularity of action, and the means employed is a stable
-arrangement of the forces of nature.
-
-218. Now, the characteristics of the other class of machines are
-precisely the reverse.
-
-Here the object aimed at is not a regular, but a sudden and violent
-transmutation of energy, while the means employed are unstable
-arrangements of natural forces. A rifle at full cock, with a
-delicate hair-trigger, is a very good instance of such a machine,
-where the slightest touch from without may bring about the explosion
-of the gunpowder, and the propulsion of the ball with a very great
-velocity. Now, such machines are eminently characterized by their
-_incalculability_.
-
-219. To make our meaning clear, let us suppose that two sportsmen
-go out hunting together, each with a good rifle and a good pocket
-chronometer. After a hard day’s work, the one turns to his companion
-and says:--“It is now six o’clock by my watch; we had better rest
-ourselves,” upon which the other looks at his watch, and he would be
-very much surprised and exceedingly indignant with the maker, if he did
-not find it six o’clock also. Their chronometers are evidently in the
-same state, and have been doing the same thing; but what about their
-rifles? Given the condition of the one rifle, is it possible by any
-refinement of calculation to deduce that of the other? We feel at once
-that the bare supposition is ridiculous.
-
-220. It is thus apparent that, as regards energy, structures are
-of two kinds. In one of these, the object sought is regularity of
-action, and the means employed, a stable arrangement of natural
-forces: while in the other, the end sought is freedom of action, and a
-sudden transmutation of energy, the means employed being an unstable
-arrangement of natural forces.
-
-The one set of machines are characterized by their calculability--the
-other by their incalculability. The one set, when at work, are not
-easily put wrong, while the other set are characterized by great
-delicacy of construction.
-
-
-_An Animal is a delicately-constructed Machine._
-
-221. But perhaps the reader may object to our use of the rifle as an
-illustration.
-
-For although it is undoubtedly a delicately-constructed machine, yet
-a rifle does not represent the same surpassing delicacy as that, for
-instance, which characterizes an egg balanced on its longer axis. Even
-if at full cock, and with a hair trigger, we may be perfectly certain
-it will not go off of its own accord. Although its object is to produce
-a sudden and violent transmutation of energy, yet this requires to be
-preceded by the application of an amount of energy, however small, to
-the trigger, and if this be not spent upon the rifle, it will not go
-off. There is, no doubt, delicacy of construction, but this has not
-risen to the height of incalculability, and it is only when in the
-hands of the sportsman that it becomes a machine upon the condition of
-which we cannot calculate.
-
-Now, in making this remark, we define the position of the sportsman
-himself in the Universe of Energy.
-
-The rifle is delicately constructed, but not surpassingly so; but
-sportsman and rifle, together, form a machine of surpassing delicacy,
-_ergo_ the sportsman himself is such a machine. We thus begin to
-perceive that a human being, or indeed an animal of any kind, is
-in truth a machine of a delicacy that is practically infinite, the
-condition or motions of which we are utterly unable to predict.
-
-In truth, is there not a transparent absurdity in the very thought that
-a man may become able to calculate his own movements, or even those of
-his fellow?
-
-
-_Life is like the Commander of an Army._
-
-222. Let us now introduce another analogy--let us suppose that a war
-is being carried on by a vast army, at the head of which there is a
-very great commander. Now, this commander knows too well to expose
-his person; in truth, he is never seen by any of his subordinates. He
-remains at work in a well-guarded room, from which telegraphic wires
-lead to the headquarters of the various divisions. He can thus, by
-means of these wires, transmit his orders to the generals of these
-divisions, and by the same means receive back information as to the
-condition of each.
-
-Thus his headquarters become a centre, into which all information is
-poured, and out of which all commands are issued.
-
-Now, that mysterious thing called life, about the nature of which we
-know so little, is probably not unlike such a commander. Life is not
-a bully, who swaggers out into the open universe, upsetting the laws
-of energy in all directions, but rather a consummate strategist, who,
-sitting in his secret chamber, before his wires, directs the movements
-of a great army.[10]
-
-223. Let us next suppose that our imaginary army is in rapid march, and
-let us try to find out the cause of this movement. We find that, in the
-first place, orders to march have been issued to the troops under them
-by the commanders of each regiment. In the next place, we learn that
-staff officers, attached to the generals of the various divisions, have
-conveyed these orders to the regimental commanders; and, finally, we
-learn that the order to march has been telegraphed from headquarters to
-these various generals.
-
-Descending now to ourselves, it is probably somewhere in the mysterious
-and well-guarded brain-chamber that the delicate directive touch is
-given which determines our movements. This chamber forms, as it were,
-the headquarters of the general in command, who is so well withdrawn as
-to be absolutely invisible to all his subordinates.
-
-224. Joule, Carpenter, and Mayer were at an early period aware of the
-restrictions under which animals are placed by the laws of energy,
-and in virtue of which the power of an animal, as far as energy is
-concerned, is not creative, but only directive. It was seen that, in
-order to do work, an animal must be fed; and, even at a still earlier
-period, Count Rumford remarked that a ton of hay will be administered
-more economically by feeding a horse with it, and then getting work out
-of the horse, than by burning it as fuel in an engine.
-
-225. In this chapter, the same line of thought has been carried
-out a little further. We have seen that life is associated with
-delicately-constructed machines, so that whenever a transmutation of
-energy is brought about by a living being, could we trace the event
-back, we should find that the physical antecedent was probably a much
-less transmutation, while again the antecedent of this would probably
-be found still less, and so on, as far as we could trace it.
-
-226. But with all this, we do not pretend to have discovered the true
-nature of life itself, or even the true nature of its relation to the
-material universe.
-
-What we have ventured is the assertion that, as far as we can judge,
-life is always associated with machinery of a certain kind, in virtue
-of which an extremely delicate directive touch is ultimately magnified
-into a very considerable transmutation of energy. Indeed, we can hardly
-imagine the freedom of motion implied in life to exist apart from
-machinery possessed of very great delicacy of construction.
-
-In fine, we have not succeeded in solving the problem as to the true
-nature of life, but have only driven the difficulty into a borderland
-of thick darkness, into which the light of knowledge has not yet been
-able to penetrate.
-
-
-_Organized Tissues are subject to Decay._
-
-227. We have thus learned two things, for, in the first place, we
-have learned that life is associated with delicacy of construction,
-and in the next (Art. 220), that delicacy of construction implies
-an unstable arrangement of natural forces. We have now to remark
-that the particular force which is thus used by living beings is
-chemical affinity. Our bodies are, in truth, examples of an unstable
-arrangement of chemical forces, and the materials which composed them,
-if not liable to sudden explosion, like fulminating powder, are yet
-preeminently the subjects of decay.
-
-228. Now, this is more than a mere general statement; it is a truth
-that admits of degrees, and in virtue of which those parts of our
-bodies which have, during life, the noblest and most delicate office to
-perform, are the very first to perish when life is extinct.
-
- “Oh! o’er the eye death most exerts his might,
- And hurls the spirit from her throne of light;
- Sinks those blue orbs in their long last eclipse,
- But spares us yet the charm around the lips.”
-
-So speaks the poet, and we have here an aspect of things in which the
-lament of the poet becomes the true interpretation of nature.
-
-
-_Difference between Animals and Inanimate Machines._
-
-229. We are now able to recognize the difference between the relations
-to energy of a living being, such as man, and a machine, such as a
-steam-engine.
-
-There are many points in common between the two. Both require to be
-fed, and in both there is the transmutation of the energy of chemical
-separation implied in fuel and food into that of heat and visible
-motion.
-
-But while the one--the engine--requires for its maintenance only
-carbon, or some other variety of chemical separation, the other--the
-living being--demands to be supplied with organized tissue. In fact,
-that delicacy of construction which is so essential to our well-being,
-is not something which we can elaborate internally in our own
-frames--all that we can do is to appropriate and assimilate that which
-comes to us from without; it is already present in the food which we
-eat.
-
-
-_Ultimate Dependence of Life upon the Sun._
-
-230. We have already (Art. 203) been led to recognize the sun as the
-ultimate material source of all the energy which we possess, and we
-must now regard him as the source likewise of all our delicacy of
-construction. It requires the energy of his high temperature rays so to
-wield and manipulate the powerful forces of chemical affinity; so to
-balance these various forces against each other, as to produce in the
-vegetable something which will afford our frames, not only energy, but
-also delicacy of construction.
-
-Low temperature heat would be utterly unable to accomplish this; it
-consists of ethereal vibrations which are not sufficiently rapid, and
-of waves that are not sufficiently short, for the purpose of shaking
-asunder the constituents of compound molecules.
-
-231. It thus appears that animals are, in more ways than one,
-pensioners upon the sun’s bounty; and those instances, which at first
-sight appear to be exceptions, will, if studied sufficiently, only
-serve to confirm the rule.
-
-Thus the recent researches of Dr. Carpenter and Professor Wyville
-Thomson have disclosed to us the existence of minute living beings in
-the deepest parts of the ocean, into which we may be almost sure no
-solar ray can penetrate. How, then, do these minute creatures obtain
-that energy and delicacy of construction without which they cannot
-live? in other words, how are they fed?
-
-Now, the same naturalists who discovered the existence of these
-creatures, have recently furnished us with a very probable explanation
-of the mystery. They think it highly probable that the whole ocean
-contains in it organic matter to a very small but yet perceptible
-extent, forming, as they express it, a sort of diluted soup, which thus
-becomes the food of these minute creatures.
-
-232. In conclusion, we are dependent upon the sun and centre of our
-system, not only for the mere energy of our frames, but also for our
-delicacy of construction--the future of our race depends upon the sun’s
-future. But we have seen that the sun must have had a beginning, and
-that he will have an end.
-
-We are thus induced to generalize still further, and regard, not only
-our own system, but the whole material universe when viewed with
-respect to serviceable energy, as essentially evanescent, and as
-embracing a succession of physical events which cannot go on for ever
-as they are.
-
-But here at length we come to matters beyond our grasp; for physical
-science cannot inform us what must have been before the beginning, nor
-yet can it tell us what will take place after the end.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[10] _See_ an article on “The Position of Life,” by the author of this
-work, in conjunction with Mr. J. N. Lockyer, “Macmillan’s Magazine,”
-September, 1868; also a lecture on “The Recent Developments of Cosmical
-Physics,” by the author of this work.
-
-
-
-
- APPENDIX.
-
- CORRELATION OF VITAL WITH CHEMICAL AND
- PHYSICAL FORCES.
-
- BY JOSEPH LE CONTE,
-
- PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY IN THE
- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
-
-
-
-
-CORRELATION OF VITAL WITH CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL FORCES.
-
-
-Vital force; whence is it derived? What is its relation to the other
-forces of Nature? The answer of modern science to these questions is:
-It is derived from the lower forces of Nature; it is related to other
-forces much as these are related to each other--it is correlated with
-chemical and physical forces.
-
-At one time matter was supposed to be destructible. By combustion or
-by evaporation matter seemed to be consumed--to pass out of existence;
-but now we know it only changes its form from the solid or liquid to
-the gaseous condition--from the visible to the invisible--and that,
-amid all these changes, the same quantity of matter remains. Creation
-or destruction of matter, increase or diminution of matter, lies beyond
-the domain of Science; her domain is confined entirely to the changes
-of matter. Now, it is the doctrine of modern science that the same is
-true of force. Force seems often to be annihilated. Two cannon-balls
-of equal size and velocity meet each other and fall motionless. The
-immense energy of these moving bodies seems to pass out of existence.
-But not so; it is changed into heat, and the exact amount of heat may
-be calculated; moreover, an equal amount of heat may be changed back
-again into an equal amount of momentum. Here, therefore, force is not
-lost, but is changed from a visible to an invisible form. Motion is
-changed from bodily motion into molecular motion. Thus heat, light,
-electricity, magnetism, chemical affinity, and mechanical force, are
-transmutable into each other, back and forth; but, amid all these
-changes, the amount of force remains unchanged. Force is incapable of
-destruction, except by the same power which created it. The domain
-of Science lies within the limits of these changes--creation and
-annihilation lie outside of her domain.
-
-The mutual convertibility of forces into each other is called
-_correlation of forces_; the persistence of the same amount, amid all
-these protean forms, is called _conservation of force_.[11]
-
-The correlation of physical forces with each other and with chemical
-force is now universally acknowledged and somewhat clearly conceived.
-The correlation of vital force with these is not universally
-acknowledged, and, where acknowledged, is only imperfectly conceived.
-In 1859 I published a paper[12] in which I attempted to put the idea of
-correlation of vital force with chemical and physical forces in a more
-definite and scientific form. The views expressed in that paper have
-been generally adopted by physiologists. Since the publication of the
-paper referred to, the subject has lain in my mind, and grown at least
-somewhat. I propose, therefore, now to reëmbody my views in a more
-popular form, with such additions as have occurred to me since.
-
-There are four planes of material existence, which may be represented
-as raised one above another. These are: 1. The plane of elementary
-existence; 2. The plane of chemical compounds, or mineral kingdom;
-3. The plane of vegetable existence; and, 4. The plane of animal
-existence. Their relations to each other are truly expressed by writing
-them one above the other, thus:
-
- I may sometimes use the word energy instead. If any one should charge
- me with want of precision in language, my answer is: Our language
- cannot be more precise until our ideas in this department are far
- clearer than now.
-
- 4. _Animal Kingdom._
- 3. _Vegetable Kingdom._
- 2. _Mineral Kingdom._
- 1. _Elements._
-
-Now, it is a remarkable fact that there is a special force, whose
-function it is to raise matter from each plane to the plane above,
-and to execute movements on the latter. Thus, it is the function
-of chemical affinity alone to raise matter from No. 1 to No. 2, as
-well as to execute all the movements, back and forth, by action and
-reaction; in a word, to produce all the phenomena on No. 2 which
-together constitute the science of chemistry. It is the prerogative
-of vegetable life-force alone to lift matter from No. 2 to No. 3, as
-well as to execute all the movements on that plane, which together
-constitute the science of vegetable physiology. It is the prerogative
-of animal life-force alone to lift matter from No. 3 to No. 4, and to
-preside over the movements on this plane, which together constitute the
-science of animal physiology. But there is no force in Nature capable
-of raising matter at once from No. 1 to No. 3, or from No. 2 to No. 4,
-without stopping and receiving an accession of force, of a different
-kind, on the intermediate plane. Plants cannot feed upon elements, but
-only on chemical compounds; animals cannot feed on minerals, but only
-on vegetables. We shall see in the sequel that this is the necessary
-result of the principle of conservation of force in vital phenomena.
-
-It is well known that atoms, in a nascent state--i. e., at the moment
-of their separation from previous combination--are endowed with
-peculiar and powerful affinity. Oxygen and nitrogen, nitrogen and
-hydrogen, hydrogen and carbon, which show no affinity for each other
-under ordinary circumstances, readily unite when one or both are in a
-nascent condition. The reason seems to be that, when the elements of
-a compound are torn asunder, the chemical affinity which previously
-bound them together is set free, ready and eager to unite the nascent
-elements with whatever they come in contact with. This state of exalted
-chemical energy is retained but a little while, because it is liable
-to be changed into some other form of force, probably heat, and is
-therefore no longer chemical energy. To illustrate by the planes:
-matter falling down from No. 2 to No. 1 generates force by which matter
-is lifted from No. 1 to No. 2. Decomposition generates the force by
-which combination is effected. This principle underlies every thing I
-shall further say.
-
-There are, therefore, two ideas or principles underlying this paper:
-1. The correlation of vital with physical and chemical forces; 2.
-That in all cases _vital force is produced by decomposition_--is
-transformed nascent affinity. Neither of these is new. Grove, many
-years ago, brought out, in a vague manner, the idea that vital force
-was correlated with chemical and physical forces.[13] In 1848 Dr.
-Freke, M. R. I. A., of Dublin, first advanced the idea that vital force
-of animal life was generated by decomposition. In 1851 the same idea
-was brought out again by Dr. Watters, of St. Louis. These papers were
-unknown to me when I wrote my article. They have been sent to me in the
-last few years by their respective authors. Neither of these authors,
-however, extends this principle to vegetation, the most fundamental
-and most important phenomenon of life. In 1857 the same idea was again
-brought out by Prof. Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution, and by him
-extended to vegetation. I do not, therefore, now claim to have first
-advanced this idea, but I do claim to have in some measure rescued it
-from vagueness, and given it a clearer and more scientific form.
-
-I wish now to apply these principles in the explanation of the most
-important phenomena of vegetable and animal life:
-
-1. VEGETATION.--The most important phenomenon in the life-history of
-a plant--in fact, the starting-point of all life, both vegetable and
-animal--is the formation of organic matter in the leaves. The necessary
-conditions for this wonderful change of mineral into organic matter
-seem to be, sunlight, chlorophyl, and living protoplasm, or bioplasm.
-This is the phenomenon I wish now to discuss.
-
-The plastic matters of which vegetable structure is built are of
-two kinds--amyloids and albuminoids. The amyloids, or starch and
-sugar groups, consist of C, H, and O; the albuminoids of C, H, O,
-N, and a little S and P. The quantity of sulphur and phosphorus is
-very small, and we will neglect them in this discussion. The food
-out of which these substances are elaborated are, CO₂, H₂O,
-and H_{3}N--carbonic acid, water, and ammonia. Now, by the agency of
-sunlight in the presence of chlorophyl and bioplasm, these chemical
-compounds (CO₂, H₂O, and H_{3}N) are torn asunder, or shaken
-asunder, or decomposed; the excess of O, or of O and H, is rejected,
-and the remaining elements in a nascent condition combine to form
-organic matter. To form the amyloids--starch, dextrine, sugar,
-cellulose--only CO₂ and H₂O are decomposed, and excess of O
-rejected. To form albuminoids, or protoplasm, CO₂, H₂O, and
-H_{3}N, are decomposed, and excess of O and H rejected.
-
-It would seem in this case, therefore, that physical force (light)
-is changed into nascent chemical force, and this nascent chemical
-force, under the peculiar conditions present, forms organic matter,
-and reappears as vital force. Light falling on living green leaves is
-destroyed or consumed in doing the work of decomposition; disappears
-as light, to reappear as nascent chemical energy; and this in its
-turn disappears in forming organic matter, to reappear as the vital
-force of the organic matter thus formed. The light which disappears is
-proportioned to the O, or the O and H rejected; is proportioned also to
-the quantity of organic matter formed, and also to the amount of vital
-force resulting. To illustrate: In the case of amyloids, oxygen-excess
-falling or running down from plane No. 2 to plane No. 1 generates force
-to raise C, H, and O, from plane No. 2 to plane No. 3. In the case of
-albuminoids, oxygen-excess and hydrogen-excess running down from No. 2
-to No. 1 generate force to raise C, H, O, and N, from No. 2 to No. 3.
-To illustrate again: As sun-heat falling upon water disappears as heat,
-to reappear as mechanical power, raising the water into the clouds, so
-sunlight falling upon green leaves disappears as light, to reappear as
-vital force lifting matter from the mineral into the organic kingdom.
-
-2. GERMINATION.--Growing plants, it is seen, take their life-force
-from the sun; but seeds germinate and commence to grow in the dark.
-Evidently there must be some other source from which they draw their
-supply of force. They cannot draw force from the sun. This fact is
-intimately connected with another fact, viz., that they do not draw
-their food from the mineral kingdom. The seed in germination feeds
-entirely upon a supply of organic matter laid up for it by the
-mother-plant. It is the decomposition of this organic matter which
-supplies the force of germination. Chemical compounds are comparatively
-stable--it requires sunlight to tear them asunder; but organic matter
-is more easily decomposed--it is almost spontaneously decomposed.
-It may be that heat (a necessary condition of germination) is the
-force which determines the decomposition. However this may be, it
-is certain that a portion of the organic matter laid up in the seed
-is decomposed, burned up, to form CO₂ and H₂O, and that this
-combustion furnishes the force by which the mason-work of tissue-making
-is accomplished. In other words, of the food laid up in the form of
-starch, dextrine, protoplasm, a portion is decomposed to furnish the
-force by which the remainder is organized. Hence the seed always loses
-weight in germination; it cannot develop unless it is in part consumed;
-“it is not quickened except it die.” This self-consumption continues
-until the leaves and roots are formed; then it begins to draw force
-from the sun, and food from the mineral kingdom.
-
-To illustrate: In germination, matter running down from plane No. 3
-to plane No. 2 generates force by which other similar matter is moved
-about and raised to a somewhat higher position on plane No. 3. As
-water raised by the sun may be stored in reservoirs, and in running
-down from these may do work, so matter raised by sun-force into the
-organic kingdom by one generation is stored as force to do the work of
-germination of the next generation. Again, as, in water running through
-an hydraulic ram, a portion runs to waste, in order to generate force
-to lift the remainder to a higher level, so, of organic matter stored
-in the seed, a portion runs to waste to create force to organize the
-remainder.
-
-Thus, then, it will be seen that three things, viz., the absence
-of sunlight, the use of organic food, and the loss of weight, are
-indissolubly connected in germination, and all explained by the
-principle of conservation of force.
-
-3. STARTING OF BUDS.--Deciduous trees are entirely destitute of leaves
-during the winter. The buds must start to grow in the spring without
-leaves, and therefore without drawing force from the sun. Hence,
-also, food in the organic form must be, and is, laid up from the
-previous year in the body of the tree. A portion of this is consumed
-with the formation of CO₂ and H₂O, in order to create force for
-the development of the buds. So soon as by this means the leaves are
-formed, the plant begins to draw force from the sun, and food from the
-mineral kingdom.
-
-4. PALE PLANTS.--Fungi and etiolated plants have no chlorophyl,
-therefore cannot draw their force from the sun, nor make organic
-matters from inorganic. Hence these also must feed on organic matter;
-not, indeed, on starch, dextrine, and protoplasm, but on decaying
-organic matter. In these plants the organic matter is taken up in some
-form intermediate between the planes No. 3 and No. 2. The matter thus
-taken up is, a portion of it, consumed with the formation of CO₂ and
-H₂O, in order to create force necessary to organize the remainder.
-To illustrate: Matter falling from some intermediate point between No.
-2 and No. 3 to No. 2, produces force sufficient to raise matter from
-the same intermediate point to No. 3; a portion runs to waste downward,
-and creates force to push the remainder upward.
-
-5. GROWTH OF GREEN PLANTS AT NIGHT.--It is well known that almost all
-plants grow at night as well as in the day. It is also known that
-plants at night exhale CO₂. These two facts have not, however, as
-far as I know, been connected with one another, and with the principle
-of conservation of force. It is usually supposed that in the night
-the decomposition of CO₂ and exhalation of oxygen are checked by
-withdrawal of sun light, and some of the CO₂ in the ascending sap is
-exhaled by a physical law. But this does not account for the growth. It
-is evident that, in the absence of sun light, the force required for
-the work of tissue-building can be derived only from the decomposition
-and combustion of organic matter. There are two views as to the source
-of this organic matter, either or both of which may be correct: First.
-There seems to be no doubt that most plants, especially those grown in
-soils rich in _humus_, take up a portion of their food in the form of
-semi-organic matter, or soluble _humus_. The combustion of a portion of
-this in every part of the plant, by means of oxygen also absorbed by
-the roots, and the formation of CO₂, undoubtedly creates a supply of
-force night and day, independently of sunlight. The force thus produced
-by the combustion of a portion might be used to raise the remainder
-into starch, dextrine, etc., or might be used in tissue-building.
-During the day, the CO₂ thus produced would be again decomposed in
-the leaves by sunlight, and thus create an additional supply of force.
-During the night, the CO₂ would be exhaled.[14]
-
-Again: It is possible that more organic matter is made by sunlight
-during the day than is used up in tissue-building. Some of this excess
-is again consumed, and forms CO₂ and H₂O, in order to continue
-the tissue-building process during the night. Thus the plant during the
-day stores up sun-force sufficient to do its work during the night.
-It has been suggested by Dr. J. C. Draper,[15] though not proved, or
-even rendered probable, that the force of tissue-building (_force
-plastique_) is always derived from decomposition, or combustion of
-organic matter. In that case, the force of organic-matter formation
-is derived from the sun, while the force of tissue-building (which is
-relatively small) is derived from the combustion of organic matter thus
-previously formed.
-
-6. FERMENTATION.--The plastic matters out of which vegetable tissue
-is built, and which are formed by sunlight in the leaves, are of
-two kinds, viz., amyloids (dextrine, sugar, starch, cellulose), and
-albuminoids, or protoplasm. Now, the amyloids are comparatively
-stable, and do not spontaneously decompose; but the albuminoids not
-only decompose spontaneously themselves, but drag down the amyloids
-with which they are associated into concurrent decomposition--not only
-change themselves, but propagate a change into amyloids. Albuminoids,
-in various stages and kinds of decomposition, are called ferments. The
-propagated change in amyloids is called fermentation. By various kinds
-of ferments, amyloids are thus dragged down step by step to the mineral
-kingdom, viz., to CO₂ and H₂O. The accompanying table exhibits
-the various stages of the descent of starch, and the ferments by which
-they are effected:
-
- 1. Starch }
- 2. Dextrine } Diastase.
- 3. Sugar }
- 4. Alcohol and CO₂ Yeast.
- 5. Acetic acid Mother of vinegar.
- 6. CO₂ and H₂O Mould.
-
-By appropriate means, the process of descent may be stopped on any one
-of these planes. By far too much is, unfortunately, stopped on the
-fourth plane. The manufacturer and chemist may determine the downward
-change through all the planes, and the chemist has recently succeeded
-in ascending again to No. 4; but the plant ascends and descends the
-scale at pleasure (avoiding, however, the fourth and fifth), and even
-passes at one step from the lowest to the highest.
-
-Now, it will be seen by the table that, connected with each of
-these descensive changes, there is a peculiar ferment associated.
-Diastase determines the change from starch to dextrine and
-sugar--saccharification; yeast, the change from sugar to
-alcohol--fermentation; mother of vinegar, the change from alcohol to
-acetic acid--acetification; and a peculiar mould, the change from
-acetic acid to CO₂ and water. But what is far more wonderful and
-significant is, that, associated with each of these ferments, except
-diastase, and therefore with each of these descensive changes, except
-the change from starch to sugar, or saccharification, there is a
-peculiar form of life. Associated with alcoholic fermentation, there
-is the yeast-plant; with acetification, the vinegar-plant; and with the
-decomposition of vinegar, a peculiar kind of mould. We will take the
-one which is best understood, viz., yeast-plant (saccharomyce), and its
-relation to alcoholic fermentation.
-
-It is well known that, in connection with alcoholic fermentation,
-there is a peculiar unicelled plant which grows and multiplies.
-Fermentation never takes place without the presence of this plant; this
-plant never grows without producing fermentation, and the rapidity
-of the fermentation is in exact proportion to the rapidity of the
-growth of the plant. But, as far as I know, the fact has not been
-distinctly brought out that the decomposition of the sugar into alcohol
-and carbonic acid furnishes the force by which the plant grows and
-multiplies. If the growing cells of the yeast-plant be observed under
-the microscope, it will be seen that the carbonic-acid bubbles form,
-and therefore probably the decomposition of sugar takes place only in
-contact with the surface of the yeast-cells. The yeast-plant not only
-assimilates matter, but also force. It decomposes the sugar in order
-that it may assimilate the chemical force set free.
-
-We have already said that the change from starch to sugar, determined
-by diastase (saccharification), is the only one in connection with
-which there is no life. Now, it is a most significant fact, in this
-connection, that this is also the only change which is not, in a proper
-sense, descensive, or, at least, where there is no decomposition.
-
-We now pass from the phenomena of vegetable to the phenomena of animal
-life.
-
-7. DEVELOPMENT OF THE EGG IN INCUBATION.--The development of the egg
-in incubation is very similar to the germination of a seed. An egg
-consists of albuminous and fatty matters, so inclosed that, while
-oxygen of the air is admitted, nutrient matters are excluded. During
-incubation the egg changes into an embryo; it passes from an almost
-unorganized to a highly-organized condition, from a lower to a higher
-condition. There is work done: there must be expenditure of force;
-but, as we have already seen, vital force is always derived from
-decomposition. But, as the matters to be decomposed are not taken _ab
-extra_, the egg must consume itself; that it does so, is proved by
-the fact that in incubation the egg absorbs oxygen, eliminates CO₂
-and probably H₂O, and loses weight. As in the seed, a portion of
-the matters contained in the egg is consumed in order to create force
-to organize the remainder. Matter runs down from plane No. 4 to plane
-No. 2, and generates force to do the work of organization on plane No.
-4. The amount of CO₂ and H₂O formed, and therefore the loss of
-weight, is a measure of the amount of plastic work done.
-
-8. DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE CHRYSALIS SHELL.--It is well known that many
-insects emerge from the egg not in their final form, but in a wormlike
-form, called a larva. After this they pass into a second passive state,
-in which they are again covered with a kind of shell--a sort of second
-egg-state, called the chrysalis. From this they again emerge as the
-perfect insect. The butterfly is the most familiar, as well as the
-best, illustration of these changes. The larva or caterpillar eats with
-enormous voracity, and grows very rapidly. When its growth is complete,
-it covers itself with a shell, and remains perfectly passive and almost
-immovable for many days or weeks. During this period of quiescence of
-animal functions there are, however, the most important changes going
-on within. The wings and legs are formed, the muscles are aggregated in
-bundles for moving these appendages, the nervous system is more highly
-developed, the mouth-organs and alimentary canal are greatly changed
-and more highly organized, the simple eyes are changed into compound
-eyes. Now, all this requires expenditure of force, and therefore
-decomposition of matter; but no food is taken, therefore the chrysalis
-must consume its own substance, and therefore lose weight. It does so;
-the weight of the emerging butterfly is in many cases not one-tenth
-that of the caterpillar. Force is stored up in the form of organic
-matter only to be consumed in doing plastic work.
-
-9. MATURE ANIMALS.--Whence do animals derive their vital force? I
-answer, from the decomposition of their food and the decomposition of
-their tissues.
-
-Plants, as we have seen, derive their vital force from the
-decomposition of their mineral food. But the chemical compounds on
-which plants feed are very stable. Their decomposition requires a
-peculiar and complex contrivance for the reception and utilization of
-sunlight. These conditions are wanting in animals. Animals, therefore,
-cannot feed on chemical compounds of the mineral kingdom; they must
-have organic food which easily runs into decomposition; they must feed
-on the vegetable kingdom.
-
-Animals are distinguished from vegetables by incessant decay in
-every tissue--a decay which is proportional to animal activity. This
-incessant decay necessitates incessant repair, so that the animal body
-has been likened to a temple on which two opposite forces are at work
-in every part, the one tearing down, the other repairing the breach as
-fast as made. In vegetables no such incessant decay has ever been made
-out. If it exists, it must be very trifling in comparison. Protoplasm,
-it is true, is taken up from the older parts of vegetables, and these
-parts die; but the protoplasm does not seem to decompose, but is used
-again for tissue-building. Thus the internal activity of animals is of
-two kinds, tissue-destroying and tissue-building; while that of plants
-seems to be, principally, at least, of one kind, tissue-building.
-Animals use food for force and repair and growth, and in the mature
-animal only for force and repair. Plants, except in reproduction, use
-food almost wholly for growth--they never stop growing.
-
-Now, the food of animals is of two kinds, amyloids and albuminoids. The
-carnivora feed entirely on albuminoids; herbivora on both amyloids and
-albuminoids. All this food comes from the vegetable kingdom, directly
-in the case of herbivora, indirectly in the case of carnivora. Animals
-cannot make organic matter. Now, the tissues of animals are wholly
-albuminoid. It is obvious, therefore, that for the repair of the
-tissues the food must be albuminoid. The amyloid food, therefore (and,
-as we shall see in carnivora, much of the albuminoid), must be used
-wholly for force. As coal or wood, burned in a steam-engine, changes
-chemical into mechanical energy, so food, in excess of what is used
-for repair, is burned up to produce animal activity. Let us trace more
-accurately the origin of animal force by examples.
-
-10. CARNIVORA.--The food of carnivora is entirely albuminoid. The idea
-of the older physiologists, in regard to the use of this food, seems
-to have been as follows: Albuminoid matter is exceedingly unstable; it
-is matter raised, with much difficulty and against chemical forces,
-high, and delicately balanced on a pinnacle, in a state of unstable
-equilibrium, for a brief time, and then rushes down again into the
-mineral kingdom. The animal tissues, being formed of albuminoid matter,
-are short-lived; the parts are constantly dying and decomposing; the
-law of death necessitates the law of reproduction; decomposition
-necessitates repair, and therefore food for repair. But the force by
-which repair is effected was for them, and for many physiologists now,
-underived, innate. But the doctrine maintained by me in the paper
-referred to is, that the decomposition of the tissues creates not only
-the necessity, but also the force, of repair.
-
-Suppose, in the first place, a carnivorous animal uses just enough
-food to repair the tissues, and no more--say an ounce. Then I say the
-ounce of tissue decayed not only necessitates the ounce of albuminous
-food for repair, but the decomposition sets free the force by which
-the repair is effected. But it will be perhaps objected that the force
-would all be consumed in repair, and none left for animal activity of
-all kinds. I answer: it would not all be used up in repair, for, the
-food being already albuminoid, there is probably little expenditure of
-force necessary to change it into tissue; while, on the other hand, the
-force generated by the decomposition of tissue into CO₂, H₂O,
-and urea, is very great--the ascensive change is small, the descensive
-change is great. The decomposition of one ounce of albuminous tissue
-into CO₂, H₂O, and urea, would therefore create force sufficient
-not only to change one ounce of albuminous matter into tissue, but
-also leave a considerable amount for animal activities of all kinds. A
-certain quantity of matter, running down from plane No. 4 to plane No.
-2, creates force enough not only to move the same quantity of matter
-about on plane No. 4, but also to do much other work besides. It is
-probable, however, that the wants of animal activity are so immediate
-and urgent that, under these conditions, much food would be burned for
-this purpose, and would not reach the tissues, and the tissues would be
-imperfectly repaired, and would therefore waste.
-
-Take, next, the carnivorous animal full fed. In this case there can
-be no doubt that, while a portion of the food goes to repair the
-tissues, by far the larger portion is consumed in the blood, and
-passes away partly as CO₂ and H₂O through the lungs, and partly
-as urea through the kidneys. This part is used, and can be of use
-only, to create force. The food of carnivora, therefore, goes partly
-to tissue-building, and partly to create heat and force. The force of
-carnivorous animals is derived partly from decomposing tissues and
-partly from food-excess consumed in the blood.
-
-11. HERBIVORA.--The food of herbivora and of man is mixed--partly
-albuminoid and partly amyloid. In man, doubtless, the albuminoids
-are usually in excess of what is required for tissue-building; but
-in herbivora, probably, the albuminoids are not in excess of the
-requirements of the decomposing tissues. In this case, therefore, the
-whole of the albuminoids is used for tissue-making, and the whole of
-the amyloids for force-making. In this class, therefore, these two
-classes of food may be called tissue-food and force-food. The force of
-these animals, therefore, is derived partly from the decomposition of
-the tissues, but principally from the decomposition and combustion of
-the amyloids and fats.
-
-Some physiologists speak of the amyloid and fat food as being burned
-to keep up the animal heat; but it is evident that the prime object
-in the body, as in the steam-engine, is not heat, but force. Heat is
-a mere condition and perhaps a necessary concomitant of the change,
-but evidently not the prime object. In tropical regions the heat is
-not wanted. In the steam-engine, chemical energy is first changed into
-heat, and heat into mechanical energy; in the body the change is,
-probably, much of it direct, and not through the intermediation of heat.
-
-12. We see at once, from the above, why it is that plants cannot feed
-on elements, viz., because their food must be decomposed in order to
-create the organic matter out of which all organisms are built. This
-elevation of matter, which takes place in the green leaves of plants,
-is the starting-point of life; upon it alone is based the possibility
-of the existence of the organic kingdom. The running down of the
-matter there raised determines the vital phenomena of germination, of
-pale plants, and even of some of the vital phenomena of green plants,
-and all the vital phenomena of the animal kingdom. The stability of
-chemical compounds, usable as plant-food, is such that a peculiar
-contrivance and peculiar conditions found only in the green leaves of
-plants are necessary for their decomposition. We see, therefore, also,
-why animals as well as pale plants cannot feed on mineral matter.
-
-We easily see also why the animal activity of carnivora is greater
-than that of herbivora, for the amount of force necessary for the
-assimilation of their albuminoid food is small, and therefore a larger
-amount is left over for animal activity. Their food is already on plane
-No. 4; assimilation, therefore, is little more than a _shifting_ on the
-plane No. 4 from a liquid to a solid condition--from liquid albuminoid
-of the blood to solid albuminoid of the tissues.
-
-We see also why the internal activity of plants may conceivably be
-only of one kind; for, drawing their force from the sun, tissue-making
-is not necessarily dependent on tissue-decay. While, on the other
-hand, the internal activity of animals must be of two kinds, decay and
-repair; for animals always draw a portion of their force, and starving
-animals the whole of their force, from decaying tissue.
-
-13. There are several general thoughts suggested by this subject, which
-I wish to present in conclusion:
-
-_a._ We have said there are four planes of matter raised one above the
-other: 1. Elements; 2. Chemical compounds; 3. Vegetables; 4. Animals.
-Their relative position is truly represented thus:
-
- 4. _Animals._
- 3. _Plants._
- 2. _Chemical compounds._
- 1. _Elements._
-
-Now, there are also four planes of force similarly related to each
-other, viz., physical force, chemical force, vitality, and will. On the
-first plane of matter operates physical force only; for chemical force
-immediately raises matter into the second plane. On the second plane
-operates, in addition to physical, also chemical force. On the third
-plane operates, in addition to physical and chemical, also vital force.
-On the fourth plane, in addition to physical, chemical, and vital,
-also the force characteristic of animals, viz., will.[16] With each
-elevation there is a peculiar force added to the already existing,
-and a peculiar group of phenomena is the result. As matter only rises
-step by step from plane to plane, and never two steps at a time, so
-also force, in its transformation into higher forms of force, rises
-only step by step. Physical force does not become vital except through
-chemical force, and chemical force does not become will except through
-vital force.
-
-Again, we have compared the various grades of matter, not to a
-gradually rising inclined plane, but to successive planes raised one
-above the other. There are, no doubt, some intermediate conditions;
-but, as a broad, general fact, the changes from plane to plane are
-sudden. Now, the same is true also of the forces operating on these
-planes--of the different grades of force, and their corresponding
-groups of phenomena. The change from one grade to another, as from
-physical to chemical, or from chemical to vital, is not, as far as we
-can see, by sliding scale, but suddenly. The groups of phenomena which
-we call physical, chemical, vital, animal, rational, and moral, do not
-merge into each other by insensible gradations. In the ascensive scale
-of forces, in the evolution of the higher forces from the lower, there
-are places of rapid, paroxysmal change.
-
-_b._ Vital force is transformed into physical and chemical forces; but
-it is not on that account identical with physical and chemical force,
-and therefore we ought not, as some would have us, discard the term
-vital force. There are two opposite errors on this subject: one is the
-old error of regarding vital force as something innate, underived,
-having no relation to the other forces of Nature; the other is the
-new error of regarding the forces of the living body as nothing but
-ordinary physical and chemical forces, and therefore insisting that
-the use of the term vital force is absurd and injurious to science.
-The old error is still prevalent in the popular mind, and still
-haunts the minds of many physiologists; the new error is apparently
-a revulsion from the other, and is therefore common among the most
-advanced scientific minds. There are many of the best scientists who
-ridicule the use of the term vital force, or vitality, as a remnant
-of superstition; and yet the same men use the words gravity, magnetic
-force, chemical force, physical force, etc. Vital force is not
-underived--is not unrelated to other forces--is, in fact, correlated
-with them; but it is nevertheless a distinct form of force, far more
-distinct than any other form, unless it be still higher forms, and
-therefore better entitled to a distinct name than any lower form. Each
-form of force gives rise to a peculiar group of phenomena, and the
-study of these to a peculiar department of science. Now, the group of
-phenomena called vital is more peculiar, and more different from other
-groups, than these are from each other; and the science of physiology
-is a more distinct department than either physics or chemistry; and
-therefore the form of force which determines these phenomena is more
-distinct, and better entitled to a distinct name, than either physical
-or chemical forces. De Candolle, in a recent paper,[17] suggests the
-term vital movement instead of vital force; but can we conceive of
-movement without force? And, if the movement is peculiar, so also is
-the form of force.
-
-_c._ Vital is transformed physical and chemical forces; true, but the
-necessary and very peculiar condition of this transformation is the
-previous existence then and there of living matter. There is something
-so wonderful in this peculiarity of vital force that I must dwell on it
-a little.
-
-Elements brought in contact with each other under certain physical
-conditions--perhaps heat or electricity--unite and rise into the second
-plane, i. e., of chemical compounds; so also several elements, C, H, O,
-and N, etc., brought in contact with each other under certain physical
-or chemical conditions, such as light, nascency, etc., unite and rise
-into plane No. 3, i. e., form organic matter. In both cases there is
-chemical union under certain physical conditions; but in the latter
-there is one unique condition, viz., the previous existence then and
-there of organic matter, under the guidance of which the transformation
-of matter takes place. In a word, organic matter is necessary
-to produce organic matter; there is here a law of like producing
-like--there is an assimilation of matter.
-
-Again, physical force changes into other forms of physical force,
-or into chemical force, under certain physical conditions; so also
-physical and chemical forces are changed into vital force under certain
-physical conditions. But, in addition, there is one altogether unique
-condition of the latter change, viz., the previous existence then and
-there of vital force. Here, again, like produces like--here, again,
-there is assimilation of force.
-
-This law of like producing like--this law of assimilation of matter
-and force--runs throughout all vital phenomena, even to the minutest
-details. It is a universal law of generation, and determines the
-existence of species; it is the law of formation of organic matter and
-organic force; it determines all the varieties of organic matter which
-we call tissues and organs, and all the varieties of organic force
-which we call functions. The same nutrient pabulum, endowed with the
-same properties and powers, carried to all parts of a complex organism
-by this wonderful law of like producing like, is changed into the
-most various forms and endowed with the most various powers. There
-are certainly limits and exceptions to this law, however; otherwise
-differentiation of tissues, organs, and functions, could not take
-place in embryonic development; but the limits and exceptions are
-themselves subject to a law even more wonderful than the law of like
-producing like itself, viz., the law of evolution. There is in all
-organic nature, whether organic kingdom, organic individual, or organic
-tissues, a law of variation, strongest in the early stages, limited
-very strictly by another law--the law of inheritance, of like producing
-like.
-
-_d._ We have seen that all development takes place at the expense of
-decay--all elevation of one thing, in one place, at the expense of
-corresponding running down of something else in another place. Force is
-only transferred and transformed. The plant draws its force from the
-sun, and therefore what the plant gains the sun loses. Animals draw
-from plants, and therefore what the animal kingdom gains the vegetable
-kingdom loses. Again, an egg, a seed, or a chrysalis, developing to a
-higher condition, and yet taking nothing _ab extra_, must lose weight.
-Some part must run down, in order that the remainder should be raised
-to a higher condition. The amount of evolution is measured by the loss
-of weight. By the law of conservation of force, it is inconceivable
-that it should be otherwise. Evidently, therefore, in the universe,
-taken as a whole, evolution of one part must be at the expense of
-some other part. The evolution or development of the whole cosmos--of
-the whole universe of matter--as a unit, by forces within itself,
-according to the doctrine of conservation of force, is inconceivable.
-If there be any such evolution, at all comparable with any known form
-of evolution, it can only take place by a constant increase of the
-whole sum of energy, i. e., by a constant influx of divine energy--for
-the same quantity of matter in a higher condition must embody a greater
-amount of energy.
-
-_e._ Finally, as organic matter is so much matter taken from the
-common fund of matter of earth and air, embodied for a brief space,
-to be again by death and decomposition returned to that common fund,
-so also it would seem that the organic forces of the living bodies of
-plants and animals may be regarded as so much force drawn from the
-common fund of physical and chemical forces, to be again all refunded
-by death and decomposition. Yes, by decomposition; we can understand
-this. But death! can we detect any thing returned by simple death?
-What is the nature of the difference between the living organism and
-a dead organism? We can detect none, physical or chemical. All the
-physical and chemical forces withdrawn from the common fund of Nature,
-and embodied in the living organism, seem to be still embodied in the
-dead until little by little it is returned by decomposition. Yet the
-difference is immense, is inconceivably great. What is the nature of
-this difference expressed in the formula of material science? What is
-it that is gone, and whither is it gone? There is something here which
-science cannot yet understand. Yet it is just this loss which takes
-place in death, and before decomposition, which is in the highest sense
-vital force.
-
-Let no one from the above views, or from similar views expressed by
-others, draw hasty conclusions in favor of a pure materialism. Force
-and matter, or spirit and matter, or God and Nature, these are the
-opposite poles of philosophy--they are the opposite poles of thought.
-There is no clear thinking without them. Not only religion and virtue,
-but science and philosophy, cannot even exist without them. The belief
-in spirit, like the belief in matter, rests on its own basis of
-phenomena. The true domain of philosophy is to reconcile these with
-each other.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[11] In recent works the word _energy_ is used to designate active or
-working force as distinguished from passive or non-working force. It is
-in this working condition only that force is conserved, and therefore
-_conservation of energy_ is the proper expression. Nevertheless, since
-the distinction between force and energy is imperfectly or not at all
-defined in the higher forms of force, and especially in the domain of
-life, I have preferred in this article to use the word _force_ in the
-general sense usual until recently.
-
-[12] _American Journal of Science_, November, 1859. _Philadelphia
-Magazine_, vol. xix., p. 133.
-
-[13] In 1845 Dr. J. R. Mayer published a paper on “Organic Motion and
-Nutrition.” I have not seen it.
-
-[14] For more full account, see my paper, _American Journal of
-Science_, November, 1859, sixth and seventh heads.
-
-[15] _American Journal of Science_, November, 1872. The experiments
-of Dr. Draper are inconclusive, because they are made on _seedlings_,
-which, until their supply of organic food is exhausted, are independent
-of sunlight.
-
-[16] I might add still another plane and another force, viz., the human
-plane, on which operate, in addition to all the lower forces, also
-free-will and reason. I do not speak of these, only because they lie
-beyond the present ken of inductive science.
-
-[17] _Archives des Sciences_, vol. xlv., p. 345, December, 1872.
-
-
-
-
-CORRELATION OF NERVOUS AND MENTAL FORCES.
-
-BY ALEXANDER BAIN, LL. D.,
-
-PROFESSOR OF LOGIC AND MENTAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF
-ABERDEEN.
-
-
-
-
-THE CORRELATION OF NERVOUS AND MENTAL FORCES.
-
-
-The doctrine called the correlation, persistence, equivalence,
-transmutability, indestructibility of force, or the conservation of
-energy, is a generality of such compass that no single form of words
-seems capable of fully expressing it; and different persons may prefer
-different statements of it. My understanding of the doctrine is, that
-there are five chief powers or forces in Nature: one _mechanical_,
-or _molar_, the momentum of moving matter; the others _molecular_,
-or embodied in the molecules, also supposed in motion--these are,
-heat, light, chemical force, electricity. To these powers, which are
-unquestionable and distinct, it is usual to add vital force, of which,
-however, it is difficult to speak as a whole; but one member of our
-vital energies, the nerve-force, allied to electricity, fully deserves
-to rank in the correlation.
-
-Taking the one mechanical force, and those three of the molecular
-named heat, chemical force, electricity, there has now been established
-a definite rate of commutation, or exchange, when any one passes into
-any other. The mechanical equivalent of heat, the 772 foot-pounds of
-Joule, expresses the rate of exchange between mechanical momentum
-and heat: the equivalent or exchange of heat and chemical force is
-given (through the researches of Andrews and others) in the figures
-expressing the heat of combinations; for example, one pound of carbon
-burnt evolves heat enough to raise 8,080 pounds of water one degree, C.
-The combination of these to equivalents would show that the consumption
-of half a pound of carbon would raise a man of average weight to the
-highest summit of the Himalayas.
-
-It is an essential part of the doctrine, that force is never absolutely
-created, and never absolutely destroyed, but merely transmuted in form
-or manifestation.
-
-As applied to living bodies, the following are the usual positions. In
-the growth of plants, the forces of the solar ray--heat and light--are
-expended in decomposing (or deoxidizing) carbonic acid and water, and
-in building up the living tissues from the liberated carbon and the
-other elements; all which force is given up when these tissues are
-consumed, either as fuel in ordinary combustion, or as food in animal
-combustion.
-
-It is this animal combustion of the matter of plants, and of animals
-(fed on plants)--namely, the reoxidation of carbon, hydrogen,
-etc.--that yields all the manifestations of power in the animal frame.
-And, in particular, it maintains (1) a certain warmth or temperature
-of the whole mass, against the cooling power of surrounding space; it
-maintains (2) mechanical energy, as muscular power; and it maintains
-(3) nervous power, or a certain flow of the influence circulating
-through the nerves, which circulation of influence, besides reacting
-on the other animal processes--muscular, glandular, etc.--has for its
-distinguishing concomitant the MIND.
-
-The extension of the correlation of force to mind, if at all competent,
-must be made through the nerve-force, a genuine member of the
-correlated group. Very serious difficulties beset the proposal, but
-they are not insuperable.
-
-The history of the doctrines relating to mind, as connected with body,
-is in the highest degree curious and instructive, but, for the purpose
-of the present paper, we shall notice only certain leading stages of
-the speculation.[18]
-
-Not the least important position is the Aristotelian; a position
-in some respects sounder than what followed and grew out of it. In
-Aristotle, we have a kind of gradation from the life of plants to the
-highest form of human intelligence. In the following diagram, the
-continuous lines may represent the material substance, and the dotted
-lines the immaterial:
-
-
- A. _Soul of Plants._
-
- ---- Without consciousness.
-
-
- B. _Animal Soul._
-
- ---- Body and mind inseparable.
- ....
-
-
- C. _Human Soul_--NOUS--_Intellect_.
-
- I. Passive intellect.
-
- ---- Body and mind inseparable.
- ....
-
- II. Active intellect--cognition of the highest principles.
-
- .... Pure form; detached from matter; the prime mover of all; immortal.
-
-All the phases of life and mind are inseparably interwoven with the
-body (which inseparability is Aristotle’s definition of the soul)
-except the last, the active _nous_, or intellect, which is detached
-from corporeal matter, self-subsisting, the essence of Deity, and an
-immortal substance, although the immortality is not personal to the
-individual. (The immateriality of this higher intellectual agent was
-net, however, that thorough-going negation of all material attributes
-which we now understand by the word “immaterial.”) How such a
-self-subsisting and purely spiritual soul could hold communication with
-the body-leagued souls, Aristotle was at a loss to say--the difficulty
-reappeared after him, and has never been got over. That there should
-be an agency totally apart from, and entirely transcending, any known
-powers of inert matter, involves no difficulty--for who is to limit
-the possibilities of existence? The perplexity arises only when this
-radically new and superior principle is made to be, as it were, off
-and on with the material principle; performing some of its functions
-in pure isolation, and others of an analogous kind by the aid of the
-lower principle. The difference between the active and the passive
-reason of Aristotle is a mere difference of gradation; the supporting
-agencies assumed by him are a total contrast in kind--wide as the poles
-asunder. There is no breach of continuity in the phenomena, there is an
-impassable chasm between their respective foundations.
-
-Fifteen centuries after Aristotle, we reach what may be called the
-modern settlement of the relations of mind and body, effected by Thomas
-Aquinas. He extended the domain of the independent immaterial principle
-from the highest intellectual soul of Aristotle to all the three souls
-recognized by him--the vegetable or plant soul (without consciousness),
-the animal soul (with consciousness), and the intellect throughout. The
-two lower souls--the vegetable and the animal--need the coöperation of
-the body in this life; the intellect works without any bodily organ,
-except that it makes use of the perceptions of the senses.
-
-
- A. _Vegetable or Nutritive Soul._
-
- ---- Incorporates an immaterial part, although unconscious.
- ....
-
-
- B. _Animal Soul._
-
- ---- Has an immaterial part, with consciousness.
- ....
-
-
- C. _Intellect._
-
- .... Purely immaterial.
-
-The animal soul, B, contains sensation, appetite, and emotion, and is a
-mixed or two-sided entity; but the intellect, C, is a purely one-sided
-entity, the immaterial. This does not relieve our perplexities; the
-phenomena are still generically allied and continuous--sensation passes
-into intellect without any breach of continuity; but as regards the
-agencies, the transition from a mixed or united material and immaterial
-substance to an immaterial substance apart, is a transition to a
-differently constituted world, to a transcendental sphere of existence.
-
-The settlement of Aquinas governed all the schools and all the
-religious creeds, until quite recent times; it is, for example,
-substantially the view of Bishop Butler. At the instance of modern
-physiology, however, it has undergone modifications. The dependence
-of purely intellectual operations, as memory, upon the material
-processes, has been reluctantly admitted by the partisans of an
-immaterial principle; an admission incompatible with the isolation of
-the intellect in Aristotle and in Aquinas. This more thorough-going
-connection of the mental and the physical has led to a new form of
-expressing the relationship, which is nearer the truth, without being,
-in my judgment, quite accurate. It is now often said _the mind and the
-body act upon each other_; that neither is allowed, so to speak, to
-pursue its course alone--there is a constant interference, a mutual
-influence between the two. This view is liable to the following
-objections:
-
-1. In the first place, it assumes that we are entitled to speak of
-mind apart from body, and to affirm its powers and properties in that
-separate capacity. But of mind apart from body we have no direct
-experience, and absolutely no knowledge. The wind may act upon the sea,
-and the waves may react upon the wind; but the agents are known in
-separation--they are seen to exist apart before the shock of collision;
-but we are not permitted to see a mind acting apart from its material
-companion.
-
-2. In the second place, we have every reason for believing that there
-is an unbroken material succession, side by side with all our mental
-processes. From the ingress of a sensation, to the outgoing responses
-in action, the mental succession is not for an instant dissevered from
-a physical succession. A new prospect bursts upon the view; there is a
-mental result of sensations, emotion, thought, terminating in outward
-displays of speech or gesture. Parallel to this mental series is the
-physical series of facts, the successive agitation of the physical
-organs, called the eye, the retina, the optic nerve, optic centres,
-cerebral hemispheres, outgoing nerves, muscles, etc. There is an
-unbroken physical circle of effects, maintained while we go the round
-of the mental circle of sensation, emotion, and thought. It would be
-incompatible with every thing we know of the cerebral action to suppose
-that the physical chain ends abruptly in a physical void, occupied by
-an immaterial substance; which immaterial substance, after working
-alone, imparts its results to the other edge of the physical break,
-and determines the active response--two shores of the material with an
-intervening ocean of the immaterial. There is, in fact, no rupture of
-nervous continuity. The only tenable supposition is, that mental and
-physical proceed together, as individual twins. When, therefore, we
-speak of a mental cause, a mental agency, we have always a two-sided
-cause; the effect produced is not the effect of mind alone, but of mind
-in company with body. That mind should have operated on the body, is
-as much as to say that a two-sided phenomenon, one side being bodily,
-can influence the body; it is, after all, body acting upon body. When
-a shock of fear paralyzes digestion, it is not the emotion of fear,
-in the abstract, or as a pure mental existence, that does the harm;
-it is the emotion in company with a peculiarly excited condition of
-the brain and nervous system; and it is this condition of the brain
-that deranges the stomach. When physical nourishment, or physical
-stimulant, acting through the blood, quiets the mental irritation, and
-restores a cheerful tone, it is not a bodily fact causing a mental
-fact by a direct line of causation: the nourishment and the stimulus
-determine the circulation of blood to the brain, give a new direction
-to the nerve-currents, and the mental condition corresponding to
-this particular mode of cerebral action henceforth manifests itself.
-The line of mental sequence is thus, not mind causing body, and body
-causing mind, but mind-body giving birth to mind-body; a much more
-intelligible position. For this double or conjoint causation, we can
-produce evidence; for the single-handed causation we have no evidence.
-
-If it were not my peculiar province to endeavor to clear up the
-specially metaphysical difficulties of the relationship of mind and
-body, I would pass over what is to me the most puzzling circumstance of
-the relationship, and indeed the only real difficulty in the question.
-
-I say the real difficulty, for factitious difficulties in abundance
-have been made out of the subject. It is made a mystery how mental
-functions and bodily functions should be allied together at all. That,
-however, is no business of ours; we accept this alliance, as we do any
-other alliance, such as gravity with inert matter, or light with heat.
-As a fact of the universe, the union is, properly speaking, just as
-acceptable, and as intelligible, as the separation would be, if that
-were the fact. The real difficulty is quite another thing.
-
-What I have in view is this: when I speak of mind as allied with
-body--with a brain and its nerve-currents--I can scarcely avoid
-_localizing_ the mind, giving it a local habitation. I am thereupon
-asked to explain what always puzzled the schoolmen, namely, whether the
-mind is all in every part, or only all in the whole; whether in tapping
-any point I may come at consciousness, or whether the whole mechanism
-is wanted for the smallest portion of consciousness. One might perhaps
-turn the question by the analogy of the telegraph wire, or the electric
-circuit, and say that a complete circle of action is necessary to any
-mental manifestation; which is probably true. But this does not meet
-the case. The fact is that, all this time we are speaking of nerves
-and wires, we are not speaking of mind, properly so called, at all; we
-are putting forward physical facts that go along with it, but these
-physical facts are not the mental fact, and they even preclude us from
-thinking of the mental fact. We are in this fix: mental states and
-bodily states are utterly contrasted; they cannot be compared, they
-have nothing in common except the most general of all attributes,
-degree, and order in time; when engaged with one we must be oblivious
-of all that distinguishes the other. When I am studying a brain
-and nerve communicating, I am engrossed with properties exclusively
-belonging to the object or material world; I am at that moment (except
-by very rapid transitions or alternations) unable to conceive a truly
-mental fact, my truly mental consciousness. Our mental experience, our
-feelings and thoughts, have no extension, no place, no form or outline,
-no mechanical division of parts; and we are incapable of attending to
-any thing mental until we shut off the view of all that. Walking in the
-country in spring, our mind is occupied with the foliage, the bloom,
-and the grassy meads, all purely objective things; we are suddenly and
-strongly arrested by the odor of the May-blossom; we give way for a
-moment to the sensation of sweetness: for that moment the objective
-regards cease; we think of nothing extended; we are in a state where
-extension has no footing; there is, to us, place no longer. Such states
-are of short duration, mere fits, glimpses; they are constantly shifted
-and alternated with object states, but while they last and have their
-full power we are in a different world; the material world is blotted
-out, eclipsed, for the instant unthinkable. These subject-moments are
-studied to advantage in bursts of intense pleasure, or intense pain, in
-fits of engrossed reflection, especially reflection upon mental facts;
-but they are seldom sustained in purity beyond a very short interval;
-we are constantly returning to the object-side of things--to the world
-where extension and place have their being.
-
-This, then, as it appears to me, is the only real difficulty of the
-physical and mental relationship. There is an alliance with matter,
-with the object, or extended world; but the thing allied, the mind
-proper, has itself no extension, and cannot be joined in local union.
-Now, we have no form of language, no familiar analogy, suited to this
-unique conjunction; in comparison with all ordinary unions, it is a
-paradox or a contradiction. We understand union in the sense of local
-connection; here is a union where local connection is irrelevant,
-unsuitable, contradictory, for we cannot think of mind without putting
-ourselves out of the world of place. When, as in pure feeling--pleasure
-or pain--we change to the subject attitude from the object attitude,
-we have undergone a change not to be expressed by place; the fact is
-not properly described by the transition from the _external_ to the
-_internal_, for that is still a change in the region of the extended.
-The only adequate expression is a _change of state_: a change from the
-state of the extended cognition to a state of unextended cognition.
-By various theologians, heaven has been spoken of us not a place,
-but a _state_; and this is the only phrase that I can find suitable
-to describe the vast, though familiar and easy, transition from the
-material or extended, to the immaterial or unextended side of the
-universe of being.
-
-When, therefore, we talk of incorporating mind with brain, we must be
-held as speaking under an important reserve or qualification. Asserting
-the union in the strongest manner, we must yet deprive it of the almost
-invincible association of union in place. An extended organism is the
-condition of our passing into a state where there is no extension. A
-human being is an extended and material thing, attached to which is the
-power of becoming alive to feeling and thought, the extreme remove from
-all that is material; a condition of _trance_ wherein, while it lasts,
-the material drops out of view--so much so, that we have not the power
-to represent the two extremes as lying side by side, as container and
-contained, or in any other mode of local conjunction. The condition
-of our existing thoroughly in the one, is the momentary eclipse or
-extinction of the other.
-
-The only mode of union that is not contradictory is the union of close
-succession in _time_; or of position in a continued thread of conscious
-life. We are entitled to say that the same being is, by alternate fits,
-object and subject, under extended and under unextended consciousness;
-and that without the extended consciousness the unextended would not
-arise. Without certain peculiar modes of the extended--what we call
-a cerebral organization, and so on--we could not have those times of
-trance, our pleasures, our pains, and our ideas, which at present we
-undergo fitfully and alternately with our extended consciousness.
-
-Having thus called attention to the metaphysical difficulty of
-assigning the relative position of mind and matter, I will now state
-briefly what I think the mode of dealing with mind in correlation with
-the other forces. That there is a definite equivalence between mental
-manifestations and physical forces, the same as between the physical
-forces themselves, is, I think, conformable to all the facts, although
-liable to peculiar difficulties in the way of decisive proof:
-
-I. The mental manifestations are in exact proportion to their physical
-supports.
-
-If the doctrine of the thorough-going connection of mind and body
-is good for any thing, it must go this length. There must be a
-numerically-proportioned rise and fall of the two together. I believe
-that all the unequivocal facts bear out this proportion.
-
-Take first the more obvious illustrations. In the employment of
-external agents, as warmth and food, all will admit that the sensation
-rises exactly as the stimulant rises, until a certain point is reached,
-when the agency changes its character; too great heat destroying the
-tissues, and too much food impeding digestion. There is, although we
-may not have the power to fix it, a _sensational equivalent_ of heat,
-of food, of exercise, of sound, of light; there is a definite change
-of feeling, an accession of pleasure or of pain, corresponding to a
-rise of temperature in the air of 10°, 20°, or 30°. And so with regard
-to every other agent operating upon the human sensibility: there is,
-in each set of circumstances, a sensational equivalent of alcohol, of
-odors, of music, of spectacle.
-
-It is this definite relation between outward agents and the human
-feelings that renders it possible to discuss human interests from the
-objective side, the only accessible side. We cannot read the feelings
-of our fellows; we merely presume that like agents will affect them all
-in nearly the same way. It is thus that we measure men’s fortunes and
-felicity by the numerical amount of certain agents, as money, and by
-the absence or low degree of certain other agents, the causes of pain
-and the depressors of vitality. And, although the estimate is somewhat
-rough, this is not owing to the indefiniteness of the sensational
-equivalent, but to the complications of the human system, and chiefly
-to the narrowness of the line that everywhere divides the wholesome
-from the unwholesome degrees of all stimulants.
-
-Let us next represent the equivalence under vital or physiological
-action. The chief organ concerned is the brain; of which we know that
-it is a system of myriads of connecting threads, ramifying, uniting,
-and crossing at innumerable points; that these threads are actuated
-or made alive with a current influence called the nerve force; that
-this nerve-force is a member of the group of correlating forces;
-that it is immediately derived from the changes in the blood, and in
-the last resort from oxidation, or combustion, of the materials of
-the food, of which combustion it is a definite equivalent. We know,
-further, that there can be no feeling, no volition, no intellect,
-without a proper supply of blood, containing both oxygen and the
-material to be oxidized; that, as the blood is richer in quality in
-regard to these constituents, and more abundant in quantity, the mental
-processes are more intense, more vivid. We know also that there are
-means of increasing the circulation in one organ, and drawing it off
-from another, chiefly by calling the one into greater exercise, as
-when we exert the muscles or convey food to the stomach; and that,
-when mental processes are more than usually intensified, the blood is
-proportionally drawn to the brain; the oxidizing process is there in
-excess, with corresponding defect and detriment in other organs. In
-high mental excitement, digestion is stopped; muscular vigor is abated
-except in the one form of giving vent to the feelings, thoughts, and
-purposes; the general nutrition languishes; and, if the state were long
-continued or oft repeated, the physical powers, strictly so called,
-would rapidly deteriorate. We know, on the other extreme, that sleep
-is accompanied by reduced circulation in the brain; there is in fact a
-reduced circulation generally; while of that reduced amount more goes
-to the nutritive functions than to the cerebral.
-
-In listening to Dr. Frankland’s lecture on “Muscular Power,” delivered
-at the Royal Institution of London, I noticed that, in accounting for
-the various items of expenditure of the food, he gave “mental work” as
-one heading, but declined to make an entry thereinunder. I can imagine
-two reasons for this reserve, the statement of which will further
-illustrate the general position. In the first place, it might be
-supposed that mind is a phenomenon so anomalous, uncertain, so remote
-from the chain of material cause and effect, that it is not even to be
-mentioned in that connection.
-
-To which I should say, that mind is indeed, as a phenomenon, widely
-different from the physical forces, but, nevertheless, rises and falls
-in strict numerical concomitance with these: so that it still enters,
-if not directly, at least indirectly, into the circle of the correlated
-forces. Or, secondly, the lecturer may have held that, though a
-definite amount of the mental manifestations accompanies a definite
-amount of oxidation in the special organs of mind, there is no means
-of reducing this to a measure, even in an approximate way. To this I
-answer, that the thing is difficult but not entirely impracticable.
-There is a possibility of giving, approximately at least, the amount of
-blood circulating in the brain, in the ordinary waking state; and, as
-during a period of intense excitement we know that there is a general
-reduction, almost to paralysis, of the collective vital functions,
-we could not be far mistaken in saying that, in that case, perhaps
-one-half or one-third of all the oxidation of the body was expended in
-keeping up the cerebral fires.
-
-It is a very serious drawback in any department of knowledge, where
-there are relations of quantity, to be unable to reduce them to
-numerical precision. This is the case with mind in a great degree,
-although not with it alone; many physical qualities are in the same
-state of unprecise measurement. We cannot reduce to numbers the
-statement of a man’s constitutional vigor, so as to say how much he
-has lost by fatigue, by disease, by age, or how much he has gained by
-a certain healthy regimen. Undoubtedly, however, it is in mind that
-the difficulties of attaining the numerical statement are greatest if
-not nearly insuperable. When we say that one man is more courageous,
-more loving, more irascible than another, we apply a scale of degree,
-existing in our own mind, but so vague that we may apply it differently
-at different times, while we can hardly communicate it to others
-exactly as it stands to ourselves. The consequence is, that a great
-margin of allowance must always be made in those statements; we can
-never run a close argument, or contend for a nice shade of distinction.
-Between the extremes of timidity and courage of character the best
-observer could not entertain above seven or eight varieties of
-gradation, while two different persons consulting together could hardly
-agree upon so minute a subdivision as that. The phrenologists, in their
-scale of qualities, had the advantage of an external indication of
-size, but they must have felt the uselessness of graduating this beyond
-the delicacy of discriminating the subjective side of character; and
-their extreme scale included twenty steps or interpolations.
-
-Making allowance for this inevitable defect, I will endeavor to present
-a series of illustrations of the principle of correlation as applied
-to mind, in the manner explained. I deal not with mind directly, but
-with its material side, with whose activity, measured exactly as we
-measure the other physical forces, true mental activity has a definite
-correspondence.
-
-Let us suppose, then, a human being with average physical constitution,
-in respect of nutritive vigor, and fairly supplied with food and with
-air, or oxygen. The result of the oxidation of the food is a definite
-total of force, which may be variously distributed. The demand made
-by the brain, to sustain the purely mental functions, may be below
-average, or above average; there will be a corresponding, but inverse,
-variation of the remainder available for the more strictly physical
-processes, as muscular power, digestive power, animal heat, and so on.
-
-In the first case supposed, the case of a small demand for mental work
-and excitement, we look for, and we find, a better _physique_--greater
-muscular power and endurance, more vigor of digestion, rendering a
-coarser food sufficient for nourishment, more resistance to excesses of
-cold and heat; in short, a constitution adapted to physical drudgery
-and physical hardship.
-
-Take, now, the other extreme. Let there be a great demand for mental
-work. The oxidation must now be disproportionately expended in the
-brain; less is given to the muscles, the stomach, the lungs, the skin,
-and secreting organs generally. There is a reduction of the possible
-muscular work, and of the ability to subsist on coarser food, and
-to endure hardship. Experience confirms this inference; the common
-observation of mankind has recognized the fact--although in a vague,
-unsteady form--that the head-worker is not equally fitted to be a
-hand-worker. The master, mistress, or overseer has each more delicacy
-of sense, more management, more resource, than the manual operatives,
-but to these belongs the superiority of muscular power and persistence.
-
-There is nothing incompatible with the principle in allowing the
-possibility of combining, under certain favorable conditions, both
-physical and mental exertion in considerable amount. In fact, the
-principle teaches us exactly how the thing may be done. Improve the
-quality and increase the quantity of the food; increase the supply
-of oxygen by healthy residence; let the habitual muscular exertion
-be such as to strengthen and not impair the functions; abate as much
-as possible all excesses and irregularities, bodily and mental; add
-the enormous economy of an educated disposal of the forces; and you
-will develop a higher being, a _greater aggregate_ of power. You
-will then have more to spare for all kinds of expenditure--for the
-physico-mental, as well as for the strictly physical. What other
-explanation is needed of the military superiority of the officer over
-the common soldier? of the general efficiency of the man nourished, but
-not enervated, by worldly abundance?
-
-It may be possible, at some future stage of scientific inquiry, to
-compute the comparative amount of oxidation in the brain during severe
-mental labor. Even now, from obvious facts, we must pronounce it to be
-a very considerable fraction of the entire work done in the system. The
-privation of the other interests during mental exertion is so apparent,
-so extensive, that if the exertion should happen to be long continued,
-a liberal atonement has to be made in order to stave off general
-insolvency. Mental excess counts as largely as muscular excess in the
-diversion of power; it would be competent to suppose either the one
-or the other reducing the remaining forces of the system to one-half
-of their proper amount. In both cases, the work of restoration must
-be on the same simple plan of redressing the inequality, of allowing
-more than the average flow of blood to the impoverished organs, for a
-length of time corresponding to the period when their nourishment has
-been too small. It is in this consideration that we seem to have the
-reasonable, I may say the arithmetical, basis of the constitutional
-treatment of chronic disease. We _repay the debt to Nature_ by allowing
-the weakened organ to be better nourished and less taxed, according to
-the degradation it has undergone by the opposite line of treatment. In
-a large class of diseases we have obviously a species of insolvency,
-to be dealt with according to the sound method of readjusting the
-relations of expenditure and income. And, if such be the true theory,
-it seems to follow that medication is only an inferior adjunct. Drugs,
-even in their happiest application, can but guide and favor the
-restorative process; just as the stirring of a fire may make it burn,
-provided there be the needful fuel.
-
-There is thus a definite, although not numerically-statable relation,
-between the total of the physico-mental forces and the total of the
-purely physical processes. The grand aggregate of the oxidation of the
-system includes both; and, the more the force taken up by one, the
-less is left to the other. Such is the statement of the correlation
-of mind to the other forces of Nature. We do not deal with pure
-mind--mind in the abstract; we have no experience of an entity of that
-description. We deal with a compound or two-sided phenomenon--mental
-on one side, physical on the other; there is a definite correspondence
-in degree, although a difference of nature, between the two sides; and
-the physical side is itself in full correlation with the recognized
-physical forces of the world.
-
-II. There remains another application of the doctrine, perhaps equally
-interesting to contemplate, and more within my special line of study.
-I mean the correlation of the mental forces among themselves (still
-viewed in the conjoint arrangement). Just as we assign limits to mind
-as a whole, by a reference to the grant of physical expenditure, in
-oxidation, etc., for the department, so we must assign limits to the
-different phases or modes of mental work--thought, feeling, and so
-on--according to the share allotted to each; so that, while the mind as
-a whole may be stinted by the demands of the non-mental functions, each
-separate manifestation is bounded by the requirements of the others.
-This is an inevitable consequence of the general principle, and equally
-receives the confirmation of experience. There is the same absence of
-numerical precision of estimate; our scale of quantity can have but few
-divisions between the highest and the lowest degrees, and these not
-well fixed.
-
-What is required for this application of the principle is, to ascertain
-the comparative cost, in the physical point of view, of the different
-functions of the mind.
-
-The great divisions of the mind are--feeling, will, and thought;
-feeling, seen in our pleasures and pains; will, in our labors to
-attain the one and avoid the other; thought, in our sensations, ideas,
-recollections, reasonings, imaginings, and so on. Now, the forces of
-the mind, with their physical supports, may be evenly or unevenly
-distributed over the three functions. They may go by preference either
-to feeling, to action, or to thinking; and, if more is given to one,
-less must remain to the others, the entire quantity being limited.
-
-First, as to the feelings. Every throb of pleasure costs something to
-the physical system; and two throbs cost twice as much as one. If we
-cannot fix a precise equivalent, it is not because the relation is not
-definite, but from the difficulties of reducing degrees of pleasure to
-a recognized standard. Of this, however, there can be no reasonable
-doubt--namely, that a large amount of pleasure supposes a corresponding
-large expenditure of blood and nerve-tissue, to the stinting, perhaps,
-of the active energies and the intellectual processes. It is a matter
-of practical moment to ascertain what pleasures cost least, for there
-are thrifty and unthrifty modes of spending our brain and heart’s
-blood. Experience probably justifies us in saying that the narcotic
-stimulants are, in general, a more extravagant expenditure than the
-stimulation of food, society, and fine art. One of the safest of
-delights, if not very acute, is the delight of abounding physical
-vigor; for, from the very supposition, the supply to the brain is not
-such as to interfere with the general interests of the system. But the
-theory of pleasure is incomplete without the theory of pain.
-
-As a rule, pain is a more costly experience than pleasure, although
-sometimes economical as a check to the spendthrift pleasures. Pain is
-physically accompanied by an excess of blood in the brain, from at
-least two causes--extreme intensity of nervous action, and conflicting
-currents, both being sources of waste. The sleeplessness of the pained
-condition means that the circulation is never allowed to subside from
-the brain; the irritation maintains energetic currents, which bring the
-blood copiously to the parts affected.
-
-There is a possibility of excitement, of considerable amount, without
-either pleasure or pain; the cost here is simply as the excitement:
-mere surprises may be of this nature. Such excitement has no value,
-except intellectually; it may detain the thoughts, and impress the
-memory, but it is not a final end of our being, as pleasure is; and it
-does not waste power to the extent that pain does. The ideally best
-condition is a moderate surplus of pleasure--a gentle glow, not rising
-into brilliancy or intensity, except at considerable intervals (say a
-small portion of every day), falling down frequently to indifference,
-but seldom sinking into pain.
-
-Attendant on strong feeling, especially in constitutions young or
-robust, there is usually a great amount of mere bodily vehemence, as
-gesticulation, play of countenance, of voice, and so on. This counts as
-muscular work, and is an addition to the brain-work. Properly speaking,
-the cerebral currents discharge themselves in movements, and are
-modified according to the scope given to those movements. Resistance
-to the movements is liable to increase the conscious activity of the
-brain, although a continuing resistance may suppress the entire wave.
-
-Next as to the will, or our voluntary labors and pursuits for the great
-ends of obtaining pleasure and warding off pain. This part of our
-system is a compound experience of feeling and movement; the properly
-mental fact being included under feeling--that is, pleasure and pain,
-present or imagined. When our voluntary endeavors are successful,
-a distinct throb of pleasure is the result, which counts among our
-valuable enjoyments: when they fail, a painful and depressing state
-ensues. The more complicated operations of the will, as in adjusting
-many opposite interests, bring in the element of conflict, which is
-always painful and wasting. Two strong stimulants pointing opposite
-ways, as when a miser has to pay a high fee to the surgeon that saves
-his eyesight, occasion a fierce struggle and severe draft upon the
-physical supports of the feelings.
-
-Although the processes of feeling all involve a manifest, and it may
-be a serious, expenditure of physical power, which of course is lost
-to the purely physical functions; and although the extreme degrees of
-pleasure, of pain, or of neutral excitement, must be adverse to the
-general vigor; yet the presumption is, that we can afford a certain
-moderate share of all these without too great inroads on the other
-interests. It is the thinking or intellectual part of us that involves
-the heaviest item of expenditure in the physico-mental department. Any
-thing like a great or general cultivation of the powers of thought, or
-any occupation that severely and continuously brings them into play,
-will induce such a preponderance of cerebral activity, in oxidation and
-in nerve-currents, as to disturb the balance of life, and to require
-special arrangements for redeeming that disturbance. This is fully
-verified by all we know of the tendency of intellectual application to
-exhaust the physical powers, and to bring on early decay.
-
-A careful analysis of the operations of the intellect enables us
-to distinguish the kind of exercises that involve the greatest
-expenditure, from the extent and the intensity of the cerebral
-occupation. I can but make a rapid selection of leading points:
-
-First. The mere exercise of the senses, in the way of attention,
-with a view to watch, to discriminate, to identify, belongs to the
-intellectual function, and exhausts the powers according as it is long
-continued, and according to the delicacy of the operation; the meaning
-of delicacy being that an exaggerated activity of the organ is needed
-to make the required discernment. To be all day on the _qui vive_ for
-some very slight and barely perceptible indications to the eye or the
-ear, as in catching an indistinct speaker, is an exhausting labor of
-attention.
-
-Secondly. The work of acquisition is necessarily a process of great
-nervous expenditure. Unintentional imitation costs least, because there
-is no forcing of reluctant attention. But a course of extensive and
-various acquisitions cannot be maintained without a large supply of
-blood to cement all the multifarious connections of the nerve-fibres,
-constituting the physical side of acquisition. An abated support of
-other mental functions, as well as of the purely physical functions,
-must accompany a life devoted to mental improvement, whether arts,
-languages, sciences, moral restraints, or other culture.
-
-Of special acquisitions, languages are the most apparently voluminous;
-but the memory for visible or pictorial aspects, if very high, as in
-the painter and the picturesque poet, makes a prodigious demand upon
-the plastic combinations of the brain.
-
-The acquisition of science is severe, rather than multifarious; it
-glories in comprehending much in little, but that little is made up of
-painful abstract elements, every one of which, in the last resort, must
-have at its beck a host of explanatory particulars: so that, after all,
-the burden lies in the multitude. If science is easy to a select number
-of minds, it is because there is a large spontaneous determination of
-force to the cerebral elements that support it; which force is supplied
-by the limited common fund, and leaves so much the less for other uses.
-
-If we advert to the moral acquisitions and habits in a well-regulated
-mind, we must admit the need of a large expenditure to build up the
-fabric. The carefully-poised estimate of good and evil for self, the
-ever-present sense of the interests of others, and the ready obedience
-to all the special ordinances that make up the morality of the time,
-however truly expressed in terms of high and abstract spirituality,
-have their counterpart in the physical organism; they have used up
-a large and definite amount of nutriment, and, had they been less
-developed, there would have been a gain of power to some other
-department, mental or physical.
-
-Refraining from further detail on this head, I close the illustration
-by a brief reference to one other aspect of mental expenditure, namely,
-the department of intellectual production, execution, or creativeness,
-to which in the end our acquired powers are ministerial. Of course,
-the greater the mere continuance or amount of intellectual labor in
-business, speculation, fine art, or any thing else, the greater the
-demand on the _physique_. But amount is not all. There are notorious
-differences of severity or laboriousness, which, when closely examined,
-are summed up in one comprehensive statement--namely, the number,
-the variety, and the conflicting nature of the conditions that have
-to be fulfilled. By this we explain the difficulty of work, the toil
-of invention, the harassment of adaptation, the worry of leadership,
-the responsibility of high office, the severity of a lofty ideal,
-the distraction of numerous sympathies, the meritoriousness of sound
-judgment, the arduousness of any great virtue. The physical facts
-underlying the mental fact are a wide-spread agitation of the cerebral
-currents, a tumultuous conflict, a consumption of energy.
-
-It is this compliance with numerous and opposing conditions that
-obtains the most scanty justice in our appreciation of character.
-The unknown amount of painful suppression that a cautious thinker,
-a careful writer, or an artist of fine taste, has gone through,
-represents a great physico-mental expenditure. The regard to evidence
-is a heavy drag on the wings of speculative daring. The greater the
-number of interests that a political schemer can throw overboard, the
-easier his work of construction. The absence of restraints--of severe
-conditions--in fine art, allows a flush and ebullience, an opulence of
-production, that is often called the highest genius. The Shakespearean
-profusion of images would have been reduced to one-half, if not less,
-by the self-imposed restraints of Pope, Gray, or Tennyson. So, reckless
-assertion is fuel to eloquence. A man of ordinary fairness of mind
-would be no match for the wit and epigram of Swift.
-
-And again. The incompatibility of diverse attributes, even in minds of
-the largest compass (which supposes equally large physical resources),
-belongs to the same fundamental law. A great mind may be great in many
-things, because the same kind of power may have numerous applications.
-The scientific mind of a high order is also the practical mind; it is
-the essence of reason in every mode of its manifestation--the true
-philosopher in conduct as well as in knowledge. On such a mind also,
-a certain amount of artistic culture may be superinduced; its powers
-of acquisition may be extended so far. But the spontaneous, exuberant,
-imaginative flow, the artistic nature at the core, never was, cannot
-be, included in the same individual. Aristotle could not be also a
-tragic poet; nor Newton a third-rate portrait-painter. The cost of one
-of the two modes of intellectual greatness is all that can be borne by
-the most largely-endowed personality; any appearances to the contrary
-are hollow and delusive.
-
-Other instances could be given. Great activity and great sensibility
-are extreme phases, each using a large amount of power, and therefore
-scarcely to be coupled in the same system. The active, energetic man,
-loving activity for its own sake, moving in every direction, wants the
-delicate circumspection of another man who does not love activity for
-its own sake, but is energetic only at the spur of his special ends.
-
-And once more. Great intellect as a whole is not readily united with a
-large emotional nature. The incompatibility is best seen by inquiring
-whether men of overflowing sociability are deep and original thinkers,
-great discoverers, accurate inquirers, great organizers in affairs; or
-whether their greatness is not limited to the spheres where feeling
-performs a part--poetry, eloquence, and social ascendency.
-
-
-THE END.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[18] For the fuller elaboration of the point here referred to, see
-Chapter VII., Professor Bain’s “Mind and Body”--an earlier volume in
-the present series.
-
-
-
-
-INDEX.
-
-
- Absorbed heat changed into chemical separation, 114.
- into actual visible energy, 105.
- into light and heat, 117.
-
- Acquisition, 232.
-
- Actinic rays, 129.
-
- Action and reaction equal and opposite, 8.
-
- Affinity, chemical, 53.
-
- Air and water in motion, 147.
-
- Albuminoids, 177, 183.
-
- Amber, 61.
-
- Ampère, 75.
-
- Amyloids, 177, 183.
-
- Ancients, their ideas not prolific, 135.
-
- Andrews, 141.
-
- Animal heat, 207.
-
- Animals, how they live, 188.
-
- Animals and inanimate machines, 165.
-
- Aristotle on a medium, 134.
- on mind and body, 207.
-
- Atmospheric circulation, 109.
-
- Atomic forces and heat, 58.
-
- Atomic or chemical separation, 80.
-
- Atoms and molecules, 51.
-
- Attention, 232.
-
- Attraction, molecular, 52.
- mutual, of atoms, 54.
- and repulsion of magnets, 75.
- of electric currents, 75.
-
-
- Bacon, 133, 137.
-
- Battery of Grove, 70.
-
- Budding, 180.
-
-
- Caloric, 38.
-
- Carnivora, 189.
-
- Chemical affinity, 53.
- and electrical attraction, 64.
- and heat, 58.
-
- Chemical combination producing heat, 119.
-
- Chemical instability, 156.
-
- Chemical separation converted into electrical separation, 122.
- into electricity in motion, 123.
-
- Chlorophyll, 177.
-
- Chrysalis, 187.
-
- Circulation of the atmosphere, 109.
-
- Clausius, 141.
-
- Cohesion, force of, 51.
-
- Cold apparently produced by the electric current, 126.
-
- Conduction of electricity, 61.
-
- Conservation, laws of, 82.
- theory of, 140.
-
- Crossbow and watch-spring, 25.
-
- Current, the electric, 69.
- and magnetism, 72.
- heating effect of, 73.
- chemical effect of, 74.
-
- Currents, electric, attraction and repulsion of, 74.
- induction of, 75.
-
-
- Dalton, 133.
-
- Davy, Sir Humphrey, 38, 137.
-
- Democritus on atoms, 133.
-
- Descartes, 136.
-
- Diastase, 184.
-
- Disease-germs, 3.
-
- Dissipation of energy, 141.
-
- Dissociation, 115.
-
-
- Egg, development of the, 186.
-
- Electric current, 69.
- and magnetism, 72.
- heating effect of, 73.
- chemical effect of, 74.
- induction, 65.
-
- Electrical attraction and chemical affinity, 64.
-
- Electrical separation, 81.
- when produced, 64.
- transmuted into visible motion, 124.
- into electric current, 124.
-
- Electro-magnetism, 72.
-
- Elastic forces, 50.
-
- Electricity, 60.
- vitreous and resinous, 63.
- negative and positive, 63.
- theory of, 63.
- in motion, 81.
- transmuted into visible motion, 124.
- into heat, 125.
- into chemical separation, 127.
-
- Encke’s comet, 96.
-
- Energies, list of, 78-82.
- natural, and their sources, 143.
-
- Energy, meaning of, 1-22.
- of bodies in motion proportional to their weight or mass, 14.
- proportional to the square of the velocity, 19.
- of visible motion, its transmutation, 87.
- visible, transformed into absorbed heat, 88.
- dissipation of, 141.
- transmutations of, 27.
- varies as the square of the velocity, 15.
- of motion, 24.
- transformed into electrical separation, 98.
- of position, a sort of capital, 26.
-
- Equilibrium, 154.
-
- Etiolation, 180.
-
-
- Fermentation, 183.
-
- Food, 145.
-
- Force, vital, whence derived, 171.
- physical, 194.
- chemical, 194.
- of chemical affinity, 53.
- of cohesion, 51.
-
- Force, mechanical or molar, 205.
- molecular, 205.
-
- Friction, 35.
-
-
- Heat, absorbed, changed into chemical separation, 114.
- into electrical separation, 115.
- into electricity in motion, 116.
-
- Heat-units of different substances, 119.
-
- Heat-motion, 80.
-
- Heat-engines, their essential conditions, 107.
-
- Helmholtz, 141.
-
- Heraclitus on energy, 133.
-
- Herbivora, 191.
-
- Heterogeneity essential in electrical development, 64.
-
- Huyghens, 137.
-
- Hydraulic press, 32.
-
-
- Inclined plane, 28.
-
- Incubation, 186.
-
- Individuals, our ignorance of, 1.
-
- Induction, electric, 65.
- of electric currents, 75.
-
- Instability, mechanical, 155.
- chemical, 156.
-
- Intellectual labor, 234.
-
-
- Joule, 137, 140, 141.
-
- Joule’s experiments on work and heat, 44.
-
-
- Kilogrammetre, 16.
-
-
- Larva, 187.
-
- Latent heat, 57.
-
- Laws of conservation, 82.
-
- Life depends on the sun, 165.
-
- Light, a perpetual, impossible, 149.
-
- Lime, carbonate, easily decomposed, 58.
-
- List of energies, 78-82.
-
-
- Machines, their true function, 33.
- animated and inanimate, 157.
-
- Magnets, attachment and repulsion of, 75.
-
- Maxwell, 141.
-
- Mayor, 140.
-
- Mechanical energy changed into heat, 23.
- equivalent of heat, 43.
- force, 205.
- instability, 155.
-
- Mental forces, mutual correlations of, 227-236.
-
- Mind, its correlations to natural forces, 218-227.
- and body, 207, 211.
-
- Molar force, 205.
-
- Molecular attraction and heat, 55.
- separation, 80.
-
- Molecules, ultimate, of matter, 5.
- their motions, 7.
- and atoms, 51.
-
- Motion changed into an electric current, 99.
-
- Muscular power, 207.
-
-
- Narcotic stimulants, 229.
-
- Negative and positive electricity, 63.
-
- Nerve power, 207.
-
- Newton, 136, 137.
-
- Non-conductors of electricity, 61.
-
-
- Percussion, 36.
-
- Perpetual motion, 139.
-
- Physical force, 194.
-
- Plants growing at night, 181.
-
- Positive and negative electricity, 63.
-
- Protoplasm, 177.
-
- Pulleys, their function, 30.
-
-
- Radiant energy, 81.
- converted into absorbed heat, 123.
- promoting chemical separation, 123.
-
- Rankine, 141.
-
- Resinous and vitreous electricity, 63.
-
- Rotation of earth retarded, 95.
-
- Rumford, 39, 137.
-
-
- Silver oxide readily decomposed, 58.
-
- Solar rays, decomposition by, 59.
-
- Sulphur, 146.
-
- Sun--a source of high-temperature heat, 148.
-
- Sun’s heat, origin of, 150.
- spots, auroras, and cyclones correlated, 98.
-
-
- Tait, 141.
-
- Temperature of dissociation, 115.
-
- Thermo-electricity, 116.
-
- Thermopile, 117.
-
- Thomas Aquinas, 209.
-
- Thomson, William and James, 140.
-
- Tides, 146.
-
- Tissues, decay of, 164.
-
-
- Universe, its probable fate, 152.
-
- Units of heat and work, 46.
-
-
- Vegetation, 176.
-
- Velocity and energy, relation between, 16.
-
- Virtual velocities, 34.
- principle of, its history, 137.
-
- Vital force, whence derived, 171.
-
- Vitality, 194.
-
- Vitreous and resinous electricity, 63.
-
- Voltaic current, 69.
- and magnetism, 72.
- heating effect of, 73.
- chemical effect of, 74.
-
-
- Water at high level, 24.
-
- Watt, 138.
-
- Wild’s electro-magnetic machine, 103.
-
- Will, 194.
-
- Work, definition of, 15.
- unit of, 15.
- rise of true conceptions regarding, 138.
-
-
- Yeast-plant, 185.
-
-
-THE END.
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber’s Notes
-
-Errors in punctuation have been fixed.
-
-Page 60: “heterogenous bodies” changed to “heterogeneous bodies”
-
-Page 80: “Analagous to this” changed to “Analogous to this”
-
-Page 82: “etherial medium” changed to “ethereal medium”
-
-Page 157: “without occcasioned” changed to “without occasioned”
-
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-<body>
-<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The conservation of energy, by Balfour Stewart</p>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
-at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
-are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
-country where you are located before using this eBook.
-</div>
-
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The conservation of energy</p>
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Balfour Stewart</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 27, 2022 [eBook #69053]</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p>
- <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Nina Akalis and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p>
-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY ***</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<p class="center xbig">
-THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES.</p>
-
-<p class="center big">VOLUME VII.
-</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter bbox">
-<p class="center xbig">THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES.</p>
-
-
-<p class="center"><i>Works already Published.</i></p>
-
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p class="p0">I. FORMS OF WATER, <span class="smcap">in Clouds, Rain, Rivers, Ice, and Glaciers</span>.
-By <abbr title="professor">Prof.</abbr> <span class="smcap">John Tyndall</span>, LL. D., F. R. S. 1 <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> Cloth. Price, $1.50.</p>
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-<p class="p0">II. PHYSICS AND POLITICS; <span class="smcap">or, Thoughts on the Application of
-the Principles of “Natural Selection” and “Inheritance” to
-Political Society</span>. By <span class="smcap">Walter Bagehot</span>, Esq., author of “The
-English Constitution.” 1 <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> Cloth. Price, $1.50.</p>
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-<p class="p0">III. FOODS. By <span class="smcap">Edward Smith</span>, M. D., LL. B., F. R. S. 1 <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> Cloth.
-Price, $1.75.</p>
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-<p class="p0">IV. MIND AND BODY: <span class="smcap">the Theories of their Relations</span>. By <span class="smcap">Alex.
-Bain</span>, LL. D., Professor of Logic in the University of Aberdeen, 1 <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr>,
-12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.50.</p>
-
-<p class="p0">V. THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY. By <span class="smcap">Herbert Spencer</span>. Price, $1.50.</p>
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-<p class="p0">VI. THE NEW CHEMISTRY. By <abbr title="professor">Prof.</abbr> <span class="smcap">Josiah P. Cooke</span>, Jr., of Harvard
-University. 1 <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr>, 12mo. Cloth. Price, $2.00.</p>
-
-<p class="p0">VII. THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY. By <abbr title="professor">Prof.</abbr> <span class="smcap">Balfour Stewart</span>,
-LL. D., F. R. S. 1 <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr>, 12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.50.</p>
-
-<p class="p0">VIII. ANIMAL LOCOMOTION; <span class="smcap">or, Walking, Swimming, and Flying,
-with a Dissertation on Aëronautics</span>. By <span class="smcap">J. Bell Pettigrew</span>,
-M. D., F. R. S. E., F. R. C. P. E. 1 <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr>, 12mo. Fully illustrated.
-Price, $1.75.</p>
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-<p class="p0">IX. RESPONSIBILITY IN MENTAL DISEASE. By <span class="smcap">Henry Maudsley</span>,
-M. D. 1 <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr>, 12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.50.</p>
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-Cloth. Price, $1.75.</p>
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-<p class="p0">XI. ANIMAL MECHANISM. <span class="smcap">A Treatise on Terrestrial and Aërial
-Locomotion.</span> By <span class="smcap">E. J. Marey</span>. With 117 Illustrations. Price, $1.75.</p>
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-<p class="p0">XII. THE HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION
-AND SCIENCE. By <span class="smcap">John Wm. Draper</span>, M. D., LL. D., author of
-“The Intellectual Development of Europe.” Price, $1.75.</p>
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-<span class="smcap">Oscar Schmidt</span>, Strasburg University. Price, $1.50.</p>
-
-<p class="p0">XIV. THE CHEMISTRY OF LIGHT AND PHOTOGRAPHY. <span class="smcap">In its
-Application to Art, Science, and Industry.</span> By Dr. <span class="smcap">Hermann
-Vogel</span>. 100 Illustrations. Price, $2.00.</p>
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-<p class="p0">XV. FUNGI; <span class="smcap">their Nature, Influence, and Uses</span>. By <span class="smcap">M. C. Cooke</span>,
-M. A., LL. D. Edited by <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> <span class="smcap">M. J. Berkeley</span>, M. A., F. L. S. With
-109 Illustrations. Price, $1.50.</p>
-
-<p class="p0">XVI. THE LIFE AND GROWTH OF LANGUAGE. By <abbr title="professor">Prof.</abbr> <span class="smcap">W. D.
-Whitney</span>, of Yale College. Price, $1.50.</p>
-
-<p class="p0">XVII. THE NATURE OF LIGHT, <span class="smcap">with a General Account of Physical
-Optics</span>. By Dr. <span class="smcap">Eugene Lommel</span>, Professor of Physics in the University
-of Erlangen. With 188 Illustrations and a Plate of Spectra in
-Chromo-lithography. (<i>In press.</i>)</p>
-</div>
-
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p class="center bb">
-THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES.</p>
-<h1><span class="small">THE</span><br />
-<br />
-CONSERVATION OF ENERGY.</h1>
-<p class="center p4">
-<span class="small">BY</span>
-<br />
-<br />
-<span class="big">BALFOUR STEWART, LL. D., F.R.S.,</span><br />
-<span class="small">PROFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AT THE OWENS COLLEGE, MANCHESTER.</span><br />
-</p>
-
-<p class="center p2">
-<span class="big"><i>WITH AN APPENDIX</i>,</span><br />
-<span class="small">TREATING OF THE VITAL AND MENTAL APPLICATIONS OF THE DOCTRINE</span><br />
-</p>
-
-<p class="center p4">
-NEW YORK:<br />
-<span class="big">D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,</span><br />
-549 &amp; 551 BROADWAY.<br />
-1875.<br />
-</p></div>
-
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p class="center">
-<span class="smcap">Entered</span>, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by<br />
-D. APPLETON &amp; COMPANY,<br />
-In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.<br />
-</p></div>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="NOTE_TO_THE_AMERICAN_EDITION">NOTE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.</h2>
-</div>
-<hr class="r5" />
-
-<p>The great prominence which the modern doctrine
-of the Conservation of Energy or Correlation of Forces
-has lately assumed in the world of thought, has made
-a simple and popular explanation of the subject very
-desirable. The present work of Dr. Balfour Stewart,
-contributed to the International Scientific Series, fully
-meets this requirement, as it is probably the clearest
-and most elementary statement of the question that has
-yet been attempted. Simple in language, copious and
-familiar in illustration, and remarkably lucid in the
-presentation of facts and principles, his little treatise
-forms just the introduction to the great problem of the
-interaction of natural forces that is required by general
-readers. But Professor Stewart having confined himself
-mainly to the physical aspects of the subject, it was
-desirable that his views should be supplemented by a
-statement of the operation of the principle in the
-spheres of life and mind. An Appendix has, accordingly,
-been added to the American edition of Dr. Stewart’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</span>
-work, in which these applications of the law are
-considered.</p>
-
-<p>Professor Joseph Le Conte published a very able
-essay fourteen years ago on the Correlation of the
-Physical and Vital Forces, which was extensively reprinted
-abroad, and placed the name of the author
-among the leading interpreters of the subject. His
-mode of presenting it was regarded as peculiarly happy,
-and was widely adopted by other writers. After further
-investigations and more mature reflection, he has
-recently restated his views, and has kindly furnished
-the revised essay for insertion in this volume.</p>
-
-<p>Professor A. Bain, the celebrated Psychologist of
-Aberdeen, who has done so much to advance the study
-of mind in its physiological relations, prepared an interesting
-lecture not long ago on the “Correlation of the
-Nervous and Mental Forces,” which was read with much
-interest at the time of its publication, and is now reprinted
-as a suitable exposition of that branch of the
-subject. These two essays, by carrying out the principle
-in the field of vital and mental phenomena, will
-serve to give completeness and much greater value to
-the present volume.</p>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">New York</span>, <i>December, 1873</i>.</p>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE">PREFACE.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="r5" />
-<p>We may regard the Universe in the light of a vast
-physical machine, and our knowledge of it may be
-conveniently divided into two branches.</p>
-
-<p>The one of these embraces what we know regarding
-the structure of the machine itself, and the other what
-we know regarding its method of working.</p>
-
-<p>It has appeared to the author that, in a treatise like
-this, these two branches of knowledge ought as much
-as possible to be studied together, and he has therefore
-endeavored to adopt this course in the following pages.
-He has regarded a universe composed of atoms with
-some sort of medium between them as the machine,
-and the laws of energy as the laws of working of this
-machine.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</span></p>
-
-<p>The first chapter embraces what we know regarding
-atoms, and gives also a definition of Energy. The various
-forces and energies of Nature are thereafter enumerated,
-and the law of Conservation is stated. Then follow the
-various transmutations of Energy, according to a list, for
-which the author is indebted to <abbr title="professor">Prof.</abbr> Tait. The fifth
-chapter gives a short historical sketch of the subject,
-ending with the law of Dissipation; while the sixth and
-last chapter gives some account of the position of living
-beings in this universe of Energy.</p>
-
-<p class="right center">
-B. S.</p>
-<p class="p0">
-<i>The Owens College, Manchester,<br />
-<span class="ml">August, 1873.</span></i><br />
-</p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</span></p>
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS.</h2>
-</div>
-<hr class="r5" />
-
-<table class="autotable">
-<tr><td class="tdl"><a href="#NOTE_TO_THE_AMERICAN_EDITION"><span class="smcap">Note to the American Edition</span>,</a></td>
-<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_v">v</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><a href="#PREFACE"><span class="smcap">Preface</span>,</a></td>
-<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_vii">vii</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.—<span class="smcap">What is Energy?</span></a></td>
-<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-<a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.—<span class="smcap">Mechanical Energy and its Change into Heat</span>,</a></td>
-<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-<a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.—<span class="smcap">The Forces and Energies of Nature: the Law of Conservation</span>,</a></td>
-<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.—<span class="smcap">Transmutations of Energy</span>,</a></td>
-<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-<a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.—<span class="smcap">Historical Sketch: the Dissipation of Energy</span>,</a></td>
-<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_131">131</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.—<span class="smcap">The Position of Life</span>, </a></td>
-<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl" colspan="2">
-<span class="smcap">Appendix</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-<a href="#CORRELATION_OF_VITAL_WITH_CHEMICAL">I.—<span class="smcap">Correlation of Vital with Chemical and Physical Forces.</span>
-By <span class="smcap">Joseph Le Conte</span>, Professor of Geology and Natural
-History in the University of California,</a></td>
-<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-<a href="#CORRELATION_OF_NERVOUS_AND_MENTAL">II.—<span class="smcap">Correlation of Nervous and Mental Forces.</span> By <span class="smcap">Alexander Bain</span>, Professor of Logic and Mental Philosophy in the University of Aberdeen,</a></td>
-<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</span></p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p>
-<p class="xbig center">THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY.</p>
-
-<hr class="r5" />
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.<br /><i>WHAT IS ENERGY?</i></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<h3><i>Our Ignorance of Individuals.</i></h3>
-
-<p>1. Very often we know little or nothing of individuals,
-while we yet possess a definite knowledge of the laws
-which regulate communities.</p>
-
-<p>The Registrar-General, for example, will tell us that
-the death-rate in London varies with the temperature in
-such a manner that a very low temperature is invariably
-accompanied by a very high death-rate. But if we ask
-him to select some one individual, and explain to us in
-what manner his death was caused by the low temperature,
-he will, most probably, be unable to do so.</p>
-
-<p>Again, we may be quite sure that after a bad harvest
-there will be a large importation of wheat into the
-country, while, at the same time, we are quite ignorant<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span>
-of the individual journeys of the various particles of flour
-that go to make up a loaf of bread.</p>
-
-<p>Or yet again, we know that there is a constant carriage
-of air from the poles to the equator, as shown by the
-trade winds, and yet no man is able to individualize
-a particle of this air, and describe its various motions.</p>
-
-<p>2. Nor is our knowledge of individuals greater in the
-domains of physical science. We know nothing, or next
-to nothing, of the ultimate structure and properties of
-matter, whether organic or inorganic.</p>
-
-<p>No doubt there are certain cases where a large number
-of particles are linked together, so as to act as one
-individual, and then we can predict its action—as, for
-instance, in the solar system, where the physical astronomer
-is able to foretell with great exactness the positions
-of the various planets, or of the moon. And so, in
-human affairs, we find a large number of individuals
-acting together as one nation, and the sagacious statesman
-taking very much the place of the sagacious
-astronomer, with regard to the action and reaction of
-various nations upon one another.</p>
-
-<p>But if we ask the astronomer or the statesman to
-select an individual particle and an individual human
-being, and predict the motions of each, we shall find that
-both will be completely at fault.</p>
-
-<p>3. Nor have we far to look for the cause of their ignorance.
-A continuous and restless, nay, a very complicated,
-activity is the order of nature throughout all her individuals,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span>
-whether these be living beings or inanimate
-particles of matter. Existence is, in truth, one continued
-fight, and a great battle is always and everywhere raging,
-although the field in which it is fought is often completely
-shrouded from our view.</p>
-
-<p>4. Nevertheless, although we cannot trace the motions
-of individuals, we may sometimes tell the result of the
-fight, and even predict how the day will go, as well as
-specify the causes that contribute to bring about the
-issue.</p>
-
-<p>With great freedom of action and much complication
-of motion in the individual, there are yet comparatively
-simple laws regulating the joint result attainable by the
-community.</p>
-
-<p>But, before proceeding to these, it may not be out
-of place to take a very brief survey of the organic and
-inorganic worlds, in order that our readers, as well as
-ourselves, may realize our common ignorance of the
-ultimate structure and properties of matter.</p>
-
-<p>5. Let us begin by referring to the causes which bring
-about disease. It is only very recently that we have begun
-to suspect a large number of our diseases to be caused
-by organic germs. Now, assuming that we are right in
-this, it must nevertheless be confessed that our ignorance
-about these germs is most complete. It is perhaps
-doubtful whether we ever saw one of these organisms,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span><a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>
-while it is certain that we are in profound ignorance of
-their properties and habits.</p>
-
-<p>We are told by some writers<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> that the very air we
-breathe is absolutely teeming with germs, and that we
-are surrounded on all sides by an innumerable array of
-minute organic beings. It has also been conjectured
-that they are at incessant warfare among themselves, and
-that we form the spoil of the stronger party. Be this as
-it may, we are at any rate intimately bound up with,
-and, so to speak, at the mercy of, a world of creatures, of
-which we know as little as of the inhabitants of the
-planet Mars.</p>
-
-<p>6. Yet, even here, with profound ignorance of the
-individual, we are not altogether unacquainted with some
-of the habits of these powerful predatory communities.
-Thus we know that cholera is eminently a low level
-disease, and that during its ravages we ought to pay
-particular attention to the water we drink. This is a
-general law of cholera, which is of the more importance
-to us because we cannot study the habits of the individual
-organisms that cause the disease.</p>
-
-<p>Could we but see these, and experiment upon them, we
-should soon acquire a much more extensive knowledge of
-their habits, and perhaps find out the means of extirpating
-the disease, and of preventing its recurrence.</p>
-
-<p>Again, we know (thanks to Jenner) that vaccination
-will prevent the ravages of small-pox, but in this instance<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span>
-we are no better off than a band of captives who
-have found out in what manner to mutilate themselves,
-so as to render them uninteresting to their victorious foe.</p>
-
-<p id="art7">7. But if our knowledge of the nature and habits of
-organized molecules be so small, our knowledge of the
-ultimate molecules of inorganic matter is, if possible, still
-smaller. It is only very recently that the leading men
-of science have come to consider their very existence as a
-settled point.</p>
-
-<p>In order to realize what is meant by an inorganic
-molecule, let us take some sand and grind it into smaller
-and smaller particles, and these again into still smaller.
-In point of fact we shall never reach the superlative
-degree of smallness by this operation—yet in our imagination
-we may suppose the sub-division to be carried on
-continuously, always making the particles smaller and
-smaller. In this case we should, at last, come to an
-ultimate molecule of sand or oxide of silicon, or, in other
-words, we should arrive at the smallest entity retaining
-all the properties of sand, so that were it possible to
-divide the molecule further the only result would be to
-separate it into its chemical constituents, consisting of
-silicon on the one side and oxygen on the other.</p>
-
-<p>We have, in truth, much reason to believe that sand,
-or any other substance, is incapable of infinite sub-division,
-and that all we can do in grinding down a
-solid lump of anything is to reduce it into lumps similar
-to the original, but only less in size, each of these small<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span>
-lumps containing probably a great number of individual
-molecules.</p>
-
-<p>8. Now, a drop of water no less than a grain of sand is
-built up of a very great number of molecules, attached to
-one another by the force of cohesion—a force which is
-much stronger in the sand than in the water, but which
-nevertheless exists in both. And, moreover, Sir William
-Thomson, the distinguished physicist, has recently arrived
-at the following conclusion with regard to the size
-of the molecules of water. He imagines a single drop of
-water to be magnified until it becomes as large as the
-earth, having a diameter of 8000 miles, and all the molecules
-to be magnified in the same proportion; and he
-then concludes that a single molecule will appear, under
-these circumstances, as somewhat larger than a shot, and
-somewhat smaller than a cricket ball.</p>
-
-<p>9. Whatever be the value of this conclusion, it enables
-us to realize the exceedingly small size of the individual
-molecules of matter, and renders it quite certain that we
-shall never, by means of the most powerful microscope,
-succeed in making visible these ultimate molecules. For
-our knowledge of the sizes, shapes, and properties of such
-bodies, we must always, therefore, be indebted to indirect
-evidence of a very complicated nature.</p>
-
-<p>It thus appears that we know little or nothing about
-the shape or size of molecules, or about the forces which
-actuate them; and, moreover, the very largest masses of
-the universe share with the very smallest this property<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span>
-of being beyond the direct scrutiny of the human senses—the
-one set because they are so far away, and the other
-because they are so small.</p>
-
-<p>10. Again, these molecules are not at rest, but, on the
-contrary, they display an intense and ceaseless energy in
-their motions. There is, indeed, an uninterrupted warfare
-going on—a constant clashing together of these minute
-bodies, which are continually maimed, and yet always
-recover themselves, until, perhaps, some blow is struck
-sufficiently powerful to dissever the two or more simple
-atoms that go to form a compound molecule. A new
-state of things thenceforward is the result.</p>
-
-<p>But a simple elementary atom is truly an immortal
-being, and enjoys the privilege of remaining unaltered
-and essentially unaffected amid the most powerful blows
-that can be dealt against it—it is probably in a state of
-ceaseless activity and change of form, but it is nevertheless
-always the same.</p>
-
-<p>11. Now, a little reflection will convince us that we
-have in this ceaseless activity another barrier to an intimate
-acquaintance with molecules and atoms, for even
-if we could see them they would not remain at rest
-sufficiently long to enable us to scrutinize them.</p>
-
-<p>No doubt there are devices by means of which we can
-render visible, for instance, the pattern of a quickly
-revolving coloured disc, for we may illuminate it by a
-flash of electricity, and the disc may be supposed to be
-stationary during the extremely short time of the flash.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span>
-But we cannot say the same about molecules and atoms,
-for, could we see an atom, and could we illuminate it by a
-flash of electricity, the atom would most probably have
-vibrated many times during the exceedingly small time
-of the flash. In fine, the limits placed upon our senses,
-with respect to space and time, equally preclude the
-possibility of our ever becoming directly acquainted with
-these exceedingly minute bodies, which are nevertheless
-the raw materials of which the whole universe is built.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Action and Reaction, Equal and Opposite.</i></h3>
-
-<p>12. But while an impenetrable veil is drawn over the
-individual in this warfare of clashing atoms, yet we
-are not left in profound ignorance of the laws which
-determine the ultimate result of all these motions, taken
-together as a whole.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>In a Vessel of Goldfish.</i></h3>
-
-<p>Let us suppose, for instance, that we have a glass globe
-containing numerous goldfish standing on the table, and
-delicately poised on wheels, so that the slightest push, the
-one way or the other, would make it move. These goldfish
-are in active and irregular motion, and he would be
-a very bold man who should venture to predict the movements
-of an individual fish. But of one thing we may
-be quite certain: we may rest assured that, notwithstanding
-all the irregular motions of its living inhabitants,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span>
-the globe containing the goldfish will remain at rest
-upon its wheels.</p>
-
-<p>Even if the table were a lake of ice, and the wheels
-were extremely delicate, we should find that the globe
-would remain at rest. Indeed, we should be exceedingly
-surprised if we found the globe going away of its own
-accord from the one side of the table to the other, or from
-the one side of a sheet of ice to the other, in consequence
-of the internal motions of its inhabitants. Whatever be
-the motions of these individual units, yet we feel sure
-that the globe cannot move itself <em>as a whole</em>. In such a
-system, therefore, and, indeed, in every system left to
-itself, there may be strong internal forces acting between
-the various parts, but these <em>actions and reactions are
-equal and opposite</em>, so that while the small parts, whether
-visible or invisible, are in violent commotion among themselves,
-yet the system as a whole will remain at rest.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>In a Rifle.</i></h3>
-
-<p>13. Now it is quite a legitimate step to pass from this
-instance of the goldfish to that of a rifle that has just
-been fired. In the former case, we imagined the globe,
-together with its fishes, to form one system; and in the
-latter, we must look upon the rifle, with its powder and
-ball, as forming one system also.</p>
-
-<p>Let us suppose that the explosion takes place through
-the application of a spark. Although this spark is an
-external agent, yet if we reflect a little we shall see that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span>
-its only office in this case is to summon up the internal
-forces already existing in the loaded rifle, and bring them
-into vigorous action, and that in virtue of these internal
-forces the explosion takes place.</p>
-
-<p>The most prominent result of this explosion is the out-rush
-of the rifle ball with a velocity that may, perhaps,
-carry it for the best part of a mile before it comes to
-rest; and here it would seem to us, at first sight, that the
-law of equal action and reaction is certainly broken, for
-these internal forces present in the rifle have at least propelled
-part of the system, namely, the rifle ball, with a
-most enormous velocity in one direction.</p>
-
-<p>14. But a little further reflection will bring to light
-another phenomenon besides the out-rush of the ball.
-It is well known to all sportsmen that when a fowling-piece
-is discharged, there is a kick or recoil of the piece
-itself against the shoulder of the sportsman, which he
-would rather get rid of, but which we most gladly welcome
-as the solution of our difficulty. In plain terms,
-while the ball is projected forwards, the rifle stock (if
-free to move) is at the same moment projected backwards.
-To fix our ideas, let us suppose that the rifle stock weighs
-100 ounces, and the ball one ounce, and that the ball is
-projected forwards with the velocity of 1000 feet per
-second; then it is asserted, by the law of action and reaction,
-that the rifle stock is at the same time projected
-backwards with the velocity of 10 feet per second, so
-that the mass of the stock, multiplied by its velocity of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>
-recoil, shall precisely equal the mass of the ball, multiplied
-by its velocity of projection. The one product forms a
-measure of the action in the one direction, and the other
-of the reaction in the opposite direction, and thus we
-see that in the case of a rifle, as well as in that of the
-globe of fish, action and reaction are equal and opposite.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>In a Falling Stone.</i></h3>
-
-<p>15. We may even extend the law to cases in which we
-do not perceive the recoil or reaction at all. Thus, if I
-drop a stone from the top of a precipice to the earth, the
-motion seems all to be in one direction, while at the
-same time it is in truth the result of a mutual attraction
-between the earth and the stone. Does not the earth
-move also? We cannot see it move, but we are entitled
-to assert that it does in reality move upwards to meet
-the stone, although quite to an imperceptible extent,
-and that the law of action and reaction holds here as
-truly as in a rifle, the only difference being that in
-the one case the two objects are rushing together, while
-in the other they are rushing apart. Inasmuch, however,
-as the mass of the earth is very great compared
-with that of the stone, it follows that its velocity must be
-extremely small, in order that the mass of the earth,
-multiplied into its velocity upwards, shall equal the mass
-of the stone, multiplied into its velocity downwards.</p>
-
-<p>16. We have thus, in spite of our ignorance of the
-ultimate atoms and molecules of matter, arrived at a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>
-general law which regulates the action of internal forces.
-We see that these forces are always mutually exerted, and
-that if A attracts or repels B, B in its turn attracts or
-repels A. We have here, in fact, a very good instance of
-that kind of generalization, which we may arrive at, even
-in spite of our ignorance of individuals.</p>
-
-<p>But having now arrived at this law of action and
-reaction, do we know all that it is desirable to know?
-have we got a complete understanding of what takes
-place in all such cases—for instance, in that of the rifle
-which is just discharged? Let us consider this point a
-little further.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>The Rifle further considered.</i></h3>
-
-<p>17. We define quantity of motion to mean the product
-of the mass by the velocity; and since the velocity of
-recoil of the rifle stock, multiplied by the mass of the
-stock, is equal to the velocity of projection of the rifle
-ball, multiplied by the mass of the ball, we conceive
-ourselves entitled to say that the quantity of motion, or
-momentum, generated is equal in both directions, so that
-the law of action and reaction holds here also. Nevertheless,
-it cannot but occur to us that, <em>in some sense</em>, the
-motion of the rifle ball is a very different thing from that
-of the stock, for it is one thing to allow the stock to
-recoil against your shoulder and discharge the ball into
-the air, and a very different thing to discharge the ball
-against your shoulder and allow the stock to fly into the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span>
-air. And if any man should assert the absolute equality
-between the blow of the rifle stock and that of the rifle
-ball, you might request him to put his assertion to this
-practical test, with the absolute certainty that he would
-decline. Equality between the two!—Impossible! Why,
-if this were the case, a company of soldiers engaged in
-war would suffer much more than the enemy against
-whom they fired, for the soldiers would certainly feel
-each recoil, while the enemy would suffer from only a
-small proportion of the bullets.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>The Rifle Ball possesses Energy.</i></h3>
-
-<p>18. Now, what is the meaning of this great difference
-between the two? We have a vivid perception of a
-mighty difference, and it only remains for us to clothe
-our naked impressions in a properly fitting scientific
-garb.</p>
-
-<p><em>The something which the rifle ball possesses in contradistinction
-to the rifle stock is clearly the power of
-overcoming resistance.</em> It can penetrate through oak
-wood or through water, or (alas! that it should be so
-often tried) through the human body, and this power of
-penetration is the distinguishing characteristic of a
-substance moving with very great velocity.</p>
-
-<p>19. Let us define by the term <em>energy</em> this power which
-the rifle ball possesses of overcoming obstacles or of doing
-work. Of course we use the word work without reference
-to the moral character of the thing done, and conceive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span>
-ourselves entitled to sum up, with perfect propriety
-and innocence, the amount of work done in drilling a hole
-through a deal board or through a man.</p>
-
-<p>20. A body such as a rifle ball, moving with very great
-velocity, has, therefore, energy, and it requires very little
-consideration to perceive that this <em>energy will be proportional
-to its weight or mass</em>, for a ball of two ounces
-moving with the velocity of 1000 feet per second will be
-the same as two balls of one ounce moving with this
-velocity, but the energy of two similarly moving ounce
-balls will manifestly be double that of one, so that the
-energy is proportional to the weight, if we imagine that,
-meanwhile, the velocity remains the same.</p>
-
-<p>21. But, on the other hand, the energy is not simply
-proportional to the velocity, for, if it were, the energy of
-the rifle stock and of the rifle ball would be the same,
-inasmuch as the rifle stock would gain as much by its
-superior mass as it would lose by its inferior velocity.
-Therefore, the energy of a moving body increases with the
-velocity more quickly than a simple proportion, so that
-if the velocity be doubled, the energy is more than
-doubled. Now, in what manner does the energy increase
-with the velocity? That is the question we have now to
-answer, and, in doing so, we must appeal to the familiar
-facts of everyday observation and experience.</p>
-
-<p>22. In the first place, it is well known to artillerymen,
-that if a ball have a double velocity, its penetrating
-power or energy is increased nearly fourfold, so that it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span>
-will pierce through four, or nearly four, times as many
-deal boards as the ball with only a single velocity—in
-other words, they will tell us in mathematical language,
-that the energy varies as the square of the velocity.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Definition of Work.</i></h3>
-
-<p>23. And now, before proceeding further, it will be
-necessary to tell our readers how to measure work in a
-strictly scientific manner. We have defined energy to be
-the power of doing work, and although every one has a
-general notion of what is meant by work, that notion
-may not be sufficiently precise for the purpose of this
-volume. How, then, are we to measure work? Fortunately,
-we have not far to go for a practical means of
-doing this. Indeed, there is a force at hand which enables
-us to accomplish this measurement with the greatest precision,
-and this force is gravity. Now, the first operation
-in any kind of numerical estimate is to fix upon our unit
-or standard. Thus we say a rod is so many inches long,
-or a road so many miles long. Here an inch and a mile
-are chosen as our standards. In like manner, we speak of
-so many seconds, or minutes, or hours, or days, or years,
-choosing that standard of time or duration which is most
-convenient for our purpose. So in like manner we must
-choose our unit of work, but in order to do so we must
-first of all choose our units of weight and of length, and
-for these we will take the <i>kilogramme</i> and the <i>metre</i>,
-these being the units of the metrical system. The kilogramme<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>
-corresponds to about 15,432·35 English grains,
-being rather more than two pounds avoirdupois, and the
-metre to about 39·371 English inches.</p>
-
-<p>Now, if we raise a kilogramme weight one metre in
-vertical height, we are conscious of putting forth an
-effort to do so, and of being resisted in the act by the
-force of gravity. In other words, we spend energy and
-do work in the process of raising this weight.</p>
-
-<p>Let us agree to consider the energy spent, or the work
-done, in this operation as one unit of work, and let us call
-it the <i>kilogrammetre</i>.</p>
-
-<p>24. In the next place, it is very obvious that if we raise
-the kilogramme two metres in height, we do two units of
-work—if three metres, three units, and so on.</p>
-
-<p>And again, it is equally obvious that if we raise a
-weight of two kilogrammes one metre high, we likewise
-do two units of work, while if we raise it two metres high,
-we do four units, and so on.</p>
-
-<p>From these examples we are entitled to derive the
-following rule:—<i>Multiply the weight raised (in kilogrammes)
-by the vertical height (in metres) through which
-it is raised, and the result will be the work done (in
-kilogrammetres).</i></p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Relation between Velocity and Energy.</i></h3>
-
-<p>25. Having thus laid a numerical foundation for our
-superstructure, let us next proceed to investigate the relation
-between velocity and energy. But first let us say a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span>
-few words about velocity. This is one of the few cases in
-which everyday experience will aid, rather than hinder,
-us in our scientific conception. Indeed, we have constantly
-before us the example of bodies moving with
-variable velocities.</p>
-
-<p>Thus a railway train is approaching a station and is
-just beginning to slacken its pace. When we begin to
-observe, it is moving at the rate of forty miles an
-hour. A minute afterwards it is moving at the rate
-of twenty miles only, and a minute after that it is at
-rest. For no two consecutive moments has this train
-continued to move at the same rate, and yet we may
-say, with perfect propriety, that at such a moment
-the train was moving, say, at the rate of thirty miles
-an hour. We mean, of course, that had it continued to
-move for an hour with the speed which it had when
-we made the observation, it would have gone over
-thirty miles. We know that, as a matter of fact, it did
-not move for two seconds at that rate, but this is of no
-consequence, and hardly at all interferes with our mental
-grasp of the problem, so accustomed are we all to cases
-of variable velocity.</p>
-
-<p id="art26">26. Let us now imagine a kilogramme weight to be
-shot vertically upwards, with a certain initial velocity—let
-us say, with the velocity of 9·8 metres in one second.
-Gravity will, of course, act against the weight, and
-continually diminish its upward speed, just as in the
-railway train the break was constantly reducing the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span>
-velocity. But yet it is very easy to see what is meant
-by an initial velocity of 9·8 metres per second; it means
-that if gravity did not interfere, and if the air did not
-resist, and, in fine, if no external influence of any kind
-were allowed to act upon the ascending mass, it would be
-found to move over 9·8 metres in one second.</p>
-
-<p>Now, it is well known to those who have studied the
-laws of motion, that a body, shot upwards with the
-velocity of 9·8 metres in one second, will be brought
-to rest when it has risen 4·9 metres in height. If, therefore,
-it be a kilogramme, its upward velocity will have
-enabled it to raise itself 4·9 metres in height against the
-force of gravity, or, in other words, it will have done 4·9
-units of work; and we may imagine it, when at the top of
-its ascent, and just about to turn, caught in the hand and
-lodged on the top of a house, instead of being allowed to
-fall again to the ground. We are, therefore, entitled to
-say that a kilogramme, shot upwards with the velocity
-of 9·8 metres per second, has energy equal to 4·9, inasmuch
-as it can raise itself 4·9 metres in height.</p>
-
-<p id="art27">27. Let us next suppose that the velocity with which
-the kilogramme is shot upwards is that of 19·6 metres
-per second. It is known to all who have studied dynamics
-that the kilogramme will now mount not only
-twice, but four times as high as it did in the last instance—in
-other words, it will now mount 19·6 metres
-in height.</p>
-
-<p>Evidently, then, in accordance with our principles of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span>
-measurement, the kilogramme has now four times as
-much energy as it had in the last instance, because it
-can raise itself four times as high, and therefore do four
-times as much work, and thus we see that the energy is
-increased four times by doubling the velocity.</p>
-
-<p>Had the initial velocity been three times that of the
-first instance, or 29·4 metres per second, it might in like
-manner be shown that the height attained would have
-been 44·1 metres, so that by tripling the velocity the
-energy is increased nine times.</p>
-
-<p id="art28">28. We thus see that whether we measure the energy
-of a moving body by the thickness of the planks through
-which it can pierce its way, or by the height to which it
-can raise itself against gravity, the result arrived at is
-the same. <em>We find the energy to be proportional to
-the square of the velocity</em>, and we may formularize
-our conclusion as follows:—</p>
-
-<p>Let <i>v</i> = the initial velocity expressed in metres per
-second, then the energy in kilogrammetres = <i>v</i>²/19·6. Of
-course, if the body shot upwards weighs two kilogrammes,
-then everything is doubled, if three kilogrammes, tripled,
-and so on; so that finally, if we denote by <i>m</i> the mass of
-the body in kilogrammes, we shall have the energy in kilogrammetres
-= <i>mv</i>²/19·6. To test the truth of this formula,
-we have only to apply it to the cases described in Arts.
-<a href="#art26">26</a> and <a href="#art27">27</a>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span></p>
-
-<p>29. We may further illustrate it by one or two
-examples. For instance, let it be required to find the
-energy contained in a mass of five kilogrammes, shot upwards
-with the velocity of 20 metres per second.</p>
-
-<p>Here we have <i>m</i> = 5 and <i>v</i> = 20, hence—</p>
-
-<p>
-Energy = 5(20)²/(19·6) = 2000/(19·6) = 102·04 nearly.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p>Again, let it be required to find the height to which the
-mass of the last question will ascend before it stops. We
-know that its energy is 102·04, and that its mass is 5.
-Dividing 102·04 by 5, we obtain 20·408 as the height
-to which this mass of five kilogrammes must ascend in
-order to do work equal to 102·04 kilogrammetres.</p>
-
-<p>30. In what we have said we have taken no account
-either of the resistance or of the buoyancy of the atmosphere;
-in fact, we have supposed the experiments to be
-made in vacuo, or, if not in vacuo, made by means of a
-heavy mass, like lead, which will be very little influenced
-either by the resistance or buoyancy of the air.</p>
-
-<p>We must not, however, forget that if a sheet of paper,
-or a feather, be shot upwards with the velocities mentioned
-in our text, they will certainly not rise in the air
-to nearly the height recorded, but will be much sooner
-brought to a stop by the very great resistance which they
-encounter from the air, on account of their great surface,
-combined with their small mass.</p>
-
-<p>On the other hand, if the substance we make use of be
-a large light bag filled with hydrogen, it will find its way<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span>
-upwards without any effort on our part, and we shall certainly
-be doing no work by carrying it one or more
-metres in height—it will, in reality, help to pull us up,
-instead of requiring help from us to cause it to ascend.
-In fine, what we have said is meant to refer to the force of
-gravity alone, without taking into account a resisting
-medium such as the atmosphere, the existence of which
-need not be considered in our present calculations.</p>
-
-<p>31. It should likewise be remembered, that while the
-energy of a moving body depends upon its velocity, it is
-independent of the direction in which the body is
-moving. We have supposed the body to be shot upwards
-with a given velocity, but it might be shot horizontally
-with the same velocity, when it would have
-precisely the same energy as before. A cannon ball, if
-fired vertically upwards, may either be made to spend
-its energy in raising itself, or in piercing through a
-series of deal boards. Now, if the same ball be fired
-horizontally with the same velocity it will pierce through
-the same number of deal boards.</p>
-
-<p>In fine, direction of motion is of no consequence, and
-the only reason why we have chosen vertical motion is
-that, in this case, there is always the force of gravity
-steadily and constantly opposing the motion of the body,
-and enabling us to obtain an accurate measure of the
-work which it does by piercing its way upwards against
-this force.</p>
-
-<p>32. But gravity is not the only force, and we might<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>
-measure the energy of a moving body by the extent to
-which it would bend a powerful spring or resist the attraction
-of a powerful magnet, or, in fine, we might make
-use of the force which best suits our purpose. If this
-force be a constant one, we must measure the energy of
-the moving body by the space which it is able to traverse
-against the action of the force—just as, in the case of
-gravity, we measured the energy of the body by the space
-through which it was able to raise itself against its own
-weight.</p>
-
-<p>33. We must, of course, bear in mind that if this force
-be more powerful than gravity, a body moved a short
-distance against it will represent the expenditure of as
-much energy as if it were moved a greater distance
-against gravity. In fine, we must take account both
-of the strength of the force and of the distance moved
-over by the body against it before we can estimate in an
-accurate matter the work which has been done.</p>
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> It is said that there are one or two instances where the microscope
-has enlarged them into visibility.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> <i>See</i> Dr. Angus Smith on Air and Rain.</p>
-
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span></p>
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.<br /><i>MECHANICAL ENERGY AND ITS CHANGE INTO HEAT.</i></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-
-<h3><i>Energy of Position. A Stone high up.</i></h3>
-
-<p>34. In the last chapter it was shown what is meant
-by energy, and how it depends upon the velocity of
-a moving body; and now let us state that this
-same energy or power of doing work may nevertheless
-be possessed by a body absolutely at rest. It
-will be remembered (<abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art26">26</a>) that in one case where
-a kilogramme was shot vertically upwards, we supposed
-it to be caught at the summit of its flight and lodged on
-the top of a house. Here, then, it rests without motion,
-but yet not without the power of doing work, and hence
-not without energy. For we know very well that if we let
-it fall it will strike the ground with as much velocity, and,
-therefore, with as much energy, as it had when it was
-originally projected upwards. Or we may, if we choose,
-make use of its energy to assist us in driving in a pile, or
-utilize it in a multitude of ways.</p>
-
-<p>In its lofty position it is, therefore, not without energy,
-but this is of a quiet nature, and not due in the least to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span>
-motion. To what, then, is it due? We reply—to the
-position which the kilogramme occupies at the top of the
-house. For just as a body in motion is a very different
-thing (as regards energy) from a body at rest, so is a body
-at the top of a house a very different thing from a body
-at the bottom.</p>
-
-<p>To illustrate this, we may suppose that two men of
-equal activity and strength are fighting together, each
-having his pile of stones with which he is about to belabour
-his adversary. One man, however, has secured for
-himself and his pile an elevated position on the top of a
-house, while his enemy has to remain content with a
-position at the bottom. Now, under these circumstances,
-you can at once tell which of the two will gain the day—evidently
-the man on the top of the house, and yet not
-on account of his own superior energy, but rather on
-account of the energy which he derives from the elevated
-position of his pile of stones. We thus see that there
-is a kind of energy derived from position, as well as a
-kind derived from velocity, and we shall, in future, call
-the former <em>energy of position</em>, and the latter <em>energy of
-motion</em>.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>A Head of Water.</i></h3>
-
-<p>35. In order to vary our illustration, let us suppose
-there are two mills, one with a large pond of water near
-it and at a high level, while the other has also a pond,
-but at a lower level than itself. We need hardly ask<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span>
-which of the two is likely to work—clearly the one
-with the pond at a low level can derive from it no advantage
-whatever, while the other may use the high level
-pond, or head of water, as this is sometimes called, to
-drive its wheel, and do its work. There is, thus, a great
-deal of work to be got out of water high up—real substantial
-work, such as grinding corn or thrashing it, or
-turning wood or sawing it. On the other hand, there is no
-work at all to be got from a pond of water that is low down.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>A Cross-bow bent. A Watch wound up.</i></h3>
-
-<p>36. In both of the illustrations now given, we have
-used the force of gravity as that force against which we
-are to do work, and in virtue of which a stone high up,
-or a head of water, is in a position of advantage, and has
-the power of doing work as it falls to a lower level. But
-there are other forces besides gravity, and, with respect to
-these, bodies may be in a position of advantage and be
-able to do work just as truly as the stone, or the head of
-water, in the case before mentioned.</p>
-
-<p>Let us take, for instance, the force of elasticity, and
-consider what happens in a cross-bow. When this is
-bent, the bolt is evidently in a position of advantage
-with regard to the elastic force of the bow; and when
-it is discharged, this energy of position of the bolt is
-converted into energy of motion, just as, when a stone on
-the top of a house is allowed to fall, its energy of position
-is converted into that of actual motion.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span></p>
-
-<p>In like manner a watch wound up is in a position of
-advantage with respect to the elastic force of the mainspring,
-and as the wheels of the watch move this is
-gradually converted into energy of motion.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Advantage of Position.</i></h3>
-
-<p>37. It is, in fact, the fate of all kinds of energy of
-position to be ultimately converted into energy of motion.</p>
-
-<p>The former may be compared to money in a bank, or
-capital, the latter to money which we are in the act of
-spending; and just as, when we have money in a bank, we
-can draw it out whenever we want it, so, in the case of
-energy of position, we can make use of it whenever we
-please. To see this more clearly, let us compare together
-a watermill driven by a head of water, and a windmill
-driven by the wind. In the one case we may turn on
-the water whenever it is most convenient for us, but in
-the other we must wait until the wind happens to blow.
-The former has all the independence of a rich man; the
-latter, all the obsequiousness of a poor one. If we pursue
-the analogy a step further, we shall see that the great
-capitalist, or the man who has acquired a lofty position,
-is respected because he has the disposal of a great
-quantity of energy; and that whether he be a nobleman
-or a sovereign, or a general in command, he is powerful
-only from having something which enables him to make
-use of the services of others. When the man of wealth
-pays a labouring man to work for him, he is in truth<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span>
-converting so much of his energy of position into actual
-energy, just as a miller lets out a portion of his head of
-water in order to do some work by its means.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Transmutations of Visible Energy.—A Kilogramme
-shot upwards.</i></h3>
-
-<p>38. We have thus endeavoured to show that there is
-an energy of repose as well as a living energy, an energy
-of position as well as of motion; and now let us trace
-the changes which take place in the energy of a weight,
-shot vertically upwards, as it continues to rise. It starts
-with a certain amount of energy of motion, but as it
-ascends, this is by degrees changed into that of position,
-until, when it gets to the top of its flight, its energy is
-entirely due to position.</p>
-
-<p>To take an example, let us suppose that a kilogramme
-is projected vertically upwards with the velocity of 19·6
-metres in one second. According to the formula of <abbr title="article">Art.</abbr>
-<a href="#art28">28</a>, it contains 19·6 units of energy due to its actual
-velocity.</p>
-
-<p>If we examine it at the end of one second, we shall
-find that it has risen 14·7 metres in height, and has now
-the velocity of 9·8. This velocity we know (<abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art26">26</a>)
-denotes an amount of actual energy equal to 4·9, while
-the height reached corresponds to an energy of position
-equal to 14·7. The kilogramme has, therefore, at this
-moment a total energy of 19·6, of which 14·7 units are
-due to position, and 4·9 to actual motion.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span></p>
-
-<p>If we next examine it at the end of another second, we
-shall find that it has just been brought to rest, so that its
-energy of motion is <i>nil</i>; nevertheless, it has succeeded in
-raising itself 19·6 metres in height, so that its energy of
-position is 19·6.</p>
-
-<p>There is, therefore, no disappearance of energy during
-the rise of the kilogramme, but merely a gradual change
-from one kind to another. It starts with actual energy,
-and this is gradually changed into that of position; but
-if, at any stage of its ascent, we add together the actual
-energy of the kilogramme, and that due to its position,
-we shall find that their sum always remains the same.</p>
-
-<p id="art39">39. Precisely the reverse takes place when the kilogramme
-begins its descent. It starts on its downward
-journey with no energy of motion whatever, but with a
-certain amount of energy of position; as it falls, its
-energy of position becomes less, and its actual energy
-greater, the sum of the two remaining constant throughout,
-until, when it is about to strike the ground, its
-energy of position has been entirely changed into that
-of actual motion, and it now approaches the ground
-with the velocity, and, therefore, with the energy, which
-it had when it was originally projected upwards.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>The Inclined Plane.</i></h3>
-
-<p>40. We have thus traced the transmutations, as regards
-energy, of a kilogramme shot vertically upwards, and
-allowed to fall again to the earth, and we may now<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>
-vary our hypothesis by making the kilogramme rise
-vertically, but descend by means of a smooth inclined
-plane without friction—imagine in fact, the kilogramme
-to be shaped like a ball or roller, and the plane to be
-perfectly smooth. Now, it is well known to all students
-of dynamics, that in such a case the velocity which the
-kilogramme has when it has reached the bottom of the
-plane will be equal to that which it would have had if
-it had been dropped down vertically through the same
-height, and thus, by introducing a smooth inclined plane
-of this kind, you neither gain nor lose anything as regards
-energy.</p>
-
-<p>In the first place, you do not gain, for think what
-would happen if the kilogramme, when it reached the
-bottom of the inclined plane, should have a greater
-velocity than you gave it originally, when you shot it up.
-It would evidently be a profitable thing to shoot up the
-kilogramme vertically, and bring it down by means of
-the plane, for you would get back more energy than you
-originally spent upon it, and in every sense you would
-be a gainer. You might, in fact, by means of appropriate
-apparatus, convert the arrangement into a perpetual
-motion machine, and go on accumulating energy without
-limit—but this is not possible.</p>
-
-<p>On the other hand, the inclined plane, unless it be
-rough and angular, will not rob you of any of the energy
-of the kilogramme, but will restore to you the full amount,
-when once the bottom has been reached. Nor does it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span>
-matter what be the length or shape of the plane, or
-whether it be straight, or curved, or spiral, for in all
-cases, if it only be smooth and of the same vertical
-height, you will get the same amount of energy by causing
-the kilogramme to fall from the top to the bottom.</p>
-
-<p>41. But while the energy remains the same, the time
-of descent will vary according to the length and shape of
-the plane, for evidently the kilogramme will take a longer
-time to descend a very sloping plane than a very steep
-one. In fact, the sloping plane will take longer to generate
-the requisite velocity than the steep one, but both
-will have produced the same result as regards
-energy, when once the kilogramme has arrived
-at the bottom.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Functions of a Machine.</i></h3>
-
-<p>42. Our readers are now beginning to perceive
-that energy cannot be created, and that
-by no means can we coax or cozen Dame
-Nature into giving us back more than we are
-entitled to get. To impress this fundamental
-principle still more strongly upon our minds,
-let us consider in detail one or two mechanical
-contrivances, and see what they amount
-to as regards energy.</p>
-
-<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="fig1">
- <img src="images/001.jpg" class="w10" alt="Fig. 1." />
-</span></p>
-<p class="center caption"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 1.<br /></p>
-
-<p>Let us begin with the second system of
-pulleys. Here we have a power <span class="allsmcap">P</span> attached
-to the one end of a thread, which passes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span>
-over all the pulleys, and is ultimately attached, by its
-other extremity, to a hook in the upper or fixed block.
-The weight <span class="allsmcap">W</span> is, on the other hand, attached to the
-lower or moveable block, and rises with it. Let us
-suppose that the pulleys are without weight and the
-cords without friction, and that <span class="allsmcap">W</span> is supported by six
-cords, as in the figure. Now, when there is equilibrium
-in this machine, it is well known that <span class="allsmcap">W</span> will be equal
-to six times <span class="allsmcap">P</span>; that is to say, a power of one kilogramme
-will, in such a machine, balance or support a weight of
-six kilogrammes. If <span class="allsmcap">P</span> be increased a single grain more,
-it will overbalance <span class="allsmcap">W</span>, and <span class="allsmcap">P</span> will descend, while <span class="allsmcap">W</span> will
-begin to rise. In such a case, after <span class="allsmcap">P</span> has descended, say
-six metres, its weight being, say, one kilogramme, it has
-lost a quantity of energy of position equal to six units,
-since it is at a lower level by six metres than it was before.
-We have, in fact, expended upon our machine six units
-of energy. Now, what return have we received for this
-expenditure? Our return is clearly the rise of <span class="allsmcap">W</span>, and
-mechanicians will tell us that in this case <span class="allsmcap">W</span> will have
-risen one metre.</p>
-
-<p>But the weight of <span class="allsmcap">W</span> is six kilogrammes, and this
-having been raised one metre represents an energy of
-position equal to six. We have thus spent upon our
-machine, in the fall of <span class="allsmcap">P</span>, an amount of energy equal to
-six units, and obtained in the rise of <span class="allsmcap">W</span> an equivalent
-amount equal to six units also. We have, in truth,
-neither gained nor lost energy, but simply changed it
-into a form more convenient for our use.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span></p>
-
-
-<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="fig2">
- <img src="images/002.jpg" class="w25" alt="Fig. 2." />
-</span></p>
-<p class="center caption"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 2.<br /></p>
-
-<p>43. To impress this truth still more strongly, let us
-take quite a different machine, such as the hydrostatic
-press. Its mode of action will be
-perceived from <a href="#fig2"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 2</a>. Here we
-have two cylinders, a wide and
-a narrow one, which are connected
-together at the bottom by
-means of a strong tube. Each of
-these cylinders is provided with
-a water-tight piston, the space beneath being filled with
-water. It is therefore manifest, since the two cylinders
-are connected together, and since water is incompressible,
-that when we push down the one piston the other will be
-pushed up. Let us suppose that the area of the small piston
-is one square centimetre,<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and that of the large piston
-one hundred square centimetres, and let us apply a weight
-of ten kilogrammes to the smaller piston. Now, it is
-known, from the laws of hydrostatics, that every square
-centimetre of the larger piston will be pressed upwards
-with the force of ten kilogrammes, so that the piston will
-altogether mount with the force of 1000 kilogrammes—that
-is to say, it will raise a weight of this amount as it
-ascends.</p>
-
-<p>Here, then, we have a machine in virtue of which a
-pressure of ten kilogrammes on the small piston enables
-the large piston to rise with the force of 1000 kilogrammes.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span>
-But it is very easy to see that, while the
-small piston falls one metre, the large one will only rise
-one centimetre. For the quantity of water under the
-pistons being always the same, if this be pushed down
-one metre in the narrow cylinder, it will only rise one
-centimetre in the wide one.</p>
-
-<p>Let us now consider what we gain by this machine. The
-power of ten kilogrammes applied to the smaller piston is
-made to fall through one metre, and this represents the
-amount of energy which we have expended upon our
-machine, while, as a return, we obtain 1000 kilogrammes
-raised through one single centimetre. Here, then, as in
-the case of the pulleys, the return of energy is precisely
-the same as the expenditure, and, provided we ignore
-friction, we neither gain nor lose anything by the machine.
-All that we do is to transmute the energy into a more
-convenient form—what we gain in power we lose in
-space; but we are willing to sacrifice space or quickness
-of motion in order to obtain the tremendous pressure or
-force which we get by means of the hydrostatic press.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Principle of Virtual Velocities.</i></h3>
-
-<p>44. These illustrations will have prepared our readers
-to perceive the true function of a machine. This was
-first clearly defined by Galileo, who saw that in any
-machine, no matter of what kind, if we raise a large
-weight by means of a small one, it will be found that the
-small weight, multiplied into the space through which it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span>
-is lowered, will exactly equal the large weight, multiplied
-into that through which it is raised.</p>
-
-<p>This principle, known as that of virtual velocities,
-enables us to perceive at once our true position. We see
-that the world of mechanism is not a manufactory, in
-which energy is created, but rather a mart, into which
-we may bring energy of one kind and change or barter it
-for an equivalent of another kind, that suits us better—but
-if we come with nothing in our hand, with nothing
-we shall most assuredly return. A machine, in truth,
-does not create, but only transmutes, and this principle
-will enable us to tell, without further knowledge of
-mechanics, what are the conditions of equilibrium of any
-arrangement.</p>
-
-<p>For instance, let it be required to find those of a lever,
-of which the one arm is three times as long as the other.
-Here it is evident that if we overbalance the lever by a
-single grain, so as to cause the long arm with its power to
-fall down while the short one with its weight rises up,
-then the long arm will fall three inches for every inch
-through which the short arm rises; and hence, to make up
-for this, a single kilogramme on the
-long arm will balance three kilogrammes
-on the short one, or the
-power will be to the weight as one
-is to three.</p>
-
-
-<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="fig3">
- <img src="images/003.jpg" class="w25" alt="Fig. 3." />
-</span></p>
-<p class="center caption"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 3.<br /></p>
-
-<p>45. Or, again, let us take the inclined
-plane as represented in <a href="#fig3"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 3</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span>
-Here we have a smooth plane and a weight held upon
-it by means of a power <span class="allsmcap">P</span>, as in the figure. Now,
-if we overbalance <span class="allsmcap">P</span> by a single grain, we shall bring
-the weight <span class="allsmcap">W</span> from the bottom to the top of the plane.
-But when this has taken place, it is evident that
-<span class="allsmcap">P</span> has fallen through a vertical distance equal to the
-length of the plane, while on the other hand <span class="allsmcap">W</span> has only
-risen through a vertical distance equal to the height.
-Hence, in order that the principle of virtual velocities
-shall hold, we must have <span class="allsmcap">P</span> multiplied into its fall equal
-to <span class="allsmcap">W</span> multiplied into its rise, that is to say,</p>
-
-<p class="center">
-<span class="allsmcap">P</span> × Length of plane = <span class="allsmcap">W</span> × Height of plane,<br />
-<br />
-or <span class="allsmcap">P</span>/<span class="allsmcap">W</span> = (Height.)/(Length.)<br />
-</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>What Friction does.</i></h3>
-
-<p>46. The two examples now given are quite sufficient to
-enable our readers to see the true function of a machine,
-and they are now doubtless disposed to acknowledge that
-no machine will give back more energy than is spent
-upon it. It is not, however, equally clear that it will
-not give back less; indeed, it is a well-known fact that
-it constantly does so. For we have supposed our
-machine to be without friction—but no machine is without
-friction—and the consequence is that the available
-out-come of the machine is more or less diminished by
-this drawback. Now, unless we are able to see clearly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span>
-what part friction really plays, we cannot prove the conservation
-of energy. We see clearly enough that energy
-cannot be created, but we are not equally sure that it
-cannot be destroyed; indeed, we may say we have
-apparent grounds for believing that it is destroyed—that
-is our present position. Now, if the theory of the
-conservation of energy be true—that is to say, if energy
-is in any sense indestructible—friction will prove itself
-to be, not the destroyer of energy, but merely the converter
-of it into some less apparent and perhaps less
-useful form.</p>
-
-<p>47. We must, therefore, prepare ourselves to study
-what friction really does, and also to recognize energy
-in a form remote from that possessed by a body in visible
-motion, or by a head of water. To friction we may
-add percussion, as a process by which energy is apparently
-destroyed; and as we have (<abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art39">39</a>) considered
-the case of a kilogramme shot vertically upwards, demonstrating
-that it will ultimately reach the ground
-with an energy equal to that with which it was shot
-upwards, we may pursue the experiment one step further,
-and ask what becomes of its energy after it has struck
-the ground and come to rest? We may vary the question
-by asking what becomes of the energy of the smith’s
-blow after his hammer has struck the anvil, or what of
-the energy of the cannon ball after it has struck the
-target, or what of that of the railway train after it has
-been stopped by friction at the break-wheel? All these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span>
-are cases in which percussion or friction appears at first
-sight to have destroyed visible energy; but before pronouncing
-upon this seeming destruction, it clearly behoves
-us to ask if anything else makes its appearance at
-the moment when the visible energy is apparently
-destroyed. For, after all, energy may be like the Eastern
-magicians, of whom we read that they had the power of
-changing themselves into a variety of forms, but were
-nevertheless very careful not to disappear altogether.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>When Motion is destroyed, Heat appears.</i></h3>
-
-<p>48. Now, in reply to the question we have put, it may
-be confidently asserted that whenever visible energy is
-apparently destroyed by percussion or friction, something
-else makes its appearance, and that something is <em>heat</em>.
-Thus, a piece of lead placed upon an anvil may be greatly
-heated by successive blows of a blacksmith’s hammer.
-The collision of flint and steel will produce heat, and a
-rapidly-moving cannon ball, when striking against an
-iron target, may even be heated to redness. Again, with
-regard to friction, we know that on a dark night sparks
-are seen to issue from the break-wheel which is stopping
-a railway train, and we know, also, that the axles of railway
-carriages get alarmingly hot, if they are not well
-supplied with grease.</p>
-
-<p>Finally, the schoolboy will tell us that he is in the
-habit of rubbing a brass button upon the desk, and applying
-it to the back of his neighbour’s hand, and that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span>
-when his own hand has been treated in this way, he has
-found the button unmistakeably hot.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Heat a species of Motion.</i></h3>
-
-<p>49. For a long time this appearance of heat by friction
-or percussion was regarded as inexplicable, because it
-was believed that heat was a kind of matter, and it was
-difficult to understand where all this heat came from.
-The partisans of the material hypothesis, no doubt,
-ventured to suggest that in such processes heat might
-be drawn from the neighbouring bodies, so that the
-Caloric (which was the name given to the imaginary
-substance of heat) was squeezed or rubbed out of them,
-according as the process was percussion or friction. But
-this was regarded by many as no explanation, even
-before Sir Humphry Davy, about the end of last century,
-clearly showed it to be untenable.</p>
-
-<p>50. Davy’s experiments consisted in rubbing together
-two pieces of ice until it was found that both were
-nearly melted, and he varied the conditions of his experiments
-in such a manner as to show that the heat
-produced in this case could not be abstracted from the
-neighbouring bodies.</p>
-
-<p>51. Let us pause to consider the alternatives to which
-we are driven by this experiment. If we still choose to
-regard heat as a substance, since this has not been taken
-from the surrounding bodies, it must necessarily have
-been created in the process of friction. But if we choose<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span>
-to regard heat as a species of motion, we have a simpler
-alternative, for, inasmuch as the energy of visible motion
-has disappeared in the process of friction, we may suppose
-that it has been transformed into a species of molecular
-motion, which we call heat; and this was the conclusion
-to which Davy came.</p>
-
-<p>52. About the same time another philosopher was
-occupied with a similar experiment. Count Rumford was
-superintending the boring of cannon at the arsenal at
-Munich, and was forcibly struck with the very great
-amount of heat caused by this process. The source of
-this heat appeared to him to be absolutely inexhaustible,
-and, being unwilling to regard it as the creation of a
-species of matter, he was led like Davy to attribute it to
-motion.</p>
-
-<p>53. Assuming, therefore, that heat is a species of
-motion, the next point is to endeavour to comprehend
-what kind of motion it is, and in what respects it is
-different from ordinary visible motion. To do this, let us
-imagine a railway carriage, full of passengers, to be whirling
-along at a great speed, its occupants quietly at ease,
-because, although they are in rapid motion, they are all
-moving at the same rate and in the same direction. Now,
-suppose that the train meets with a sudden check;—a
-disaster is the consequence, and the quiet placidity of the
-occupants of the carriage is instantly at an end.</p>
-
-<p>Even if we suppose that the carriage is not broken up
-and its occupants killed, yet they are all in a violent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span>
-state of excitement; those fronting the engine are driven
-with force against their opposite neighbours, and are, no
-doubt, as forcibly repelled, each one taking care of himself
-in the general scramble. Now, we have only to substitute
-particles for persons, in order to obtain an idea of
-what takes place when percussion is converted into heat.
-We have, or suppose we have, in this act the same violent
-collision of atoms, the same thrusting forward of A upon
-B, and the same violence in pushing back on the part of
-B—the same struggle, confusion, and excitement—the
-only difference being that particles are heated instead of
-human beings, or their tempers.</p>
-
-<p>54. We are bound to acknowledge that the proof which
-we have now given is not a direct one; indeed, we have,
-in our first chapter, explained the impossibility of our
-ever seeing these individual particles, or watching their
-movements; and hence our proof of the assertion that
-heat consists in such movements cannot possibly be direct.
-We cannot see that it does so consist, but yet we may
-feel sure, as reasonable beings, that we are right in our
-conjecture.</p>
-
-<p>In the argument now given, we have only two alternatives
-to start with—either heat must consist of a
-motion of particles, or, when percussion or friction is converted
-into heat, a peculiar substance called caloric must
-be created, for if heat be not a species of motion it must
-necessarily be a species of matter. Now, we have preferred
-to consider heat as a species of motion to the alternative<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span>
-of supposing the creation of a peculiar kind of
-matter.</p>
-
-<p>55. Nevertheless, it is desirable to have something to
-say to an opponent who, rather than acknowledge heat
-to be a species of motion, will allow the creation of matter.
-To such an one we would say that innumerable experiments
-render it certain that a hot body is not sensibly
-heavier than a cold one, so that if heat be a species of
-matter it is one that is not subject to the law of gravity.
-If we burn iron wire in oxygen gas, we are entitled to
-say that the iron combines with the oxygen, because we
-know that the product is heavier than the original iron
-by the very amount which the gas has lost in weight.
-But there is no such proof that during combustion the
-iron has combined with a substance called caloric, and
-the absence of any such proof is enough to entitle us to
-consider heat to be a species of motion, rather than a
-species of matter.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Heat a Backward and Forward Motion.</i></h3>
-
-<p>56. We shall now suppose that our readers have
-assented to our proposition that heat is a species of
-motion. It is almost unnecessary to add that it must
-be a species of backward and forward motion; for
-nothing is more clear than that <em>a heated substance is
-not in motion as a whole</em>, and will not, if put upon a
-table, push its way from the one end to the other.</p>
-
-<p>Mathematicians express this peculiarity by saying that,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span>
-although there is violent internal motion among the particles,
-yet the centre of gravity of the substance remains
-at rest; and since, for most purposes, we may suppose a
-body to act as if concentrated at its centre of gravity, we
-may say that the body is at rest.</p>
-
-<p>57. Let us here, before proceeding further, borrow an
-illustration from that branch of physics which treats of
-sound. Suppose, for instance, that a man is accurately
-balanced in a scale-pan, and that some water enters his
-ear; of course he will become heavier in consequence,
-and if the balance be sufficiently delicate, it will exhibit
-the difference. But suppose a sound or a noise enters
-his ear, he may say with truth that something has entered,
-but yet that something is not matter, nor will he become
-one whit heavier in consequence of its entrance, and he
-will remain balanced as before. Now, a man into whose
-ear sound has entered may be compared to a substance
-into which heat has entered; we may therefore suppose a
-heated body to be similar in many respects to a sounding
-body, and just as the particles of a sounding body move
-backwards and forwards, so we may suppose that the
-particles of a heated body do the same.</p>
-
-<p>We shall take another opportunity (<abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art162">162</a>) to enlarge
-upon this likeness; but, meanwhile, we shall suppose that
-our readers perceive the analogy.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span></p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Mechanical Equivalent of Heat.</i></h3>
-
-<p>58. We have thus come to the conclusion that when
-any heavy body, say a kilogramme weight, strikes the
-ground, the visible energy of the kilogramme is changed
-into heat; and now, having established the fact of a relationship
-between these two forms of energy, our next
-point is to ascertain according to what law the heating
-effect depends upon the height of fall. Let us, for instance,
-suppose that a kilogramme of water is allowed to
-drop from the height of 848 metres, and that we have
-the means of confining to its own particles and retaining
-there the heating effect produced. Now, we may suppose
-that its descent is accomplished in two stages; that, first
-of all, it falls upon a platform from the height of 424
-metres, and gets heated in consequence, and that then
-the heated mass is allowed to fall other 424 metres. It
-is clear that the water will now be doubly heated; or, in
-other words, the heating effect in such a case will be proportional
-to the height through which the body falls—that
-is to say, it will be proportional to the actual energy which
-the body possesses before the blow has changed this into
-heat. In fact, just as the actual energy represented by a
-fall from a height is proportional to the height, so is the
-heating effect, or molecular energy, into which the actual
-energy is changed proportional to the height also. Having
-established this point, we now wish to know through<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span>
-how many metres a kilogramme of water must fall in
-order to be heated one degree centigrade.</p>
-
-<p>59. For a precise determination of this important
-point, we are indebted to Dr. Joule, of Manchester, who
-has, perhaps, done more than any one else to put the
-science of energy upon a sure foundation. Dr. Joule
-made numerous experiments, with the view of arriving
-at the exact relation between mechanical energy and
-heat; that is to say, of determining the mechanical
-equivalent of heat. In some of the most important of
-these he took advantage of the friction of fluids.</p>
-
-
-<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="fig4">
- <img src="images/004.jpg" class="w50" alt="Fig. 4." />
-</span></p>
-<p class="center caption"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 4.<br /></p>
-
-
-<p>60. These experiments were conducted in the following
-manner. A certain fixed weight was attached to a pulley,
-as in the figure. The weight had, of course, a tendency
-to descend, and hence to turn the pulley round. The
-pulley had its axle supported upon friction wheels, at <i>f</i>
-and <i>f</i>, by means of which the friction caused by the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span>
-movement of the pulley was very much reduced. A
-string, passing over the circumference of the pulley, was
-wrapped round <i>r</i>, so that, as the weight descended, the
-pulley moved round, and the string of the pulley caused
-<i>r</i> to rotate very rapidly. Now, the motion of the axis <i>r</i>
-was conducted within the covered box <span class="allsmcap">B</span>, where there
-was attached to <i>r</i> a system of paddles, of which a sketch
-is given in figure; and therefore, as <i>r</i> moved, these
-paddles moved also. There were, altogether, eight sets
-of these paddles revolving between four stationary vanes.
-If, therefore, the box were full of liquid, the paddles and
-the vanes together would churn it about, for these stationary
-vanes would prevent the liquid being carried
-along by the paddles in the direction of rotation.</p>
-
-<p>Now, in this experiment, the weight was made to
-descend through a certain fixed distance, which was
-accurately measured. As it descended, the paddles were
-set in motion, and the energy of the descending weight
-was thus made to churn, and hence to heat some water
-contained in the box <span class="allsmcap">B</span>. When the weight had descended
-a certain distance, by undoing a small peg <i>p</i>, it could be
-wound up again without moving the paddles in <span class="allsmcap">B</span>, and
-thus the heating effect of several falls of the weight
-could be accumulated until this became so great as to be
-capable of being accurately measured by a thermometer.
-It ought to be mentioned that great care was taken in
-these experiments, not only to reduce the friction of the
-axles of the pulley as much as possible, but also to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span>
-estimate and correct for this friction as accurately as
-possible; in fact, every precaution was taken to make the
-experiment successful.</p>
-
-<p>61. Other experiments were made by Joule, in some of
-which a disc was made to rotate against another disc of
-cast-iron pressed against it, the whole arrangement being
-immersed in a cast-iron vessel filled with mercury.
-From all these experiments, Dr. Joule concluded that the
-quantity of heat produced by friction, if we can preserve
-and accurately measure it, will always be found proportional
-to the quantity of work expended. He expressed
-this proportion by stating the number of units of work in
-kilogrammetres necessary to raise by 1° <abbr title="celcius">C.</abbr> the temperature
-of one kilogramme of water. This was 424, as
-determined by his last and most complete experiments;
-and hence we may conclude that if a kilogramme of
-water be allowed to fall through 424 metres, and if its
-motion be then suddenly stopped, sufficient heat will be
-generated to raise the temperature of the water through
-1° <abbr title="celcius">C.</abbr>, and so on, in the same proportion.</p>
-
-<p>62. Now, if we take the kilogrammetre as our unit of
-work, and the heat necessary to raise a kilogramme of
-water 1° <abbr title="celcius">C.</abbr> as our unit of heat, this proportion may be
-expressed by saying that <em>one heat unit is equal to 424
-units of work</em>.</p>
-
-<p>This number is frequently spoken of as the mechanical
-equivalent of heat; and in scientific treatises it is
-denoted by J., the initial of Dr. Joule’s name.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span></p>
-
-<p>63. We have now stated the exact relationship that
-subsists between mechanical energy and heat, and before
-proceeding further with proofs of the great law of conservation,
-we shall endeavour to make our readers
-acquainted with other varieties of energy, on the ground
-that it is necessary to penetrate the various disguises
-that our magician assumes before we can pretend to
-explain the principles that actuate him in his transformations.</p>
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> That is to say, a square the side of which is one centimetre, or the
-hundredth part of a metre.</p>
-
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span></p>
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.<br /><i>THE FORCES AND ENERGIES OF NATURE:
-THE LAW OF CONSERVATION.</i></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p>64. In the last chapter we introduced our readers to
-two varieties of energy, one of them visible, and the other
-invisible or molecular; and it will now be our duty to
-search through the whole field of physical science for
-other varieties. Here it is well to bear in mind that all
-energy consists of two kinds, that of <em>position</em> and that of
-<em>actual motion</em>, and also that this distinction holds for
-invisible molecular energy just as truly as it does for that
-which is visible. Now, energy of position implies a body
-in a position of advantage with respect to some force, and
-hence we may with propriety begin our search by
-investigating the various forces of nature.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Gravitation.</i></h3>
-
-<p>65. The most general, and perhaps the most important,
-of these forces is <em>gravitation</em>, and the law of action of this
-force may be enunciated as follows:—<em>Every particle of
-the universe attracts every other particle with a force<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span>
-depending jointly upon the mass of the attracting and
-of the attracted particle, and varying inversely as the
-square of distance between the two.</em> A little explanation
-will make this plain.</p>
-
-<p>Suppose a particle or system of particles of which
-the mass is unity to be placed at a distance equal to unity
-from another particle or system of particles of which the
-mass is also unity—the two will attract each other. Let us
-agree to consider the mutual attraction between them
-equal to unity also.</p>
-
-<p>Suppose, now, that we have on the one side two such
-systems with a mass represented by 2, and on the other
-side the same system as before, with a mass represented
-by unity, the distance, meanwhile, remaining
-unaltered. It is clear the double system will now attract
-the single system with a twofold force. Let us next
-suppose the mass of both systems to be doubled, the
-distance always remaining the same. It is clear that we
-shall now have a fourfold force, each unit of the one
-system attracting each unit of the other. In like manner,
-if the mass of the one system is 2, and that of the other
-3, the force will be 6. We may, for instance, call the
-components of the one system A<sub>1</sub>, A₂, and those of
-the other A<sub>3</sub>, A<sub>4</sub>, A<sub>5</sub>, and we shall have A<sub>1</sub> pulled towards
-A<sub>3</sub>, A<sub>4</sub>, and A<sub>5</sub>, with a threefold force, and A₂ pulled
-towards A<sub>3</sub>, A<sub>4</sub>, and A<sub>5</sub>, with a threefold force, making
-altogether a force equal to 6.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span></p>
-
-<p>In the next place, let the masses remain unaltered, but
-let the distance between them be doubled, then the force
-will be reduced fourfold. Let the distance be tripled,
-then the force will be reduced ninefold, and so on.</p>
-
-<p>66. Gravitation may be described as a very weak force,
-capable of acting at a distance, or at least of appearing
-to do so. It takes the mass of the whole earth to produce
-the force with which we are so familiar at its
-surface, and the presence of a large mass of rock or
-mountain does not produce any appreciable difference in
-the weight of any substance. It is the gravitation of the
-earth, lessened of course by distance, which acts upon
-the moon 240,000 miles away, and the gravitation of the
-sun influences in like manner the earth and the various
-other planets of our system.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Elastic Forces.</i></h3>
-
-<p>67. Elastic forces, although in their mode of action
-very different from gravity, are yet due to visible
-arrangements of matter; thus, when a cross-bow is bent,
-there is a visible change produced in the bow, which, as a
-whole, resists this bending, and tends to resume its
-previous position. It therefore requires energy to bend
-a bow, just as truly and visibly as it does to raise a
-weight above the earth, and elasticity is, therefore, as
-truly a species of force as gravity is. We shall not here
-attempt to discuss the various ways in which this force
-may act, or in which a solid elastic substance will resist<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span>
-all attempts to deform it; but in all cases it is clearly
-manifest that work must be spent upon the body, and the
-force of elasticity must be encountered and overcome
-throughout a certain space before any sensible deformation
-can take place.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Force of Cohesion.</i></h3>
-
-<p>68. Let us now leave the forces which animate large
-masses of matter, and proceed to discuss those which
-subsist between the smaller particles of which these large
-masses are composed. And here we must say one word
-more about molecules and atoms, and the distinction we
-feel ourselves entitled to draw between these very small
-bodies, even although we shall never be able to see either
-the one or the other.</p>
-
-<p>In our first chapter (<abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art7">7</a>) we supposed the continual
-sub-division of a grain of sand until we had arrived at
-the smallest entity retaining all the properties of sand—this
-we called a <em>molecule</em>, and nothing smaller than
-this is entitled to be called sand. If we continue this
-sub-division further, the molecule of sand separates itself
-into its chemical constituents, consisting of silicon on
-the one side, and oxygen on the other. Thus we arrive
-at last at the smallest body which can call itself silicon,
-and the smallest which can call itself oxygen, and we
-have no reason to suppose that either of these is capable
-of sub-division into something else, since we regard
-oxygen and silicon as elementary or simple bodies. Now,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span>
-these constituents of the silicon molecule are called <em>atoms</em>,
-so that we say the sand molecule is divisible into atoms
-of silicon and of oxygen. Furthermore, we have strong
-reason for supposing that such molecules and atoms really
-exist, but into the arguments for their existence we cannot
-now enter—it is one of those things that we must
-ask our readers to take for granted.</p>
-
-<p>69. Let us now take two molecules of sand. These,
-when near together, have a very strong attraction for
-each other. It is, in truth, this attraction which renders
-it difficult to break up a crystalline particle of sand or
-rock crystal. But it is only exerted when the molecules
-are near enough together to form a homogeneous crystalline
-structure, for let the distance between them be somewhat
-increased, and we find that all attraction entirely
-vanishes. Thus there is little or no attraction between
-different particles of sand, even although they are very
-closely packed together. In like manner, the integrity
-of a piece of glass is due to the attraction between its
-molecules; but let these be separated by a flaw, and it
-will soon be found that this very small increase of distance
-greatly diminishes the attraction between the particles,
-and that the structure will now fall to pieces from
-the slightest cause. Now, these examples are sufficient
-to show that molecular attraction or <em>cohesion</em>, as this is
-called, is a force which acts very powerfully through a
-certain small distance, but which vanishes altogether
-when this distance becomes perceptible. Cohesion is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span>
-strongest in solids, while in liquids it is much diminished,
-and in gases it may be said to vanish altogether. The
-molecules of gases are, in truth, so far away from one
-another, as to have little or no mutual attraction, a fact
-proved by Dr. Joule, whose name was mentioned in the
-last chapter.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Force of Chemical Affinity.</i></h3>
-
-<p>70. Let us now consider the mutual forces between
-atoms. These may be characterized as even stronger
-than the forces between molecules, but as disappearing
-still more rapidly when the distance is increased. Let
-us, for instance, take carbon and oxygen—two substances
-which are ready to combine together to form carbonic
-acid, whenever they have a suitable opportunity. In
-this case, each atom of carbon will unite with two of
-oxygen, and the result will be something quite different
-from either. Yet under ordinary circumstances carbon, or
-its representative, coal, will remain unchanged in the
-presence of oxygen, or of atmospheric air containing
-oxygen. There will be no tendency to combine together,
-because although the particles of the oxygen would appear
-to be in immediate contact with those of the carbon,
-yet the nearness is not sufficient to permit of chemical
-affinity acting with advantage. When, however, the
-nearness becomes sufficient, then chemical affinity begins
-to operate. We have, in fact, the familiar act of combustion,
-and, as its consequence, the chemical union of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span>
-carbon or coal with the oxygen of the air, carbonic acid
-being the result. Here, then, we have a very powerful
-force acting only at a very small distance, which we
-name <em>chemical affinity</em>, inasmuch as it represents the
-attraction exerted between atoms of different bodies in
-contradistinction to cohesion, which denotes the attraction
-between molecules of the same body.</p>
-
-<p>71. If we regard gravitation as the representative of
-forces that act or appear to act, at a distance, we may
-regard cohesion and chemical affinity as the representatives
-of those forces which, although very powerful, only
-act or appear to act through a very small interval of
-distance.</p>
-
-<p>A little reflection will show us how inconvenient it
-would be if gravitation diminished very rapidly with the
-distance; for then even supposing that the bond which
-retains us to the earth were to hold good, that which
-retains the moon to the earth might vanish entirely, as
-well as that which retains the earth to the sun, and the
-consequences would be far from pleasant. Reflection
-will also show us how inconvenient it would be if
-chemical affinity existed at all distances; if coal, for
-instance, were to combine with oxygen without the application
-of heat, it would greatly alter the value of this
-fuel to mankind, and would materially check the progress
-of human industry.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span></p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Remarks on Molecular and Atomic Forces.</i></h3>
-
-<p>72. Now, it is important to remember that we must
-treat cohesion and chemical affinity exactly in the same
-way as gravity has been treated; and just as we have
-energy of position with respect to gravity, so may we
-have as truly a species of energy of position with
-respect to cohesion and chemical affinity. Let us
-begin with cohesion.</p>
-
-<p id="art73">73. We have hitherto regarded heat as a peculiar
-motion of the molecules of matter, without any reference
-to the force which actuates these molecules. But it is
-a well-known fact that bodies in general expand when
-heated, so that, in virtue of this expansion, the molecules
-of a body are driven violently apart against the force of
-cohesion. Work has in truth been done against this
-force, just as truly as, when a kilogramme is raised from
-the earth, work is done against the force of gravity.
-When a substance is heated, we may, therefore, suppose
-that the heat has a twofold office to perform, part of it
-going to increase the actual motions of the molecules,
-and part of it to separate these molecules from one
-another against the force of cohesion. Thus, if I swing
-round horizontally a weight (attached to my hand by
-an elastic thread of india-rubber), my energy will be
-spent in two ways—first of all, it will be spent in communicating
-a velocity to the weight; and, secondly, in
-stretching the india-rubber string, by means of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span>
-centrifugal tendency of the weight. Work will be done
-against the elastic force of the string, as well as spent
-in increasing the motion of the weight.</p>
-
-<p>Now, something of this kind may be taking place
-when a body is heated, for we may very well suppose
-heat to consist of a vertical or circular motion, the tendency
-of which would be to drive the particles asunder
-against the force of cohesion. Part, therefore, of the
-energy of heat will be spent in augmenting the motion,
-and part in driving asunder the particles. We may,
-however, suppose that, in ordinary cases, the great proportion
-of the energy of heat goes towards increasing
-the molecular motion, rather than in doing work against
-the force of cohesion.</p>
-
-<p>74 In certain cases, however, it is probable that the
-greater part of the heat applied is spent in doing work
-against molecular forces, instead of increasing the
-motions of molecules.</p>
-
-<p>Thus, when a solid melts, or when a liquid is rendered
-gaseous, a considerable amount of heat is spent in the
-process, which does not become sensible, that is to say,
-does not affect the thermometer. Thus, in order to melt
-a kilogramme of ice, heat is required sufficient to raise
-a kilogramme of water through 80° <abbr title="celcius">C.</abbr>, and yet, when
-melted, the water is no warmer than the ice. We express
-this fact by saying that the latent heat of water
-is 80. Again, if a kilogramme of water at 100° be converted
-entirely into steam, as much heat is required as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span>
-would raise the water through 537° <abbr title="celcius">C.</abbr>, or 537 kilogrammes
-of water through one degree; but yet the steam is no
-hotter than the water, and we express this fact by saying
-that the latent heat of steam is 537. Now, in both of
-these instances it is at least extremely probable that
-a large portion of the heat is spent in doing work against
-the force of cohesion; and, more especially, when a fluid
-is converted into a gas, we know that the molecules are
-in that process separated so far from one another as to
-lose entirely any trace of mutual force. We may, therefore,
-conclude that although in most cases the greater
-portion of the heat applied to a body is spent in increasing
-its molecular motion, and only a small part in
-doing work against cohesion, yet when a solid melts, or
-a liquid vaporizes, a large portion of the heat required is
-not improbably spent in doing work against molecular
-forces. But the energy, though spent, is not lost, for
-when the liquid again freezes, or when the vapour again
-condenses, this energy is once more transformed into the
-shape of sensible heat, just as when a stone is dropped
-from the top of a house, its energy of position is transformed
-once more into actual energy.</p>
-
-<p>75. A single instance will suffice to give our readers a
-notion of the strength of molecular forces. If a bar of
-wrought iron, whose temperature is 10° <abbr title="celcius">C.</abbr> above that
-of the surrounding medium, be tightly secured at its
-extremities, it will draw these together with a force of at
-least one ton for each square inch of section. In some<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span>
-cases where a building has shown signs of bulging outwards,
-iron bars have been placed across it, and secured
-while in a heated state to the walls. On cooling, the
-iron contracted with great force, and the walls were
-thereby pulled together.</p>
-
-<p>76. We are next brought to consider atomic forces, or
-those which lead to chemical union, and now let us see
-how these are influenced by heat. We have seen that
-heat causes a separation between the molecules of a
-body, that is to say, it increases the distance between
-two contiguous molecules, but we must not suppose that,
-meanwhile, the molecules themselves are left unaltered.</p>
-
-<p>The tendency of heat to cause separation is not confined
-to increasing the distance between molecules, but acts
-also, no doubt, in increasing the distance between parts
-of the same molecule: in fact, the energy of heat is spent
-in pulling the constituent atoms asunder against the force
-of chemical affinity, as well as in pulling the molecules
-asunder against the force of cohesion, so that, at a very
-high temperature, it is probable that most chemical compounds
-would be decomposed, and many are so, even at a
-very moderate heat.</p>
-
-<p>Thus the attraction between oxygen and silver is so
-slight that at a comparatively low temperature the oxide
-of silver is decomposed. In like manner, limestone, or
-carbonate of lime, is decomposed when subjected to the
-heat of a lime-kiln, carbonic acid being given off, while
-quick-lime remains behind. Now, in separating heterogeneous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span>
-atoms against the powerful force of chemical
-affinity, work is done as truly as it is in separating molecules
-from one another against the force of cohesion, or in separating
-a stone from the earth against the force of gravity.</p>
-
-<p>77. Heat, as we have seen, is very frequently influential
-in performing this separation, and its energy is spent in
-so doing; but other energetic agents produce chemical
-decomposition as well as heat. For instance, certain rays
-of the sun decompose carbonic acid into carbon and
-oxygen in the leaves of plants, and their energy is spent
-in the process; that is to say, it is spent in pulling
-asunder two such powerfully attracting substances against
-the affinity they have for one another. And, again, the
-electric current is able to decompose certain substances,
-and of course its energy is spent in the process.</p>
-
-<p>Therefore, whenever two powerfully attracting atoms
-are separated, energy is spent in causing this separation
-as truly as in separating a stone from the earth, and
-when once the separation has been accomplished we have
-a species of energy of position just as truly as we have in
-a head of water, or in a stone at the top of a house.</p>
-
-<p>78. It is this chemical separation that is meant when
-we speak of coal as a source of energy. Coal, or carbon,
-has a great attraction for oxygen, and whenever heat is
-applied the two bodies unite together. Now oxygen, as
-it exists in the atmosphere, is the common inheritance of
-all, and if, in addition to this, some of us possess coal in
-our cellars, or in pits, we have thus secured a store of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span>
-energy of position which we can draw upon with more
-facility than if it were a head of water, for, although we
-can draw upon the energy of a head of water whenever
-we choose, yet we cannot carry it about with us from
-place to place as we can with coal. We thus perceive
-that it is not the coal, by itself, that forms the source of
-energy, but this is due to the fact that we have coal, or
-carbon, in one place, and oxygen in another, while we
-have also the means of causing them to unite with each
-other whenever we wish. If there were no oxygen in
-the air, coal by itself would be of no value.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Electricity: its Properties.</i></h3>
-
-<p>79. Our readers have now been told about the force
-of cohesion that exists between molecules of the same
-body, and also about that of chemical affinity existing
-between atoms of different bodies. Now, heterogeneity
-is an essential element of this latter force—there must
-be a difference of some kind before it can exhibit itself—and
-under these circumstances its exhibitions are frequently
-characterized by very extraordinary and interesting
-phenomena.</p>
-
-<p>We allude to that peculiar exhibition arising out of the
-forces of heterogeneous bodies which we call <em>electricity</em>,
-and, before proceeding further, it may not be out of place
-to give a short sketch of the mode of action of this very
-mysterious, but most interesting, agent.</p>
-
-<p>80. The science of electricity is of very ancient origin;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span>
-but its beginning was very small. For a couple of thousand
-years it made little or no progress, and then, during
-the course of little more than a century, developed into
-the giant which it now is. The ancient Greeks were
-aware that amber, when rubbed with silk, had the property
-of attracting light bodies; and Dr. Gilbert, about
-three hundred years ago, showed that many other things,
-such as sulphur, sealing-wax, and glass, have the same
-property as amber.</p>
-
-<p>In the progress of the science it came to be known
-that certain substances are able to carry away the
-peculiar influence produced, while others are unable to
-do so; the former are called <em>conductors</em>, and the latter
-<em>non-conductors, or insulators</em>, of electricity. To make
-the distinction apparent, let us take a metal rod, having
-a glass stem attached to it, and rub the glass stem with
-a piece of silk, care being taken that both silk and glass
-are warm and dry. We shall find that the glass has now
-acquired the property of attracting little bits of paper, or
-elder pith; but only where it has been rubbed, for the
-peculiar influence acquired by the glass has not been able
-to spread itself over the surface.</p>
-
-<p>If, however, we take hold of the glass stem, and rub
-the metal rod, we may, perhaps, produce the same property
-in the metal, but it will spread over the whole, not
-confining itself to the part rubbed. Thus we perceive
-that metal is a conductor, while glass is an insulator, or
-non-conductor, of electricity.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span></p>
-
-
-<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="fig5">
- <img src="images/005.jpg" class="w25" alt="Fig. 5." />
-</span></p>
-<p class="center caption"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 5.<br /></p>
-
-
-<p>81. We would next observe that <em>this influence is of
-two kinds</em>. To prove this, let us perform the following
-experiment. Let us suspend
-a small pith ball by a very
-slender silk thread, as in <a href="#fig5"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 5</a>.
-Next, let us rub a stick of
-warm, dry glass with a
-piece of warm silk, and with
-this excited stick touch the
-pith ball. The pith ball, after
-being touched, will be repelled
-by the excited glass. Let us
-next excite, in a similar manner,
-a stick of dry sealing-wax with a piece of warm, dry
-flannel, and on approaching this stick to the pith ball it
-will attract it, although the ball, in its present state, is
-repelled by the excited glass.</p>
-
-<p>Thus a pith ball, touched by excited glass, is repelled
-by excited glass, but attracted by excited sealing-wax.</p>
-
-<p>In like manner, it might be shown that a pith ball,
-touched by excited sealing-wax, will be afterwards repelled
-by excited sealing-wax, but attracted by excited
-glass.</p>
-
-<p>Now, what the excited glass did to the pith ball, was
-to communicate to it part of its own influence, after
-which the ball was repelled by the glass; or, in other
-words, <em>bodies charged with similar electricities repel one
-another</em>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span></p>
-
-<p>Again, since the pith ball, when charged with the electricity
-from glass, was attracted to the electrified sealing-wax,
-we conclude that <em>bodies charged with unlike electricities
-attract one another</em>. The electricity from glass
-is sometimes called <em>vitreous</em>, and that from sealing-wax
-<em>resinous</em>, electricity, but more frequently the former is
-known as <em>positive</em>, and the latter as <em>negative</em>, electricity—it
-being understood that these words do not imply the
-possession of a positive nature by the one influence, or
-of a negative nature by the other, but are merely terms
-employed to express the apparent antagonism which
-exists between the two kinds of electricity.</p>
-
-<p>82. The next point worthy of notice is that <em>whenever
-one electricity is produced, just as much is produced of
-an opposite description</em>. Thus, in the case of glass
-excited by silk, we have positive electricity developed
-upon the glass, while we have also negative electricity
-developed upon the silk to precisely the same extent. And,
-again, when sealing-wax is rubbed with flannel, we have
-negative electricity developed upon the sealing-wax, and
-just as much positive upon the flannel.</p>
-
-<p>83. These facts have given rise to a theory of electricity,
-or at least to a method of regarding it, which, if
-not absolutely correct, seems yet to unite together the
-various phenomena. According to this hypothesis, a
-neutral, unexcited body is supposed to contain a store
-of the two electricities combined together, so that whenever
-such a body is excited, a separation is produced<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span>
-between the two. The phenomena which we have
-described are, therefore, due to this electrical separation,
-and inasmuch as the two electricities have a great affinity
-for one another, it requires the expenditure of energy to
-produce this separation, just as truly as it does to separate
-a stone from the earth.</p>
-
-<p>84. Now, it is worthy of note that <em>electrical separation
-is only produced when heterogeneous bodies are
-rubbed together</em>. Thus, if flannel be rubbed upon glass,
-we have electricity; but if flannel be rubbed upon glass
-covered with flannel, we have none. In like manner, if
-silk be rubbed upon sealing-wax covered with silk, or, in
-fine, if two portions of the same substance be rubbed
-together, we have no electricity.</p>
-
-<p>On the other hand, a very slight difference of texture
-is sometimes sufficient to produce electrical separation.
-Thus, if two pieces of the same silk ribbon be rubbed
-together lengthwise, we have no electricity; but if they
-be rubbed across each other, the one is positively, and the
-other negatively, electrified.</p>
-
-<p>In fact, this element of heterogeneity is an all important
-one in electrical development, and this leads us to
-conjecture that <em>electrical attraction may probably be
-regarded as peculiarly allied to that force which we call
-chemical affinity</em>. At any rate, electricity and chemical
-affinity are only manifested between bodies that are, in
-some respects, dissimilar.</p>
-
-<p>85. The following is a list of bodies arranged according<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span>
-to the electricity which they develop when rubbed together,
-each substance being positively electrified when
-rubbed with any substance beneath it in the list.</p>
-
-<p class="poetry">
-1. Cat’s skin.<br />
-2. Flannel.<br />
-3. Ivory.<br />
-4. Glass.<br />
-5. Silk.<br />
-6. Wood.<br />
-7. Shellac.<br />
-8. Resin.<br />
-9. Metals.<br />
-10. Sulphur.<br />
-11. Caoutchouc.<br />
-12. Gutta-percha.<br />
-13. Gun-cotton.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p>Thus, if resin be rubbed with cat’s skin, or with
-flannel, the cat’s skin or flannel will be positively, and
-the resin negatively, electrified; while if glass be rubbed
-with silk, the glass will be positively, and the silk negatively,
-electrified, and so on.</p>
-
-<p>86. It is not our purpose here to describe at length the
-<em>electrical machine</em>, but we may state that it consists of
-two parts, one for generating electricity by means of the
-friction of a rubber against glass, and another consisting
-of a system of brass tubes, of considerable surface, supported
-on glass stems, for collecting and retaining the
-electricity so produced. This latter part of the machine
-is called its <em>prime conductor</em>.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Electric Induction.</i></h3>
-
-<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="fig6">
- <img src="images/006.jpg" class="w50" alt="Fig. 6." />
-</span></p>
-<p class="center caption"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 6.<br /></p>
-
-
-<p>87. Let us now suppose that we have set in action a
-machine of this kind, and accumulated a considerable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span>
-quantity of positive electricity in its prime conductor at
-<span class="allsmcap">A</span>. Let us next take two vessels, <span class="allsmcap">B</span> and <span class="allsmcap">C</span>, made of brass,
-supported on glass stems. These two vessels are supposed
-to be in contact, but at the same time to be
-capable of being separated from one another at their
-middle point, where the line is drawn in <a href="#fig6"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 6</a>.
-Now let us cause <span class="allsmcap">B</span> and <span class="allsmcap">C</span> to approach <span class="allsmcap">A</span> together. At
-first, <span class="allsmcap">B</span> and <span class="allsmcap">C</span> are not electrified, that is to say, their two
-electricities are not separated from each other, but are
-mixed together; but mark what will happen as they
-are pushed towards <span class="allsmcap">A</span>. The positive electricity of <span class="allsmcap">A</span> will
-decompose the two electricities of <span class="allsmcap">B</span> and <span class="allsmcap">C</span>, attracting the
-negative towards itself, and repelling the positive as far
-away as possible. The disposition of electricities will,
-therefore, be as in the figure. If we now pull <span class="allsmcap">C</span> away
-from <span class="allsmcap">B</span>, we have obtained a quantity of positive electricity
-on <span class="allsmcap">C</span>, by help of the original electricity which was
-in <span class="allsmcap">A</span>; in fact, we have made use of the original stock or
-electrical capital in <span class="allsmcap">A</span>, in order to obtain positive electricity<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span>
-in <span class="allsmcap">C</span>, without, however, diminishing the amount
-of our original stock. Now, this distant action or help,
-rendered by the original electricity in separating that of
-<span class="allsmcap">B</span> and <span class="allsmcap">C</span>, is called electric induction.</p>
-
-<p>88. The experiment may, however, be performed in a
-somewhat different manner—we may allow <span class="allsmcap">B</span> and <span class="allsmcap">C</span> to
-remain together, and gradually push them nearer to <span class="allsmcap">A</span>.
-As <span class="allsmcap">B</span> and <span class="allsmcap">C</span> approach <span class="allsmcap">A</span>, the separation of their electricities
-will become greater and greater, until, when <span class="allsmcap">A</span> and <span class="allsmcap">B</span> are
-only divided by a small thickness of air, the two opposite
-electricities then accumulated will have sufficient strength
-to rush together through the air, and unite with each
-other by means of a spark.</p>
-
-<p>89. The principle of induction may be used with advantage,
-when it is wished to accumulate a large quantity
-of electricity.</p>
-
-<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="fig7">
- <img src="images/007.jpg" class="w25" alt="Fig. 7." />
-</span></p>
-<p class="center caption"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 7.<br /></p>
-
-<p>In this case, an instrument called a <i>Leyden jar</i> is very
-frequently employed. It consists of a glass jar, coated
-inside and outside with tin foil, as in
-<a href="#fig7"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 7</a>. A brass rod, having a knob at
-the end of it, is connected metallically
-with the inside coating, and is kept in
-its place by being passed through a
-cork, which covers the mouth of the
-jar. We have thus two metallic
-coatings which are not electrically
-connected with one another. Now, in order to charge
-a jar of this kind, let the outside coating be connected<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span>
-by a chain with the earth, while at the same
-time positive electricity from the prime conductor of
-an electrical machine is communicated to the inside knob.</p>
-
-<p>The positive electricity will accumulate on the inside
-coating with which the knob is connected. It will then
-decompose the two electricities of the outside coating,
-driving the positive electricity to the earth, and there
-dissipating it, but attracting the negative to itself. There
-will thus be positive electricity on the inside, and
-negative on the outside coating. These two electricities
-may be compared to two hostile armies watching each
-other, and very anxious to get together, while, however,
-they are separated from one another by means of an
-insurmountable obstacle. They will thus remain facing
-each other, and at their posts, while each side is, meanwhile,
-being recruited by the same operation as before.
-We may by this means accumulate a vast quantity of
-opposite electricities on the two coatings of such a jar,
-and they will remain there for a long time, especially if
-the surrounding atmosphere and the glass surface of the
-jar be quite dry. When, however, electric connection of
-any kind is made between the two coatings, the electricities
-rush together and unite with one another in the
-shape of a spark, while if the human body be the instrument
-of connecting them a severe shock will be felt.</p>
-
-<p>90. It would thus appear that, when two bodies
-charged with opposite electricities are brought near
-each other, the two electricities rush together, forming<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span>
-a current, and the ultimate result is a spark. Now,
-this spark implies heat, and is, in truth, nothing else
-than small particles of intensely heated matter of some
-kind. We have here, therefore, first of all, the conversion
-of electrical separation into a current of electricity, and,
-secondly, the conversion of this current into heat. In
-this case, however, the current lasts only a very small
-time; the discharge, as it is called, of a Leyden jar being
-probably accomplished in ¹⁄₂₄₀₀₀th of a second.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>The Electric Current.</i></h3>
-
-<p>91. In other cases we have electrical currents which,
-although not so powerful as that produced by discharging
-a Leyden jar, yet last longer, and are, in fact, continuous
-instead of momentary.</p>
-
-<p>We may see a similar difference in the case of visible
-energy. Thus we might, by means of gunpowder, send
-up in a moment an enormous mass of water; or we
-might, by means of a fountain, send up the same mass
-in the course of time, and in a very much quieter
-manner. We have the same sort of difference in electrical
-discharges, and having spoken of the rushing together of
-two opposite electricities by means of an explosion and
-a spark, let us now speak of the eminently quiet and
-effective <em>voltaic current</em>, in which we have a continuous
-coming together of the same two agents.</p>
-
-<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="fig8">
- <img src="images/008.jpg" class="w50" alt="Fig. 8." />
-</span></p>
-<p class="center caption"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 8.<br /></p>
-
-<p>92. It is not our object here to give a complete description,
-either historical or scientific, of the voltaic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span>
-battery, but rather to give such an account as will
-enable our readers to understand what the arrangement
-is, and what sort of effect it produces; and with this
-object we shall at once proceed to describe the battery
-of Grove, which is perhaps the most efficacious of all the
-various arrangements for the purpose of producing an
-electric current. In this battery we have a number of
-cells connected together,
-as in <a href="#fig8"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 8</a>,
-which shows a battery
-of three cells. Each
-cell consists of two
-vessels, an outer and
-an inner one; the outer vessel being made of glass
-or ordinary stone ware, while the inner one is made
-of unglazed porcelain, and is therefore porous. The
-outer vessel is filled with dilute sulphuric acid, and a
-plate of amalgamated zinc—that is to say, of metallic
-zinc having its outer surface brightened with mercury,—is
-immersed in this acid. Again, in the inner or porous
-vessel we have strong nitric acid, in which a plate of
-platinum foil is immersed, this being at the same time electrically
-connected with the zinc plate of the next outer
-vessel, by means of a clamp, as in the figure. Both metals
-must be clean where they are pressed together, that is to
-say, the true metallic surfaces of both must be in contact.
-Finally, a wire is metallically connected with the platinum
-of the left-hand cell, and a similar wire with the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span>
-zinc of the right-hand cell, and these connecting wires
-ought, except at their extremities, to be covered over
-with gutta-percha or thread. The loose extremities of
-these wires are called the <em>poles</em> of the battery.</p>
-
-<p id="art93">93. Let us now suppose that we have a battery containing
-a good many cells of this description, and let the
-whole arrangement be insulated, by being set upon glass
-supports, or otherwise separated from the earth. If now
-we test, by appropriate methods, the extremity of the
-wire connected with the left-hand platinum plate, it will
-be found to be charged with positive electricity, while
-the extremity of the other wire will be found charged
-with negative electricity.</p>
-
-<p>94. In the next place, if we connect these poles of the
-battery with one another, the two electricities will rush
-together and unite, or, in other words, there will be an
-electric current; but it will not be a momentary but a
-continuous one, and for some time, provided these poles
-are kept together, a current of electricity will pass through
-the wires, and indeed through the whole arrangement,
-including the cells.</p>
-
-<p>The direction of the current will be such that <em>positive
-electricity may be supposed to pass from the zinc to the
-platinum, through the liquid; and back again through
-the wire, from the platinum at the left hand, to the zinc
-at the right</em>; in fact, to go in the direction indicated by
-the arrow-head.</p>
-
-<p>95. Thus we have two things. In the first place, before<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span>
-the two terminals, or poles, have been brought together,
-we have them charged with opposite electricities; and,
-secondly, when once they have been brought together, we
-have the production of a continuous current of electricity.
-Now, this current is an energetic agent, in proof of which
-we shall proceed to consider the various properties which
-it has,—the various things which it can do.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Its Magnetic Effects.</i></h3>
-
-<p>96. In the first place, <em>it can deflect the magnetic needle</em>.
-For instance, let a compass needle be swung freely, and
-let a current of electricity circulate along a wire placed
-near this needle, and in the direction of its length, then
-the direction in which the needle points will be immediately
-altered. This direction will now depend upon that
-of the current, conveyed by the wire, and the needle will
-endeavour to place itself at right angles to this wire.</p>
-
-<p>In order to remember the connection between the
-direction of the current and that of the magnet, imagine
-your body to form part of the positive current, which may
-be supposed to enter in at your head, and go out at your
-feet; also imagine that your face is turned towards the
-magnet. In this case, the pole of the magnet, which
-points to the north, will always be deflected by the current
-towards your right hand. The strength of a current
-may be measured by the amount of the deflection it produces
-upon a magnetic needle, and the instrument by which
-this measurement is made is called a <i>galvanometer</i>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span></p>
-
-<p>97. In the next place, <em>the current is able</em>, not merely
-to deflect a magnet, but also <em>to render soft iron magnetic</em>.
-Let us take, for instance, the wire
-connected with the one pole of the
-battery, and cover it with thread, in
-order to insulate it, and let us wrap
-this wire round a cylinder of soft
-iron, as in <a href="#fig9"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 9</a>. If we now
-make a communication between the
-other extremity of the wire, and
-the other pole of the battery, so as
-to make the current pass, it will be
-found that our cylinder of soft iron
-has become a powerful magnet, and that if an iron
-keeper be attached to it as in the figure, the keeper
-will be able to sustain a very great weight.</p>
-
-<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="fig9">
- <img src="images/009.jpg" class="w25" alt="Fig. 9." />
-</span></p>
-<p class="center caption"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 9.<br /></p>
-
-<h3><i>Its Heating Effect.</i></h3>
-
-<p id="art98">98. <em>The electric current has likewise the property of
-heating a wire through which it passes.</em> To prove this,
-let us connect the two poles of a battery by means of a
-fine platinum wire, when it will be found that the wire
-will, in a few seconds, become heated to redness. In
-point of fact, the current will heat a thick wire, but not
-so much as a thin one, for we may suppose it to rush with
-great violence through the limited section of the thin
-wire, producing in its passage great heat.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span></p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Its Chemical Effect.</i></h3>
-
-<p>99. Besides its magnetic and heating effects, <em>the current
-has also the power of decomposing compound substances</em>,
-under certain conditions. Suppose, for instance, that the
-poles of a battery, instead of being brought together, are
-plunged into a vessel of water, decomposition will at once
-begin, and small bubbles of oxygen will rise from the
-positive pole, while small bubbles of hydrogen will make
-their appearance at the negative. If the two gases are
-collected together in a vessel, they may be exploded, and
-if collected separately, it may be proved by the ordinary
-tests, that the one is oxygen and the other hydrogen.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Attraction and Repulsion of Currents.</i></h3>
-
-<p id="art100">100. We have now described very shortly the magnetic,
-the heating, and the chemical effects of currents; it
-remains for us to describe the effects of currents upon
-one another.</p>
-
-<p>In the first place, suppose that we have two wires
-which are parallel to one another, and carry currents
-going in the same direction; and let us further suppose
-that these wires are capable of moving, then it is found
-that they will attract one another. If, however, the
-wires, although parallel, convey currents going in opposite
-directions, they will then repel one another. A good way
-of showing this experimentally is to cause two circular
-currents to float on water. If these currents both go<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span>
-either in the same direction as the hands of a watch,
-or in the opposite direction, then the two will attract
-one another; but if the one goes in the one direction,
-and the other in the other, they will then repel one
-another.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Attraction and Repulsion of Magnets.</i></h3>
-
-<p id="art101">101. Ampère, who discovered this property of currents,
-has likewise shown us that in very many respects a
-magnet may be likened to a collection of circular currents
-all parallel to one another, their direction being such that,
-if you look towards the north pole of a freely suspended
-cylindrical magnet facing it, the positive current will
-descend on the east or left-hand side, and ascend on the
-west or right-hand side. If we adopt this method of
-viewing magnets, we can easily account for the attraction
-between the unlike and the repulsion between the like
-poles of a magnet, for when unlike poles are placed
-near each other, the circular currents which face each
-other are then all going in the same direction, and the
-two will, therefore, attract one another, but if like poles
-are placed in this position, the currents that face each
-other are going in opposite directions, and the poles will,
-therefore, repel one another.</p>
-
-<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="fig10">
- <img src="images/010.jpg" class="w50" alt="Fig. 10." />
-</span></p>
-<p class="center caption"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 10.<br /></p>
-
-<h3><i>Induction of Currents.</i></h3>
-
-<p>102. Before closing this short sketch of electrical
-phenomena, we must allude to the inductive effect of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span>
-currents upon each other. Let us suppose (<a href="#fig10"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 10</a>) that
-we have two circular
-coils of wire, covered
-with thread, and placed
-near each other. Let
-both the extremities of
-the right-hand coil be
-connected with the poles
-of a battery, so as to
-make a current of electricity
-circulate round
-the coil. On the other
-hand, let the left-hand
-coil be connected with
-a galvanometer, thus
-enabling us to detect
-the smallest current of
-electricity which may
-pass through this coil.
-Now, it is found that
-when we first connect
-the right-hand coil, so
-as to pass the battery
-current through it, a
-momentary current will
-pass through the left-hand
-coil, and will deflect
-the needle of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span>
-galvanometer, but this current will go in an opposite
-direction to that which circulates round the right-hand
-coil.</p>
-
-<p>103. Again, as long as the current continues to flow
-through the right-hand coil there will be no current
-through the other, but at the moment of breaking the
-contact between the right-hand coil and the battery there
-will again be a momentary current in the left-hand coil,
-but this time in the same direction as that of the right-hand
-coil, instead of being, as before, in the opposite
-direction. In other words, when contact is <em>made</em> in the
-right-hand coil, there is a momentary current in the left-hand
-coil, but in an opposite direction to that in the right,
-while, when contact is <em>broken</em> in the right-hand coil, there
-is a momentary current in the left-hand coil in the same
-direction as that in the right.</p>
-
-<p id="art104">104. In order to exemplify this induction of currents,
-it is not even necessary to make and break the current
-in the right-hand coil, for we may keep it constantly going
-and arrange so as to make the right-hand coil (always
-retaining its connection with the battery) alternately
-approach and recede from the other; when it approaches
-the other, the effect produced will be the same as when
-the contact was made in the above experiment—that is
-to say, we shall have an induced current in an opposite
-direction to that of the primary, while, when it recedes
-from the other, we shall have a current in the same direction
-as that of the primary.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span></p>
-
-<p>105. Thus we see that whether we keep both coils
-stationary, and suddenly produce a current in the right-hand
-coil, or whether, keeping this current constantly
-going, we suddenly bring it near the other coil, the
-inductive effect will be precisely the same, for in both
-cases the left-hand coil is suddenly brought into the
-presence of a current. And again, it is the same, whether
-we suddenly break the right-hand current, or suddenly
-remove it from the left-hand coil, for in both cases
-this coil is virtually removed from the presence of a
-current.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>List of Energies.</i></h3>
-
-<p>106. We are now in a position to enumerate the various
-kinds of energy which occur in nature; but, before doing
-so, we must warn our readers that this enumeration has
-nothing absolute or complete about it, representing, as it
-does, not so much the present state of our knowledge as
-of our want of knowledge, or rather profound ignorance,
-of the ultimate constitution of matter. It is, in truth,
-only a convenient classification, and nothing more.</p>
-
-<p>107. To begin, then, with visible energy. We have
-first of all—</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Energy of Visible Motion.</i></h3>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p>(A.) Visible energy of actual motion—in the planets,
-in meteors, in the cannon ball, in the storm, in
-the running stream, and in other instances of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span>
-bodies in actual visible motion, too numerous to
-be mentioned.</p>
-</div>
-
-
-<h3><i>Visible Energy of Position.</i></h3>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p>(B.) We have also visible energy of position—in a stone
-on the top of a cliff, in a head of water, in a rain
-cloud, in a cross-bow bent, in a clock or watch
-wound up, and in various other instances.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p id="art108">108. Then we have, besides, several cases in which
-there is an alternation between (A) and (B).</p>
-
-<p>A pendulum, for instance, when at its lowest point, has
-only the energy (A), or that of actual motion, in virtue of
-which it ascends a certain distance against the force of
-gravity. When, however, it has completed its ascent, its
-energy is then of the variety (B), being due to position,
-and not to actual motion; and so on it continues to
-oscillate, alternately changing the nature of its energy
-from (A) to (B), and from (B) back again to (A).</p>
-
-<p id="art109">109. A vibrating body is another instance of this alternation.
-Each particle of such a body may be compared to
-an exceedingly small pendulum oscillating backwards
-and forwards, only very much quicker than an ordinary
-pendulum; and just as the ordinary pendulum in passing
-its point of rest has its energy all of one kind, while in
-passing its upper point it has it all of another, so when
-a vibrating particle is passing its point of rest, its energy
-is all of the variety (A), and when it has reached its
-extreme displacement, it is all of the variety (B).</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span></p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Heat Motion.</i></h3>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p id="art110">110. (<abbr title="celcius">C.</abbr>) Coming now to molecular or invisible energy,
-we have, in the first place, that motion of the
-molecules of bodies which we term heat. A
-better term would be <em>absorbed heat</em>, to distinguish
-it from <em>radiant heat</em>, which is a very
-different thing. That peculiar motion which is
-imparted by heat when absorbed into a body is,
-therefore, one variety of molecular energy.</p>
-</div>
-
-
-<h3><i>Molecular Separation.</i></h3>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p>(D.) Analogous to this is that effect of heat which
-represents position rather than actual motion.
-For part of the energy of absorbed heat is spent
-in pulling asunder the molecules of the body
-under the attractive force which binds them
-together (<abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art73">73</a>), and thus a store of energy of
-position is laid up, which disappears again after
-the body is cooled.</p>
-</div>
-
-
-<h3><i>Atomic or Chemical Separation.</i></h3>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p>111. (E.) The two previous varieties of energy may be
-viewed as associated with molecules rather than
-with atoms, and with the force of cohesion
-rather than with that of chemical affinity.
-Proceeding now to atomic force, we have
-a species of energy of position due to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span>
-separation of different atoms under the strong
-chemical attraction they have for one another.
-Thus, when we possess coal or carbon and also
-oxygen in a state of separation from one
-another, we are in possession of a source of
-energy which may be called that of chemical
-separation.</p>
-</div>
-
-
-<h3><i>Electrical Separation.</i></h3>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p>112 (F.) The attraction which heterogeneous atoms
-possess for one another, sometimes, however,
-gives rise to a species of energy which manifests
-itself in a very peculiar form, and
-appears as electrical separation, which is thus
-another form of energy of position.</p>
-</div>
-
-
-<h3><i>Electricity in Motion.</i></h3>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p>113 (G.) But we have another species of energy connected
-with electricity, for we have that due to
-electricity in motion, or in other words, an
-electric current which probably represents some
-form of actual motion.</p>
-</div>
-
-
-<h3><i>Radiant Energy.</i></h3>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p>114 (H.) It is well known that there is no ordinary
-matter, or at least hardly any, between the sun
-and the earth, and yet we have a kind of energy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span>
-which we may call radiant energy, which proceeds
-to us from the sun, and proceeds also with
-a definite, though very great velocity, taking
-about eight minutes to perform its journey.
-Now, this radiant energy is known to consist of
-the vibrations of an elastic medium pervading
-all space, which is called ether, or the <em>ethereal
-medium</em>. Inasmuch, therefore, as it consists
-of vibrations, it partakes of the character of
-pendulum motion, that is to say, the energy of
-any ethereal particle is alternately that of
-position and that of actual motion.</p>
-</div>
-
-
-<h3><i>Law of Conservation.</i></h3>
-
-<p>115. Having thus endeavoured, provisionally at least,
-to catalogue our various energies, we are in a position
-to state more definitely what is meant by the conservation
-of energy. For this purpose, let us take the universe
-as a whole, or, if this be too large, let us conceive, if
-possible, a small portion of it to be isolated from the rest,
-as far as force or energy is concerned, forming a sort of
-microcosm, to which we may conveniently direct our
-attention.</p>
-
-<p>This portion, then, neither parts with any of its
-energy to the universe beyond, nor receives any from it.
-Such an isolation is, of course, unnatural and impossible,
-but it is conceivable, and will, at least, tend to concentrate
-our thoughts. Now, whether we regard the great universe,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span>
-or this small microcosm, the principle of the conservation
-of energy asserts that the sum of all the various energies
-is a constant quantity, that is to say, adopting the language
-of Algebra—</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p>(A) + (B) + (C) + (D) + (E) + (F) + (G) + (H) = a
-constant quantity.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>116. This does not mean, of course, that (A) is constant
-in itself, or any other of the left-hand members of this
-equation, for, in truth, they are always changing about
-into each other—now, some visible energy being changed
-into heat or electricity; and, anon, some heat or electricity
-being changed back again into visible energy—but it
-only means that the sum of all the energies taken together
-is constant. We have, in fact, in the left hand, eight
-variable quantities, and we only assert that their sum is
-constant, not by any means that they are constant themselves.</p>
-
-<p>117. Now, what evidence have we for this assertion?
-It may be replied that we have the strongest possible
-evidence which the nature of the case admits of. The
-assertion is, in truth, a peculiar one—peculiar in its magnitude,
-in its universality, in the subtle nature of the
-agents with which it deals. If true, its truth certainly
-cannot be proved after the manner in which we prove a
-proposition in Euclid. Nor does it even admit of a proof
-so rigid as that of the somewhat analogous principle of
-the conservation of matter, for in chemistry we may<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span>
-confine the products of our chemical combination so
-completely as to prove, beyond a doubt, that no heavy
-matter passes out of existence that—when coal, for instance,
-burns in oxygen gas—what we have is merely a
-change of condition. But we cannot so easily prove that
-no energy is destroyed in this combination, and that the
-only result is a change from the energy of chemical
-separation into that of absorbed heat, for during the
-process it is impossible to isolate the energy—do what
-we may, some of it will escape into the room in which we
-perform the experiment; some of it will, no doubt, escape
-through the window, while a little will leave the earth
-altogether, and go out into space. All that we can do
-in such a case is to estimate, as completely as possible,
-how much energy has gone away, since we cannot possibly
-prevent its going. But this is an operation involving
-great acquaintance with the laws of energy, and very
-great exactness of observation: in fine, our readers will
-at once perceive that it is much more difficult to prove
-the truth of the conservation of energy than that of the
-conservation of matter.</p>
-
-<p>118. But if it be difficult to prove our principle in
-the most rigorous manner, we are yet able to give the
-strongest possible indirect evidence of its truth.</p>
-
-<p>Our readers are no doubt familiar with a method
-which Euclid frequently adopts in proving his propositions.
-Starting with the supposition that they are not
-true, and reasoning upon this hypothesis, he comes to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span>
-an absurd conclusion—hence he concludes that they are
-true. Now, we may adopt a method somewhat similar
-with regard to our principle, only instead of supposing
-it untrue, let us suppose it true. It may then
-be shown that, if it be true, under certain test conditions
-we ought to obtain certain results—for instance, if we
-increase the pressure, we ought to lower the freezing
-point of water. Well, we make the experiment, and
-find that, in point of fact, the freezing point of water is
-lowered by increasing the pressure, and we have thus
-derived an argument in favour of the conservation of
-energy.</p>
-
-<p>119. Or again, if the laws of energy are true, it may
-be shown that, whenever a substance contracts when
-heated, it will become colder instead of hotter by compression.
-Now, we know that ice-cold water, or water
-just a little above its freezing point, contracts instead
-of expanding up to 4° <abbr title="celcius">C.</abbr>; and Sir William Thomson has
-found, by experiment, that water at this temperature is
-cooled instead of heated by sudden compression. India-rubber
-is another instance of this relation between these
-two properties, for if we stretch a string of india-rubber it
-gets hotter instead of colder, that is to say, its temperature
-rises by extension, and gets lower by contraction;
-and again, if we heat the string, we find that it contracts
-in length instead of expanding like other substances as
-its temperature increases.</p>
-
-<p>120. Numberless instances occur in which we are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span>
-enabled to predict what will happen by assuming the
-truth of the laws of energy; in other words, these laws
-are proved to be true in all cases where we can put them
-to the test of rigorous experiment, and probably we can
-have no better proof than this of the truth of such a
-principle. We shall therefore proceed upon the assumption
-that the conservation of energy holds true in all cases,
-and give our readers a list of the various transmutations
-of this subtle agent as it goes backwards and forwards
-from one abode to another, making, meanwhile, sundry
-remarks that may tend, we trust, to convince our readers
-of the truth of our assumption.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span></p>
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.<br /><i>TRANSMUTATIONS OF ENERGY.</i></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<h3><i>Energy of Visible Motion.</i></h3>
-
-<p>121. Let us begin our list of transmutations with the
-energy of visible motion. This is changed into <em>energy
-of position</em> when a stone is projected upwards above the
-earth, or, to take a case precisely similar, when a planet
-or a comet goes from perihelion, or its position nearest the
-sun, to aphelion, or its position furthest from the sun. We
-thus see why a heavenly body should move fastest at
-perihelion, and slowest at aphelion. If, however, a
-planet were to move round the sun in an orbit exactly
-circular, its velocity would be the same at all the various
-points of this orbit, because there would be no change
-in its distance from the centre of attraction, and therefore
-no transmutation of energy.</p>
-
-<p id="art122">122. We have already (Arts. <a href="#art108">108</a>, <a href="#art109">109</a>) said that the
-energy in an oscillating or vibrating body is alternately
-that of actual motion, and that of position. In this
-respect, therefore, a pendulum is similar to a comet or
-heavenly body with an elliptical orbit. Nevertheless the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span>
-change of energy is generally more complete in a pendulum
-or vibrating body than it is in a heavenly body; for in a
-pendulum, when at its lowest point, the energy is entirely
-that of actual motion, while at its upper point it is
-entirely that of position. Now, in a heavenly body we
-have only a lessening, but not an entire destruction, of
-the velocity, as the body passes from perihelion to
-aphelion—that is to say, we have only a partial conversion
-of the one kind of energy into the other.</p>
-
-<p>123. Let us next consider the change of actual visible
-energy into <em>absorbed heat</em>. This takes place in all cases
-of friction, percussion, and resistance. In friction, for
-instance, we have the conversion of work or energy into
-heat, which is here produced through the rubbing of surfaces
-against each other; and Davy has shown that two pieces
-of ice, both colder than the freezing point, may be melted
-by friction. In percussion, again, we have the energy
-of the blow converted into heat; while, in the case of a
-meteor or cannon ball passing through the air with great
-velocity, we have the loss of energy of the meteor or
-cannon ball through its contact with the air, and at the
-same time the production of heat on account of this
-resistance.</p>
-
-<p>The resistance need not be atmospheric, for we may
-set the cannon ball to pierce through wooden planks or
-through sand, and there will equally be a production of
-heat on account of the resistance offered by the wooden
-planks or by the sand to the motion of the ball. We<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span>
-may even generalize still further, and assert that whenever
-the visible momentum of a body is transferred to a
-larger mass, there is at the same time the conversion of
-visible energy into heat.</p>
-
-<p>124. A little explanation will be required to make this
-point clear.</p>
-
-<p>The third law of motion tells us that action and reaction
-are equal and opposite, so that when two bodies
-come into collision the forces at work generate equal and
-opposite quantities of momentum. We shall best see
-the meaning of this law by a numerical example, bearing
-in mind that momentum means the product of mass
-into velocity.</p>
-
-<p>For instance, let us suppose that an inelastic body of
-mass 10 and velocity 20 strikes directly another inelastic
-body of mass 15 and velocity 15, the direction of both
-motions being the same.</p>
-
-<p>Now, it is well known that the united mass will, after
-impact, be moving with the velocity 17. What, then, has
-been the influence of the forces developed by collision?
-The body of greater velocity had before impact a
-momentum 10 × 20 = 200, while its momentum after
-impact is only 10 × 17 = 170; it has therefore suffered
-a loss of 30 units as regards momentum, or we may consider
-that a momentum of 30 units has been impressed
-upon it in an opposite direction to its previous motion.</p>
-
-<p>On the other hand, the body of smaller velocity had
-before impact a momentum 15 × 15 = 225, while after<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span>
-impact it has 15 × 17 = 255 units, so that its momentum
-has been increased by 30 units in its previous direction.</p>
-
-<p>The force of impact has therefore generated 30 units
-of momentum in two opposite directions, so that, taking
-account of direction, the momentum of the system is
-the same before and after impact; for before impact we
-had a momentum of 10 × 20 + 15 × 15 = 425, while after
-it we have the united mass 25 moving with the velocity
-17, giving the momentum 425 as before.</p>
-
-<p>125. But while the momentum is the same before and
-after impact, the visible energy of the moving mass is
-undoubtedly less after impact than before it. To see
-this we have only to turn to the expression of <abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art28">28</a>,
-from which we find that the energy before impact
-was as follows:—Energy in kilogrammetres = (<i>m v</i>²)/(19 · 6) =
-(10 × 20² + 15 × 15²)/19·6 = 376 nearly; while that after impact
-= (25 × 17²)/19·6 = 368 nearly.</p>
-
-<p>126. The loss of energy will be still more manifest if we
-suppose an inelastic body in motion to strike against a
-similar body at rest. Thus if we have a body of mass
-20 and velocity 20 striking against one of equal mass,
-but at rest, the velocity of the double mass after impact
-will obviously be only 10; but, as regards energy, that
-before impact will be (20 × 20²)/19·6 = ⁸⁰⁰⁰⁄₁₉·6 while that after<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span>
-impact will be (40 × 10²)/19·6 = ⁴⁰⁰⁰⁄₁₉·6 or only half the former.</p>
-
-<p>127. Thus there is in all such cases an apparent loss of
-visible energy, while at the same time there is the production
-of heat on account of the blow which takes
-place. If, however, the substances that come together be
-perfectly elastic (which no substance is), the visible energy
-after impact will be the same as that before, and in this
-case there will be no conversion into heat. This, however,
-is an extreme supposition, and inasmuch as no substance
-is perfectly elastic, we have in all cases of collision a
-greater or less conversion of visible motion into heat.</p>
-
-<p>128. We have spoken (<abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art122">122</a>) about the change of
-energy in an oscillating or vibrating body, as if it were
-entirely one of actual energy into energy of position,
-and the reverse.</p>
-
-<p>But even here, in each oscillation or vibration, there is
-a greater or less conversion of visible energy into heat.
-Let us, for instance, take a pendulum, and, in order to
-make the circumstances as favourable as possible, let it
-swing on a knife edge, and in vacuo; in this case there
-will be a slight but constant friction of the knife edge
-against the plane on which it rests, and though the
-pendulum may continue to swing for hours, yet it will
-ultimately come to rest.</p>
-
-<p>And, again, it is impossible to make a vacuum so perfect
-that there is absolutely no air surrounding the pendulum,
-so that part of the motion of the pendulum will always<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span>
-be carried off by the residual air of the vacuum in
-which it swings.</p>
-
-<p>129. Now, something similar happens in that vibratory
-motion which constitutes sound. Thus, when a bell is in
-vibration, part of the energy of the vibration is carried
-off by the surrounding air, and it is in virtue of this that
-we hear the sound of the bell; but, even if there were no
-air, the bell would not go on vibrating for ever. For
-there is in all bodies a greater or less amount of internal
-viscosity, a property which prevents perfect freedom of
-vibration, and which ultimately converts vibrations into
-heat.</p>
-
-<p>A vibrating bell is thus very much in the same position
-as an oscillating pendulum, for in both part of the energy
-is given off to the air, and in both there is unavoidable
-friction—in the one taking the shape of internal viscosity,
-and in the other that of friction of the knife edge
-against the plane on which it rests.</p>
-
-<p>130. In both these cases, too, that portion of the energy
-which goes into the air takes ultimately the shape of
-heat. The oscillating pendulum communicates a motion
-to the air, and this motion ultimately heats the air. The
-vibrating bell, or musical instrument, in like manner communicates
-part of its energy to the air. This communicated
-energy first of all moves through the air with the
-well-known velocity of sound, but during its progress it,
-too, no doubt becomes partly converted into heat.
-Ultimately, it is transmitted by the air to other bodies,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span>
-and by means of their internal viscosity is sooner or
-later converted into heat. Thus we see that heat is the
-form of energy, into which all visible terrestrial motion,
-whether it be rectilinear, or oscillatory, or vibratory, is
-ultimately changed.</p>
-
-<p>131. In the case of a body in visible rectilinear motion
-on the earth’s surface, this change takes place very soon—if
-the motion be rotatory, such as that of a heavy revolving
-top, it may, perhaps, continue longer before it is
-ultimately stopped, by means of the surrounding air, and
-by friction of the pivot; if it be oscillatory, as in the
-pendulum, or vibratory, as in a musical instrument, we
-have seen that the air and internal friction are at work,
-in one shape or another, to carry it off, and will ultimately
-succeed in converting it into heat.</p>
-
-<p>132. But, it may be said, why consider a body moving
-on the earth’s surface? why not consider the motion
-of the earth itself? Will this also ultimately take
-the shape of heat?</p>
-
-<p>No doubt it is more difficult to trace the conversion
-in such a case, inasmuch as it is not proceeding at a
-sensible rate before our eyes. In other words, the
-very conditions that make the earth habitable, and a
-fit abode for intelligent beings like ourselves, are those
-which unfit us to perceive this conversion of energy
-in the case of the earth. Yet we are not without
-indications that it is actually taking place. For the
-purpose of exhibiting these, we may divide the earth’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span>
-motion into two—a motion of rotation, and one of revolution.</p>
-
-<p id="art133">133. Now, with regard to the earth’s rotation, the conversion
-of the visible energy of this motion into heat is
-already well recognized. To understand this we have
-only to study the nature of the moon’s action upon the
-fluid portions of our globe. In the following diagram
-(<a href="#fig11"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 11</a>) we have an exaggerated representation of this,
-by which we see that the spherical earth is converted
-into an elongated oval, of which one extremity always
-points to the moon. The solid body of the earth itself
-revolves as usual, but, nevertheless, this fluid protuberance
-remains always pointing towards the moon, as we
-see in the figure, and hence the earth rubs against the
-protuberance as it revolves. The friction produced by
-this action tends evidently to lessen the rotatory energy
-of the earth—in other words, it acts like a break—and we
-have, just as by a break-wheel, the conversion of visible
-energy into heat. This was first recognized by Mayer
-and J. Thomson.</p>
-
-
-<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="fig11">
- <img src="images/011.jpg" class="w50" alt="Fig. 11." />
-</span></p>
-<p class="center caption"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 11.<br /></p>
-<p>134. But while there can be no doubt about the fact of
-such a conversion going on, the only question is regarding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span>
-its rate of progress, and the time required before it can
-cause a perceptible impression upon the rotative energy
-of the earth.</p>
-
-<p>Now, it is believed by astronomers that they have
-detected evidence of such a change, for our knowledge of
-the motions of the sun and moon has become so exact,
-that not only can we carry forward our calculations so as
-to predict an eclipse, but also carry them backwards, and
-thus fix the dates and even the very details of the
-ancient historical eclipses.</p>
-
-<p>If, however, between those times and the present, the
-earth has lost a little rotative energy on account of this
-peculiar action of the moon, then it is evident that the
-calculated circumstances of the ancient total eclipse will
-not quite agree with those actually recorded; and by
-a comparison of this nature it is believed that we
-have detected a very slight falling off in the rotative
-energy of our earth. If we carry out the argument, we
-shall be driven to the conclusion that the rotative energy
-of our globe will, on account of the moon’s action, always
-get less and less, until things are brought into such a
-state that the rotation comes to be performed in the same
-time as the revolution of the moon, so that then the same
-portion of the terrestrial surface being always presented
-to the moon, it is evident that there will be no effort
-made by the solid substance of the earth, to glide from
-under the fluid protuberance, and there will in consequence
-be no friction, and no further loss of energy.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span></p>
-
-<p>135. If the fate of the earth be ultimately to turn the
-same face always to the moon, we have abundant evidence
-that this very fate has long since overtaken the moon
-herself. Indeed, the much stronger effect of our earth
-upon the moon has produced this result, probably, even
-in those remote periods when the moon was chiefly fluid;
-and it is a fact well known, not merely to astronomers,
-but to all of us, that the moon nowadays turns always
-the same face to the earth.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> No doubt this fate has long
-since overtaken the satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, and the
-other large planets; and there are independent indications
-that, at least in the case of Jupiter, the satellites turn
-always the same face to their primary.</p>
-
-<p>136. To come now to the energy of revolution of the
-earth, in her orbit round the sun, we cannot help believing
-that there is a material medium of some kind between
-the sun and the earth; indeed, the undulatory theory of
-light requires this belief. But if we believe in such a
-medium, it is difficult to imagine that its presence will
-not ultimately diminish the motion of revolution of the
-earth in her orbit; indeed, there is a strong scientific
-probability, if not an absolute certainty, that such will be
-the case. There is even some reason to think that the
-energy of a comet of small period, called Encke’s comet, is
-gradually being stopped from this cause; in fine, there can
-be hardly any doubt that the cause is really in operation,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span>
-and will ultimately affect the motions of the planets and
-other heavenly bodies, even although its rate of action
-may be so slow that we are not able to detect it.</p>
-
-<p>We may perhaps generalize by saying, that wherever
-in the universe there is a differential motion, that is to
-say, a motion of one part of it towards or from another,
-then, in virtue of the subtle medium, or cement, that binds
-the various parts of the universe together, this motion is
-not unattended by something like friction, in virtue of
-which the differential motion will ultimately disappear,
-while the loss of energy caused by its disappearance will
-assume the form of heat.</p>
-
-<p>137. There are, indeed, obscure intimations that a conversion
-of this kind is not improbably taking place in the
-solar system; for, in the sun himself, we have the matter
-near the equator, by virtue of the rotation of our luminary,
-carried alternately towards and from the various
-planets. Now, it would seem that the sun-spots, or
-atmospheric disturbances of the sun, affect particularly
-his equatorial regions, and have likewise a tendency to
-attain their maximum size in that position, which is as
-far away as possible from the influential planets, such as
-Mercury or Venus;<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> so that if Venus, for instance,
-were between the earth and the sun, there would be few
-sun-spots in the middle of the sun’s disc, because that
-would be the part of the sun nearest Venus.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span></p>
-<p>But if the planets influence sun-spots, the action is no
-doubt reciprocal, and we have much reason to believe that
-sun-spots influence, not only the magnetism, but also the
-meteorology of our earth, so that there are most displays
-of the Aurora Borealis, as well as most cyclones, in those
-years when there are most sun-spots.<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Is it not then
-possible that, in these strange, mysterious phenomena,
-we see traces of the machinery by means of which the
-differential motion of the solar system is gradually being
-changed into heat?</p>
-
-<p>138. We have thus seen that visible energy of actual
-motion is not unfrequently changed into visible energy of
-position, and that it is also very often transformed into
-absorbed heat. We have now to state that it may likewise
-be transformed into <em>electrical separation</em>. Thus, when
-an ordinary electrical machine is in action, considerable
-labour is spent in turning the handle; it is, in truth,
-harder to turn than if no electricity were being produced—in
-other words, part of the energy which is spent upon
-the machine goes to the production of electrical separation.
-There are other ways of generating electricity besides the
-frictional method. If, for instance, we bring an insulated
-conducting plate near the prime conductor of the electrical
-machine, yet not near enough to cause a spark to pass,
-and if we then touch the insulated plate, we shall find it,
-after contact, to be charged with an electricity the opposite<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span>
-of that in the machine; we may then remove it
-and make use of this electricity.</p>
-
-<p>It requires a little thought to see what labour we have
-spent in this process. We must bear in mind that, by
-touching the plate, we have carried off the electricity of
-the same name as that of the machine, so that, after
-touching the insulated plate it is more strongly attracted
-to the conductor than it was before. When we begin to
-remove it, therefore, it will cost us an effort to do so, and
-the mechanical energy which we spend in removing it
-will account for the energy of electrical separation which
-we then obtain.</p>
-
-<p id="art139">139. We may thus make use of a small nucleus of
-electricity, to assist us in procuring an unlimited supply,
-for in the above process the electricity of the prime conductor
-remains unaltered, and we may repeat the
-operation as often as we like, and gather together a very
-large quantity of electricity, without finally altering the
-electricity of the prime conductor, but not, however,
-without the expenditure of an equivalent amount of
-energy, in the shape of actual work.</p>
-
-<p>140. While, as we have seen, there is a tendency in all
-motion to be changed into heat, there is one instance
-where it is, in the first place at least, changed into <em>a current
-of electricity</em>. We allude to the case where a conducting
-substance moves in the presence of an electric current, or
-of a magnet.</p>
-
-<p>In <abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art104">104</a> we found that if one coil connected with a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span>
-battery were quickly moved into the presence of another
-coil connected with a galvanometer, an induced current
-would be generated in the latter coil, and would affect
-the galvanometer, its direction being the reverse of that
-passing in the other. Now, an electric current implies
-energy, and we may therefore conclude that some other
-form of energy must be spent, or disappear, in order to
-produce the current which is generated in the coil
-attached to the galvanometer.</p>
-
-<p>Again, we learn from <abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art100">100</a> that two currents going
-in opposite directions repel one another. The current
-generated in the coil attached to the galvanometer or
-secondary current will, therefore, repel the primary
-current, which is moving towards it; this repulsion will
-either cause a stoppage of motion, or render necessary
-the expenditure of energy, in order to keep up the
-motion of this moving coil. We thus find that two
-phenomena occur simultaneously. In the first place,
-there is the production of energy in the secondary coil,
-in the shape of a current opposite in direction to
-that of the primary coil; in the next case, owing to
-the repulsion between this induced current and the
-primary current, there is a stoppage or disappearance of
-the energy of actual motion of the moving coil. We
-have, in fact, the creation of one species of energy, and at
-the same time the disappearance of another, and thus we
-see that the law of conservation is by no means broken.</p>
-
-<p>141. We see also the necessary connection between the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span>
-two electrical laws described in Arts. <a href="#art100">100</a> and <a href="#art104">104</a>. Indeed,
-had these laws been other than what they are, the
-principle of conservation of energy would have been
-broken.</p>
-
-<p>For instance, had the induced current in the case now
-mentioned been in the same direction as that of the
-primary, the two currents would have attracted each
-other, and thus there would have been the creation of a
-secondary current, implying energy, in the coil attached
-to the galvanometer, along with an increase of the visible
-energy of motion of the primary current—that is to say,
-instead of the creation of one kind of energy, accompanied
-with the disappearance of another, we should
-have had the simultaneous creation of both; and thus
-the law of conservation of energy would have been
-broken.</p>
-
-<p>We thus see that the principle of conservation enables
-us to deduce the one electrical law from the other, and
-this is one of the many instances which strengthen our
-belief in the truth of the great principle for which we
-are contending.</p>
-
-<p>142. Let us next consider what will take place if we
-cause the primary current to move from the secondary
-coil instead of towards it.</p>
-
-<p>In this case we know, from <abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art104">104</a>, that the induced
-current will be in the same direction as the primary,
-while we are told by <abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art100">100</a> that the two currents will
-now attract each other. The tendency of this attraction<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span>
-will be to stop the motion of the primary current from
-the secondary one, or, in other words, there will be a disappearance
-of the energy of visible motion, while at the
-same time there is the production of a current. In both
-cases, therefore, one form of energy disappears while
-another takes its place, and in both there will be a very
-perceptible resistance experienced in moving the
-primary coil, whether towards the secondary or from it.
-Work will, in fact, have to be spent in both operations,
-and the outcome of this work or energy will be the production
-of a current in the first place, and of heat in the
-second; for we learn from <abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art98">98</a> that when a current
-passes along a wire its energy is generally spent in heating
-the wire.</p>
-
-<p>We have thus two phenomena occurring together. In
-the first place, in moving a current of electricity to and
-from a coil of wire, or any other conductor, or (which is
-the same thing, since action and reaction are equal and
-opposite) in moving a coil of wire or any other conductor
-to and from a current of electricity, a sense
-of resistance will be experienced, and energy will have
-to be spent upon the process; in the second place, an
-electrical current will be generated in the conductor, and
-the conductor will be heated in consequence.</p>
-
-<p>143. The result will be rendered very prominent if
-we cause a metallic top, in rapid rotation, to spin near
-two iron poles, which, by means of the battery, we can
-suddenly convert into the poles of a powerful electro-magnet.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span>
-When this change is made, and the poles become
-magnetic, the motion of the top is very speedily
-brought to rest, just as if it had to encounter a species
-of invisible friction. This curious result can easily be
-explained. We have seen from <abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art101">101</a> that a magnet
-resembles an assemblage of electric currents, and in the
-metallic top we have a conductor alternately approaching
-these currents and receding from them; and hence, according
-to what has been said, we shall have a series of
-secondary currents produced in the conducting top which
-will stop its motion, and which will ultimately take the
-shape of heat. In other words, the visible energy of the
-top will be changed into heat just as truly as if it were
-stopped by ordinary friction.</p>
-
-<p>144. The electricity induced in a metallic conductor,
-moved in the presence of a powerful magnet, has received
-the name of Magneto-Electricity; and Dr. Joule has
-made use of it as a convenient means of enabling him
-to determine the mechanical equivalent of heat, for it
-is into heat that the energy of motion of the conductor
-is ultimately transformed. But, besides all this, these
-currents form, perhaps, the very best means of obtaining
-electricity; and recently very powerful machines have
-been constructed by Wild and others with this view.</p>
-
-<p>145. These machines, when large, are worked by a
-steam-engine, and their mode of operation is as follows:—The
-nucleus of the machine is a system of powerful
-permanent steel magnets, and a conducting coil is made<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span>
-to revolve rapidly in presence of these magnets. The
-current produced by this moving coil is then used in
-order to produce an extremely powerful electro-magnet,
-and finally a coil is made to move with great rapidity
-in presence of this powerful electro-magnet, thus causing
-induced currents of vast strength. So powerful are these
-currents, that when used to produce the electric light,
-small print may be read on a dark night at the distance
-of two miles from the scene of operation!</p>
-
-<p>It thus appears that in this machine a double use is
-made of magneto-electricity. Starting with a nucleus
-of permanent magnetism, the magneto-electric currents
-are used, in the first instance, to form a powerful electro-magnet
-much stronger than the first, and this powerful
-electro-magnet is again made use of in the same way as
-the first, in order to give, by means of magneto-electricity,
-an induced current of very great strength.</p>
-
-<p>146. There is, moreover, a very great likeness between
-a magneto-electric machine like that of Wild’s for generating
-electric currents, and the one which generates
-statical electricity by means of the method already described
-<abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art139">139</a>. In both cases advantage is taken of a
-nucleus, for in the magneto-electric machine we have
-the molecular currents of a set of permanent magnets,
-which are made the means of generating enormous
-electric currents without any permanent alteration to
-themselves, yet not without the expenditure of work.</p>
-
-<p>Again, in an induction machine for generating statical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span>
-electricity, we have an electric nucleus, such as we have
-supposed to reside in the prime conductor of a machine;
-and advantage may be taken, as we have seen, of this
-nucleus in order to generate a vast quantity of statical
-electricity, without any permanent alteration of the
-nucleus, but not without the expenditure of work.</p>
-
-<p>147. We have now seen under what conditions the
-visible energy of actual motion may be changed—1stly,
-into energy of position; 2ndly, into the two energies
-which embrace absorbed heat; 3rdly, into electrical separation;
-and finally into electricity in motion. As far as
-we know, visible energy cannot directly be transformed
-into chemical separation, or into radiant energy.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Visible Energy of Position.</i></h3>
-
-<p>148. Having thus exhausted the transmutations of the
-energy of visible motion, we next turn to that of
-position, and find that it is transmuted into motion, but
-not immediately into any other form of energy; we may,
-therefore, dismiss this variety at once from our consideration.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Absorbed Heat.</i></h3>
-
-<p>140. Coming now to these two forms of energy which
-embrace <em>absorbed heat</em>, we find that this may be converted
-into (A) or <em>actual visible energy</em> in the case of
-the steam-engine, the air-engine, and all varieties of heat
-engines. In the steam-engine, for instance, part of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span>
-heat which passes through it disappears as heat, utterly
-and absolutely, to reappear as mechanical effect. There
-is, however, one condition which must be rigidly fulfilled,
-whenever heat is changed into mechanical effect—there
-must be a difference of temperature, and <em>heat will
-only be changed into work, while it passes from a body
-of high temperature to one of low</em>.</p>
-
-<p>Carnot, the celebrated French physicist, has ingeniously
-likened the mechanical power of heat to that of water;
-for just as you can get no work out of heat unless there
-be a flow of heat from a higher temperature level to a
-lower, so neither can you get work out of water unless it
-be falling from a higher level to a lower.</p>
-
-<p>150. If we reflect that heat is essentially distributive
-in its nature, we shall soon perceive the reason for this
-peculiar law; for, in virtue of its nature, heat is always
-rushing from a body of high temperature to one of low,
-and if left to itself it would distribute itself equally
-amongst all bodies, so that they would ultimately become
-of the same temperature. Now, if we are to coax
-work out of heat, we must humour its nature, for it may
-be compared to a pack of schoolboys, who are always
-ready to run with sufficient violence out of the schoolroom
-into the open fields, but who have frequently to be
-dragged back with a very considerable expenditure of
-energy. So heat will not allow itself to be confined,
-but will resist any attempt to accumulate it into a
-limited space. Work cannot, therefore, be gained by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span>
-such an operation, but must, on the contrary, be spent
-upon the process.</p>
-
-<p>151. Let us now for a moment consider the case of an
-enclosure in which everything is of the same temperature.
-Here we have a dull dead level of heat, out of which it
-will be impossible to obtain the faintest semblance of
-work. The temperature may even be high, and there
-may be immense stores of heat energy in the enclosure,
-but not a trace of this is available in the shape of work.
-Taking up Carnot’s comparison, the water has already
-fallen to the same level, and lies there without any
-power of doing useful work—dead, in a sense, as far as
-visible energy is concerned.</p>
-
-<p id="art152">152. We thus perceive that, firstly, we can get work
-out of heat when it passes from a higher to a lower
-temperature, but that, secondly, we must spend work upon
-it in order to make it pass from a lower temperature to a
-higher one; and that, thirdly and finally, nothing in the
-shape of work can be got out of heat which is all at the
-same temperature level.</p>
-
-<p>What we have now said enables us to realize the conditions
-under which all heat engines work. The essential
-point about such engines is, not the possession of a
-cylinder, or piston, or fly wheels, or valves, but the
-possession of two chambers, one of high and the other
-of low temperature, while it performs work in the process
-of carrying heat from the chamber of high to that of low
-temperature.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span></p>
-
-<p>Let us take, for example, the low-pressure engine.
-Here we have the boiler or chamber of high, and the
-condenser or chamber of low, temperature, and the engine
-works while heat is being carried from the boiler to the
-condenser—never while it is being carried from the condenser
-to the boiler.</p>
-
-<p>In like manner in the locomotive we have the steam
-generated at a high temperature and pressure, and cooled
-by injection into the atmosphere.</p>
-
-<p>153. But, leaving formal engines, let us take an
-ordinary fire, which plays in truth the part of an engine,
-as far as energy is concerned. We have here the cold
-air streaming in over the floor of the room, and rushing
-into the fire, to be there united with carbon, while the
-rarefied product is carried up the chimney. Dismissing
-from our thoughts at present the process of combustion,
-except as a means of supplying heat, we see that there
-is a continual in-draught of cold air, which is heated by
-the fire, and then sent to mingle with the air above.
-Heat is, in fact, distributed by this means, or carried from
-a body of high temperature, <i>i.e.</i> the fire, to a body of low
-temperature, <i>i.e.</i> the outer air, and in this process of distribution
-mechanical effect is obtained in the up-rush
-of air through the chimney with considerable velocity.</p>
-
-<p>154. Our own earth is another instance of such an
-engine, having the equatorial regions as its boiler,
-and the polar regions as its condensers; for, at
-the equator, the air is heated by the direct rays<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span>
-of the sun, and we have there an ascending current of
-air, up a chimney as it were, the place of which is supplied
-by an in-draught of colder air along the ground
-or floor of the world, from the poles on both sides. Thus
-the heated air makes its way from the equator to the
-poles in the upper regions of the atmosphere, while the
-cold air makes its way from the poles to the equator
-along the lower regions. Very often, too, aqueous vapour
-as well as air is carried up by means of the sun’s heat
-to the upper and colder atmospheric regions, and there
-deposited in the shape of rain, or hail, or snow, which
-ultimately finds its way back again to the earth, often
-displaying in its passage immense mechanical energy.
-Indeed, the mariner who hoists his sail, and the miller
-who grinds his corn (whether he use the force of the
-wind or that of running water), are both dependent
-upon this great earth-engine, which is constantly at work
-producing mechanical effect, but always in the act of
-carrying heat from its hotter to its colder regions.</p>
-
-<p>155. Now, if it be essential to an engine to have two
-chambers, one hot and one cold, it is equally important
-that there should be a considerable temperature difference
-between the two.</p>
-
-<p>If Nature insists upon a difference before she will give
-us work, we shall not be able to pacify her, or to meet
-her requirements by making this difference as small as
-possible. And hence, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">cæteris paribus</i>, we shall obtain a
-greater proportion of work out of a certain amount of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span>
-heat passing through our engine when the temperature
-difference between its boiler and condenser is as great
-as possible. In a steam-engine this difference cannot
-be very great, because if the water of the boiler were at
-a very high temperature the pressure of its steam would
-become dangerous; but in an air-engine, or engine that
-heats and cools air, the temperature difference may be
-much larger. There are, however, practical inconveniences
-in engines for which the temperature of the boiler is
-very high, and it is possible that these may prove so
-formidable as to turn the scale against such engines,
-although in theory they ought to be very economical.</p>
-
-<p>156. The principles now stated have been employed by
-Professor J. Thomson, in his suggestion that the application
-of pressure would be found to lower the freezing
-point of water; and the truth of this suggestion was afterwards
-proved by Professor Sir W. Thomson. The following
-was the reasoning employed by the former:—</p>
-
-<p>Suppose that we have a chamber kept constantly at
-the temperature 0° <abbr title="celcius">C.</abbr>, or the melting point of ice, and
-that we have a cylinder, of which the sectional area
-is one square metre, filled one metre in height with
-water, that is to say, containing one cubic metre of
-water. Suppose, next, that a well-fitting piston is
-placed above the surface of the water in this cylinder,
-and that a considerable weight is placed upon the piston.
-Let us now take the cylinder, water and all, and carry
-it into another room, of which the temperature is just<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span>
-a trifle lower. In course of time the water will freeze,
-and, as it expands in freezing, it will push up the piston and
-weight about ⁹⁄₁₀₀ths of a metre; and we may suppose
-that the piston is kept fastened in this position by means
-of a peg. Now carry back the machine into the first
-room, and in the course of time the ice will be melted,
-and we shall have water once more in the cylinder, but
-there will now be a void space of ⁹⁄₁₀₀ths of a metre
-between the piston and the surface. We have thus acquired
-a certain amount of energy of position, and we
-have only to pull out the peg, and allow the piston with
-its weight to fall down through the vacant space, in order
-to utilize this energy, after which the arrangement is ready
-to start afresh. Again, if the weight be very great, the
-energy thus gained will be very great; in fact, the energy
-will vary with the weight. In fine, the arrangement
-now described is a veritable heat engine, of which the
-chamber at 0° <abbr title="celcius">C.</abbr> corresponds to the boiler, and the other
-chamber a trifle lower in temperature to the condenser,
-while the amount of work we get out of the engine—or, in
-other words, its efficiency—will depend upon the weight
-which is raised through the space of ⁹⁄₁₀₀ths of a metre,
-so that, by increasing this weight without limit, we may
-increase the efficiency of our engine without limit. It
-would thus at first sight appear that by this device of having
-two chambers, one at 0° <abbr title="celcius">C.</abbr>, and the other a trifle lower,
-we can get any amount of work out of our water engine;
-and that, consequently, we have managed to overcome<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span>
-Nature. But here Thomson’s law come into operation,
-showing that we cannot overcome Nature by any such
-device, but that if we have a large weight upon our
-piston, we must have a proportionally large difference of
-temperature between our two chambers—that is to say,
-the freezing point of water, under great pressure, will be
-lower in temperature than its freezing point, if the
-pressure upon it be only small.</p>
-
-<p>Before leaving this subject we must call upon our
-readers to realize what takes place in all heat engines.
-It is not merely that heat produces mechanical effect,
-but that <em>a given quantity of heat absolutely passes out
-of existence as heat in producing its equivalent of work</em>.
-If, therefore, we could measure the mere heat produced
-in an engine by the burning of a ton of coals, we
-should find it to be less when the engine was doing
-work than when it was at rest.</p>
-
-<p>In like manner, when a gas expands suddenly its
-temperature falls, because a certain amount of its heat
-passes out of existence in the act of producing mechanical
-effect.</p>
-
-<p>157. We have thus endeavoured to show under what
-conditions absorbed heat may be converted into mechanical
-effect. This absorbed heat embraces (<abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art110">110</a>) two
-varieties of energy, one of these being molecular motion,
-and the other molecular energy of position.</p>
-
-<p>Let us now, therefore, endeavour to ascertain under
-what circumstances the one of these varieties may be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span>
-changed into the other. It is well known that it takes
-a good deal of heat to convert a kilogramme of ice into
-water, and that when the ice is melted the temperature
-of the water is not perceptibly higher than that of the
-ice. It is equally well known that it takes a great deal
-of heat to convert a kilogramme of boiling water into
-steam, and that when the transformation is accomplished,
-the steam produced is not perceptibly hotter than the
-boiling water. In such cases the heat is said to become
-latent.</p>
-
-<p>Now, in both these cases, but more obviously in the
-last, we may suppose that the heat has not had its usual
-office to perform, but that, instead of increasing the
-motion of the molecules of water, it has spent its energy
-in tearing them asunder from each other, against the
-force of cohesion which binds them together.</p>
-
-<p>Indeed, we know as a matter of fact that the force of
-cohesion which is perceptible in boiling water is apparently
-absent from steam, or the vapour of water, because
-its molecules are too remote from one another to allow of
-this force being appreciable. We may, therefore, suppose
-that a large part, at least, of the heat necessary to convert
-boiling water into steam is spent in doing work
-against molecular forces.</p>
-
-<p>When the steam is once more condensed into hot water,
-the heat thus spent reassumes the form of molecular
-motion, and the consequence is that we require to take
-away somehow all the latent heat of a kilogramme of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span>
-steam before we can convert it into boiling water. In
-fact, if it is difficult and tedious to convert water into
-steam, it is difficult and tedious to convert steam into
-water.</p>
-
-<p>158. Besides the case now mentioned, there are other
-instances in which, no doubt, molecular separation
-becomes gradually changed into heat motion. Thus,
-when a piece of glass has been suddenly cooled, its particles
-have not had time to acquire their proper position,
-and the consequence is that the whole structure is thrown
-into a state of constraint. In the course of time such
-bodies tend to assume a more stable state, and their
-particles gradually come closer together.</p>
-
-<p>It is owing to this cause that the bulb of a thermometer
-recently blown gradually contracts, and it is no
-doubt owing to the same cause that a Prince Rupert’s
-drop, formed by dropping melted glass into water, when
-broken, falls into powder with a kind of explosion. It
-seems probable that in all such cases these changes are
-attended with heat, and that they denote the conversion
-of the energy of molecular separation into that of
-molecular motion.</p>
-
-<p>159. Having thus examined the transmutations of (C)
-into (D), and of (D) back again into (C), let us now
-proceed with our list, and see under what circumstances
-absorbed heat is changed into <em>chemical separation</em>.</p>
-
-<p>It is well known that when certain bodies are heated,
-they are decomposed; for instance, if limestone or carbonate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span>
-of lime be heated, it is decomposed, the carbonic
-acid being given out in the shape of gas, while quick-lime
-remains behind. Now, heat is consumed in this
-process, that is to say, a certain amount of heat energy
-absolutely passes out of existence <em>as heat</em> and is changed
-into the energy of chemical separation. Again, if the
-lime so obtained be exposed, under certain circumstances,
-to an atmosphere of carbonic acid, it will
-gradually become changed into carbonate of lime; and in
-this change (which is a gradual one) we may feel assured
-that the energy of chemical separation is once more converted
-into the energy of heat, although we may not perceive
-any increment of temperature, on account of the
-slow nature of the process.</p>
-
-<p>At very high temperatures it is possible that most
-compounds are decomposed, and the temperature at
-which this takes place, for any compound, has been
-termed its <em>temperature of disassociation</em>.</p>
-
-<p>160. Heat energy is changed into <em>electrical separation</em>
-when tourmalines and certain other crystals are heated.</p>
-
-<p>Let us take, for instance, a crystal of tourmaline and
-raise its temperature, and we shall find one end positively,
-and the other negatively, electrified. Again, let us take
-the same crystal, and suddenly cool it, and we shall find
-an electrification of the opposite kind to the former, so
-that the end of the axis, which was then positive, will
-now be negative. Now, this separation of the electricities
-denotes energy; and we have, therefore, in such crystals<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span>
-a case where the energy of heat has been changed into
-that of electrical separation. In other words, a certain
-amount of heat has passed out of existence <em>as heat</em>,
-while in its place a certain amount of electrical separation
-has been obtained.</p>
-
-<p id="art161">161. Let us next see under what circumstances heat is
-changed into <em>electricity in motion</em>. This transmutation
-takes place in thermo-electricity.</p>
-
-<p>Suppose, for instance, that we have a bar of copper or
-antimony, say copper, soldered
-to a bar of bismuth, as in <a href="#fig12"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr>
-12</a>. Let us now heat one of
-the junctions, while the other
-remains cool. It will be found
-that a current of positive electricity
-circulates round the
-bar, in the direction of the
-arrow-head, going from the bismuth to the copper across
-the heated junction, the existence of which may be
-detected by means of a compass needle, as we see in the
-figure.</p>
-
-<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="fig12">
- <img src="images/012.jpg" class="w25" alt="Fig. 12." />
-</span></p>
-<p class="center caption"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 12.<br /></p>
-
-<p>Here, then, we have a case in which heat energy
-goes out of existence, and is converted into that of an
-electric current, and we may even arrange matters
-so as to make, on this principle, an instrument which
-shall be an extremely delicate test of the existence of
-heat.</p>
-
-<p>By having a number of junctions of bismuth and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span>
-antimony, as in <a href="#fig13"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 13</a>, and heating the upper set, while
-the lower remain cool, we get a
-strong current going from the bismuth
-to the antimony across the
-heated junctions, and we may pass
-the current so produced round the
-wire of a galvanometer, and thus,
-by increasing the number of our
-junctions, and also by using a very
-delicate galvanometer, we may get
-a very perceptible effect for the
-smallest heating of the upper junctions. This arrangement
-is called the <em>thermopile</em>, and, in conjunction with
-the reflecting galvanometer, it affords the most delicate
-means known for detecting small quantities of heat.</p>
-
-
-<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="fig13">
- <img src="images/013.jpg" class="w25" alt="Fig. 13." />
-</span></p>
-<p class="center caption"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 13.<br /></p>
-
-<p id="art162">162. The last transmutation on our list with respect to
-absorbed heat is that in which this species of energy is
-transformed into <em>radiant light and heat</em>. This takes
-place whenever a hot body cools in an open space—the
-sun, for instance, parts with a large quantity of his heat
-in this way; and it is due, in part at least, to this process
-that a hot body cools in air, and wholly to it that such a
-body cools in vacuo. It is, moreover, due to the penetration
-of our eye by radiant energy that we are able to
-see hot bodies, and thus the very fact that we see them
-implies that they are parting with their heat.</p>
-
-<p>Radiant energy moves through space with the enormous
-velocity of 188,000 miles in one second. It takes about<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span>
-eight minutes to come from the sun to our earth, so that
-if our luminary were to be suddenly extinguished, we
-should have eight minutes respite before the catastrophe
-overtook us. Besides the rays that affect the eye, there
-are others which we cannot see, and which may therefore
-be termed dark rays. A body, for instance, may not be
-hot enough to be self-luminous, and yet it may be rapidly
-cooling and changing its heat into radiant energy, which
-is given off by the body, even although neither the eye
-nor the touch may be competent to detect it. It may
-nevertheless be detected by the thermopile, which was
-described in <abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art161">161</a>. We thus see how strong is the
-likeness between a heated body and a sounding one.
-For just as a sounding body gives out part of its sound
-energy to the atmosphere around it, so does a heated
-body give out part of its heat energy to the ethereal
-medium around it. When, however, we consider the
-rates of motion of these energies through their respective
-media, there is a mighty difference between
-the two, sound travelling through the air with the
-velocity of 1100 feet a second, while radiant energy
-moves over no less a space than 188,000 miles in the
-same portion of time.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Chemical Separation.</i></h3>
-
-<p>163. We now come to the energy denoted by chemical
-separation, such as we possess when we have coal or
-carbon in one place, and oxygen in another. Very evidently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span>
-this form of energy of position is transmuted into
-<em>heat</em> when we burn the coal, or cause it to combine with
-the oxygen of the air; and generally, whenever chemical
-combination takes place, we have the production of heat,
-even although other circumstances may interfere to prevent
-its recognition.</p>
-
-<p>Now, in accordance with the principle of conservation,
-it may be expected that, if a definite quantity of carbon
-or of hydrogen be burned under given circumstances,
-there will be a definite production of heat; that is to
-say, a ton of coals or of coke, when burned, will give us
-so many heat units, and neither more or less. We may,
-no doubt, burn our ton in such a way as to economize
-more or less of the heat produced; but, as far as the mere
-production of heat is concerned, if the quantity and
-quality of the material burned and the circumstances of
-combustion be the same, we expect the same amount of
-heat.</p>
-
-<p>164. The following table, derived from the researches
-of Andrews, and those of Favre and Silbermann, shows
-us how many units of heat we may get by burning a
-kilogramme of various substances.</p>
-
-
-<h3><span class="smcap">Units</span> <i>of</i> <span class="smcap">Heat</span> <i>developed by</i> <span class="smcap">Combustion</span> <i>in</i> <span class="smcap">Oxygen</span>.</h3>
-
-<table class="autotable">
-<tr><th>Substance Burned.</th><th>Kilogrammes of Water raised 1° <abbr title="celcius">C.</abbr> by the combustion of one kilogramme of each substance.</th></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-Hydrogen</td><td class="tdr">34,135</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Carbon</td><td class="tdr">7,990</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-Sulphur</td><td class="tdr">2,263<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-Phosphorus</td><td class="tdr"> 5,747</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-Zinc</td><td class="tdr">1,301</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-Iron</td><td class="tdr">1,576</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-Tin</td><td class="tdr">1,233</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-Olefiant Gas</td><td class="tdr">11,900</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-Alcohol</td><td class="tdr">7,016</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>165. There are other methods, besides combustion, by
-which chemical combination takes place.</p>
-
-<p>When, for instance, we plunge a piece of metallic iron
-into a solution of copper, we find that when we take it
-out, its surface is covered with copper. Part of the iron
-has been dissolved, taking the place of the copper, which
-has therefore been thrown, in its metallic state, upon the
-surface of the iron. Now, in this operation heat is given
-out—we have in fact burned, or oxidized, the iron, and
-we are thus furnished with a means of arranging the
-metals, beginning with that which gives out most heat,
-when used to displace the metal at the other extremity
-of the series.</p>
-
-<p>166. The following list has been formed, on this principle,
-by Dr. Andrews:—</p>
-
-<p class="poetry">
-1. Zinc<br />
-2. Iron<br />
-3. Lead<br />
-4. Copper<br />
-5. Mercury<br />
-6. Silver<br />
-7. Platinum<br />
-</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span></p>
-
-<p class="p0">—that is to say, the metal platinum can be displaced by
-any other metal of the series, but we shall get most heat
-if we use zinc to displace it.</p>
-
-<p>We may therefore assume that if we displace a definite
-quantity of platinum by a definite quantity of zinc,
-we shall get a definite amount of heat. Suppose,
-however, that instead of performing the operation in one
-step, we make two of it. Let us, for instance, first of all
-displace copper by means of zinc, and then platinum by
-means of copper. Is it not possible that the one of these
-processes may be more fruitful in heat giving than the
-other? Now, Andrews has shown us that we cannot
-gain an advantage over Nature in this way, and that if
-we use our zinc first of all to displace iron, or copper, or
-lead, and then use this metal to displace platinum, we
-shall obtain just the very same amount of heat as if we
-had used the zinc to displace the platinum at once.</p>
-
-<p>167. It ought here to be mentioned that, very generally,
-chemical action is accompanied with a change of
-molecular condition.</p>
-
-<p>A solid, for instance, may be changed into a liquid,
-or a gas into a liquid. Sometimes the one change
-counteracts the other as far as apparent heat is concerned;
-but sometimes, too, they co-operate together to increase
-the result. Thus, when a gas is absorbed by water,
-much heat is evolved, and we may suppose the result
-to be due in part to chemical combination, and in part
-to the condensation of the gas into a liquid, by which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span>
-means its latent heat is rendered sensible. On the
-other hand, when a liquid unites with a solid, or when
-two solids unite with one another, and the product
-is a liquid, we have very often the absorption of
-heat, the heat rendered latent by the dissolution of
-the solid being more than that generated by combination.
-Freezing mixtures owe their cooling properties
-to this cause; thus, if snow and salt be mixed together,
-they liquefy each other, and the result is brine
-of a temperature much lower than that of either the
-ingredients.</p>
-
-<p>168. When heterogeneous metals, such as zinc and
-copper, are soldered together, we have apparently a
-conversion of the energy of chemical separation into
-that of <em>electrical separation</em>. This was first suggested
-by Volta as the origin of the electrical separation which
-we see in the voltaic current, and recently its existence
-has been distinctly proved by Sir W. Thomson.</p>
-
-<p>To render manifest this conversion of energy, let us
-solder a piece of zinc and copper together—if we now
-test the bar by means of a delicate electrometer we shall
-find that the zinc is positively, while the copper is negatively,
-electrified. We have here, therefore, an instance
-of the transmutation of one form of energy of position
-into another; so much energy of chemical separation
-disappearing in order to produce so much electrical separation.
-This explains the fact recorded in <abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art93">93</a>,
-where we saw that if a battery be insulated and its poles<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span>
-kept apart, the one will be charged with positive, and
-the other with negative, electricity.</p>
-
-<p>169. But further, when such a voltaic battery is in
-action, we have a transmutation of chemical separation
-into <em>electricity in motion</em>. To see this, let us consider
-what takes place in such a battery.</p>
-
-<p>Here no doubt the sources of electrical excitement are
-the points of contact of the zinc and platinum, where, as
-we see by our last article, we have electrical separation
-produced. But this of itself would not produce a
-current, for an electrical current implies very considerable
-energy, and must be fed by something. Now, in
-the voltaic battery we have two things which accompany
-each other, and which are manifestly connected
-together. In the first place we have the combustion,
-or at least the oxidation and dissolution, of
-the zinc; and we have, secondly, the production of a
-powerful current. Now, evidently, the first of these is
-that which feeds the second, or, in other words, the
-energy of chemical separation of the metallic zinc is
-transmuted into that of an electrical current, the zinc
-being virtually burned in the process of transmutation.</p>
-
-<p>170. Finally, as far as we are aware, the energy of
-chemical separation is not directly transmuted into
-radiant light and heat.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span></p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Electrical Separation.</i></h3>
-
-<p>171. In the first place the energy of electrical separation
-is obviously transmuted into that of <em>visible motion</em>,
-when two oppositely electrified bodies approach each
-other.</p>
-
-<p>172. Again, it is transmuted into a <em>current of
-electricity</em>, and ultimately into heat, when a spark passes
-between two oppositely electrified bodies.</p>
-
-<p>It ought, therefore, to be borne in mind that when the
-flash is seen there is no longer electricity, what we see
-being merely air, or some other material, intensely heated
-by the discharge. Thus a man might be rendered insensible
-by a flash of lightning without his seeing the
-flash—for the effect of the discharge upon the man, and
-its effect in heating the air, might be phenomena so
-nearly simultaneous that the man might become insensible
-before he could perceive the flash.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Electricity in Motion.</i></h3>
-
-<p>173. This energy is transmuted into that of <em>visible
-motion</em> when two wires conveying electrical currents in
-the same direction attract each other. When, for instance,
-two circular currents float on water, both going
-in the direction of the hands of a watch, we have seen
-from <abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art100">100</a> that they will move towards each other.
-Now, here there is, in truth, a lessening of the intensity
-of each current when the motion is taking place, for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span>
-we know (<abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art104">104</a>) that when a circuit is moved into
-the presence of another circuit conveying a current,
-there is produced by induction a current in the opposite
-direction; and hence we perceive that, when two similar
-currents approach each other, each is diminished by
-means of this inductive influence—in fact, a certain
-amount of current energy disappears from existence
-in order that an equivalent amount of the energy of
-visible motion may be produced.</p>
-
-<p>174. Electricity in motion is transmuted into <em>heat</em>
-during the passage of a current along a thin wire, or any
-badly conducting substance—the wire is heated in consequence,
-and may even become white hot. Most
-frequently the energy of an electric current is spent in
-heating the wires and other materials that form the
-circuit. Now, the energy of such a current is fed by the
-burning or oxidation of the metal (generally zinc) which
-is used in the circuit, so that the ultimate effect of this
-combustion is the heating of the various wires and other
-materials through which the current passes.</p>
-
-<p>175. We may, in truth, burn or oxidize zinc in two
-ways—we may oxidize it, as we have just seen, in the
-voltaic battery, and we shall find that by the combustion
-of a kilogramme of zinc a definite amount of heat is
-produced. Or we may oxidize our zinc by dissolving it
-in acid in a single vessel, when, without going through the
-intermediate process of a current, we shall get just as
-much heat out of a kilogramme of zinc as we did in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span>
-former case. In fact, whether we oxidize our zinc by the
-battery, or in the ordinary way, the quantity of heat
-produced will always bear the same relation to the
-quantity of zinc consumed; the only difference being
-that, in the ordinary way of oxidizing zinc, the heat is
-generated in the vessel containing the zinc and acid,
-while in the battery it may make its appearance a
-thousand miles away, if we have a sufficiently long wire
-to convey our current.</p>
-
-<p>176. This is, perhaps, the right place for alluding to a
-discovery of Peltier, that a current of positive electricity
-passing across a junction of bismuth and antimony in
-the direction from the bismuth to the antimony appears
-to produce cold.</p>
-
-<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="fig14">
- <img src="images/014.jpg" class="w10" alt="Fig. 14." />
-</span></p>
-<p class="center caption"><abbr title="figure">Fig.</abbr> 14.<br /></p>
-
-<p>To understand the significance of this fact we must
-consider it in connection with the thermo-electric
-current, which we have seen, from <abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art161">161</a>, is established
-in a circuit of bismuth and antimony, of which one
-junction is hotter than the other. Suppose we have a
-circuit of this kind with both its junctions
-at the temperature of 100° <abbr title="celcius">C.</abbr> to begin with.
-Suppose, next, that while we protect one
-junction, we expose the other to the open
-air—it will, of course, lose heat, so that
-the protected junction will now be hotter
-than the other. The consequence will be
-(<abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art161">161</a>) that a current of positive electricity
-will pass along the protected junction
-from the bismuth to the antimony.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span></p>
-
-<p>Now, here we have an apparent anomaly, for the
-circuit is cooling—that is to say, it is losing energy—but
-at the very same time it is manifesting energy
-in another shape, namely, in that of an electric current,
-which is circulating round it. Clearly, then, some of
-the heat of this circuit must be spent in generating
-this current; in fact, we should expect the circuit to
-act as a heat engine, only producing current energy
-instead of mechanical energy, and hence (<abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art152">152</a>) we
-should expect to see a conveyance of heat from the
-hotter to the colder parts of the circuit. Now, this is
-precisely what the current does, for, passing along the
-hotter junction, in the direction of the arrow-head, it
-cools that junction, and heats the colder one at <span class="allsmcap">C</span>,—in
-other words, it carries heat from the hotter to the colder
-parts of the circuit. We should have been very much
-surprised had such a current cooled <span class="allsmcap">C</span> and heated <span class="allsmcap">H</span>,
-for then we should have had a manifestation of current
-energy, accompanied with the conveyance of heat from a
-colder to a hotter substance, which is against the principle
-of <abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art152">152</a>.</p>
-
-<p>177. Finally, the energy of electricity in motion is
-converted into that of <em>chemical separation</em>, when a
-current of electricity is made to decompose a body.
-Part of the energy of the current is spent in this process,
-and we shall get so much less heat from it in consequence.
-Suppose, for instance, that by oxidizing so
-much zinc in the battery we get, under ordinary circumstances,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span>
-100 units of heat. Let us, however, set the
-battery to decompose water, and we shall probably find
-that by oxidizing the same amount of zinc we get now
-only 80 units of heat. Clearly, then, the deficiency or
-20 units have gone to decompose the water. Now, if we
-explode the mixed gases which are the result of the
-decomposition, we shall get back these 20 units of
-heat precisely, and neither more nor less; and thus we
-see that amid all such changes the quantity of energy
-remains the same.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Radiant Energy.</i></h3>
-
-<p>178. This form of energy is converted into <em>absorbed
-heat</em> whenever it falls upon an opaque substance—some of
-it, however, is generally conveyed away by reflexion, but
-the remainder is absorbed by the body, and consequently
-heats it.</p>
-
-<p>It is a curious question to ask what becomes of the
-radiant light from the sun that is not absorbed either by
-the planets of our system, or by any of the stars. We
-can only reply to such a question, that <em>as far as we can
-judge from our present knowledge</em>, the radiant energy
-that is not absorbed must be conceived to be traversing
-space at the rate of 188,000 miles a second.</p>
-
-<p>179. There is only one more transmutation of radiant
-energy that we know of, and that is when it promotes
-<em>chemical separation</em>. Thus, certain rays of the sun are
-known to have the power of decomposing chloride of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span>
-silver, and other chemical compounds. Now, in all such
-cases there is a transmutation of radiant energy into
-that of chemical separation. The sun’s rays, too, decompose
-carbonic acid in the leaves of plants, the carbon
-going to form the woody fibre of the plant, while the
-oxygen is set free into the air; and of course a certain
-proportion of the energy of the solar rays is consumed
-in promoting this change, and we have so much less
-heating effect in consequence.</p>
-
-<p>But all the solar rays have not this power—for the
-property of promoting chemical change is confined to the
-blue and violet rays, and some others which are not
-visible to the eye. Now, these rays are entirely absent
-from the radiation of bodies at a comparatively low
-temperature, such as an ordinary red heat, so that a
-photographer would find it impossible to obtain the
-picture of a red-hot body, whose only light was in itself.</p>
-
-<p id="art180">180. The actinic, or chemically active, rays of the sun
-decompose carbonic acid in the leaves of plants, and they
-disappear in consequence, or are absorbed; this may,
-therefore, be the reason why very few such rays are either
-reflected or transmitted from a sun-lit leaf, in consequence
-of which the photographer finds it difficult to
-obtain an image of such a leaf; in other words, the rays
-which would have produced a chemical change on his
-photographic plate have all been used up by the leaf for
-peculiar purposes of its own.</p>
-
-<p>181. And here it is important to bear in mind that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span>
-while animals in the act of breathing consume the
-oxygen of the air, turning it into carbonic acid, plants,
-on the other hand, restore the oxygen to the air; thus
-the two kingdoms, the animal and the vegetable, work
-into each other’s hands, and the purity of the atmosphere
-is kept up.</p>
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> This explanation was first given by Professors Thomson and Tait in
-their Natural Philosophy, and by Dr. Frankland in a lecture at the Royal
-Institution of London.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> <i>See</i> De La Rue, Stewart, and Loewy’s researches on Solar Physics.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> <i>See</i> the Magnetic Researches of Sir E. Sabine, also C. Meldrum on
-the Periodicity of Cyclones.</p>
-
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span></p>
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.<br /><i>HISTORICAL SKETCH: THE DISSIPATION OF
-ENERGY.</i></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p>182. In the last chapter we have endeavoured to exhibit
-the various transmutations of energy, and, while
-doing so, to bring forward evidence in favour of the
-theory of conservation, showing that it enables us to
-couple together known laws, and also to discover new
-ones—showing, in fine, that it bears about with it all the
-marks of a true hypothesis.</p>
-
-<p>It may now, perhaps, be instructive, to look back and
-endeavour to trace the progress of this great conception,
-from its first beginning among the ancients, up to its
-triumphant establishment by the labours of Joule and
-his fellow-workers.</p>
-
-<p>183. Mathematicians inform us that if matter consists
-of atoms or small parts, which are actuated by forces
-depending only upon the distances between these parts,
-and not upon the velocity, then it may be demonstrated
-that the law of conservation of energy will hold good.
-Thus we see that conceptions regarding atoms and their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span>
-forces are allied to conceptions regarding energy. A
-medium of some sort pervading space seems also necessary
-to our theory. In fine, a universe composed of
-atoms, with some sort of medium between them, is to
-be regarded as the machine, and the laws of energy as
-the laws of working of this machine. It may be that
-a theory of atoms of this sort, with a medium between
-them, is not after all the simplest, but we are probably
-not yet prepared for any more general hypothesis.
-Now, we have only to look to our own solar system, in
-order to see on a large scale an illustration of this conception,
-for there we have the various heavenly bodies attracting
-one another, with forces depending only on the distances
-between them, and independent of the velocities;
-and we have likewise a medium of some sort, in virtue of
-which radiant energy is conveyed from the sun to the earth.
-Perhaps we shall not greatly err if we regard a molecule
-as representing on a small scale something analogous to
-the solar system, while the various atoms which constitute
-the molecule may be likened to the various bodies
-of the solar system. The short historical sketch which
-we are about to give will embrace, therefore, along with
-energy, the progress of thought and speculation with
-respect to atoms and also with respect to a medium, inasmuch
-as these subjects are intimately connected with
-the doctrines of energy.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span></p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Heraclitus on Energy.</i></h3>
-
-<p>184. Heraclitus, who flourished at Ephesus, <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> 500,
-declared that fire was the great cause, and that all things
-were in a perpetual flux. Such an expression will no
-doubt be regarded as very vague in these days of precise
-physical statements; and yet it seems clear that
-Heraclitus must have had a vivid conception of the
-innate restlessness and energy of the universe, a conception
-allied in character to, and only less precise than that
-of modern philosophers, who regard matter as essentially
-dynamical.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Democritus on Atoms.</i></h3>
-
-<p>185. Democritus, who was born 470 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, was the
-originator of the doctrine of atoms, a doctrine which in
-the hands of John Dalton has enabled the human mind
-to lay hold of the laws which regulate chemical changes,
-as well as to picture to itself what is there taking place.
-Perhaps there is no doctrine that has nowadays a more
-intimate connection with the industries of life than this
-of atoms, and it is probable that no intelligent director of
-chemical industry among civilized nations fails to picture
-to his own mind, by means of this doctrine, the inner
-nature of the changes which he sees with his eyes. Now,
-it is a curious circumstance that Bacon should have
-lighted upon this very doctrine of atoms, in order to
-point one of his philosophical morals.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span></p>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p>“Nor is it less an evil” (says he), “that in their philosophies
-and contemplations men spend their labour in investigating
-and treating of the first principles of things, and the extreme
-limits of nature, when all that is useful and of avail in
-operation is to be found in what is intermediate. Hence it
-happens that men continue to abstract Nature till they arrive
-at potential and unformed matter; and again they continue
-to divide Nature, until they have arrived at the atom; things
-which, even if true, can be of little use in helping on the
-fortunes of men.”</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>Surely we ought to learn a lesson from these remarks
-of the great Father of experimental science, and be very
-cautious before we dismiss any branch of knowledge or
-train of thought as essentially unprofitable.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Aristotle on a Medium.</i></h3>
-
-<p>186. As regards the existence of a medium, it is remarked
-by Whewell that the ancients also caught a glimpse
-of the idea of a medium, by which the qualities of bodies,
-as colours and sounds are perceived, and he quotes the
-following from Aristotle:—</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p>“In a void there could be no difference of up and down;
-for, as in nothing there are no differences, so there are none
-in a privation or negation.”</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>Upon this the historian of science remarks, “It is
-easily seen that such a mode of reasoning elevates
-the familiar forms of language, and the intellectual connexions
-of terms, to a supremacy over facts.”</p>
-
-<p>Nevertheless, may it not be replied that our conceptions<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span>
-of matter are deduced from the familiar experience, that
-certain portions of space affect us in a certain manner;
-and, consequently, are we not entitled to say there must
-be something where we experience the difference of up
-or down? Is there, after all, a very great difference
-between this argument and that of modern physicists in
-favour of a plenum, who tell us that matter cannot act
-where it is not?</p>
-
-<p>Aristotle seems also to have entertained the idea that
-light is not any body, or the emanation of any body (for
-that, he says, would be a kind of body), and that therefore
-light is an energy or act.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>The Ideas of the Ancients were not Prolific.</i></h3>
-
-<p>187. These quotations render it evident that the
-ancients had, in some way, grasped the idea of the
-essential unrest and energy of things. They had also the
-idea of small particles or atoms, and, finally, of a medium
-of some sort. And yet these ideas were not prolific—they
-gave rise to nothing new.</p>
-
-<p>Now, while the historian of science is unquestionably
-right in his criticism of the ancients, that their ideas
-were not distinct and appropriate to the facts, yet we
-have seen that they were not wholly ignorant of the
-most profound and deeply-seated principles of the material
-universe. In the great hymn chanted by Nature, the
-fundamental notes were early heard, but yet it required
-long centuries of patient waiting for the practised ear of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span>
-the skilled musician to appreciate the mighty harmony
-aright. Or, perhaps, the attempts of the ancients were
-as the sketches of a child who just contrives to exhibit,
-in a rude way, the leading outlines of a building;
-while the conceptions of the practised physicist are more
-allied to those of the architect, or, at least, of one who
-has realized, to some extent, the architect’s views.</p>
-
-<p>188. The ancients possessed great genius and intellectual
-power, but they were deficient in physical conceptions,
-and, in consequence, their ideas were not prolific. It
-cannot indeed be said that we of the present age are
-deficient in such conceptions; nevertheless, it may be
-questioned whether there is not a tendency to rush into
-the opposite extreme, and to work physical conceptions to
-an excess. Let us be cautious that in avoiding Scylla, we
-do not rush into Charybdis. For the universe has more
-than one point of view, and there are possibly regions
-which will not yield their treasures to the most determined
-physicists, armed only with kilogrammes and
-metres and standard clocks.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Descartes, Newton, and Huyghens on a Medium.</i></h3>
-
-<p>189. In modern times Descartes, author of the vertical
-hypothesis, necessarily presupposed the existence of a
-medium in inter-planetary spaces, but on the other hand
-he was one of the originators of that idea which regards
-light as a series of particles shot out from a luminous
-body. Newton likewise conceived the existence of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span>
-medium, although he became an advocate of the theory of
-emission. It is to Huyghens that the credit belongs of
-having first conceived the undulatory theory of light
-with sufficient distinctness to account for double refraction.
-After him, Young, Fresnel, and their followers,
-have greatly developed the theory, enabling it to account
-for the most complicated and wonderful phenomena.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Bacon on Heat.</i></h3>
-
-<p>190. With regard to the nature of heat, Bacon, whatever
-may be thought of his arguments, seems clearly to
-have recognized it as a species of motion. He says,
-“From these instances, viewed together and individually,
-the nature of which heat is the limitation seems to be
-motion;” and again he says, “But when we say of
-motion that it stands in the place of a genus to heat, we
-mean to convey, not that <em>heat</em> generates <em>motion</em> or <em>motion
-heat</em> (although even both may be true in some cases), but
-that essential heat is motion and nothing else.”</p>
-
-<p>Nevertheless it required nearly three centuries before
-the true theory of heat was sufficiently rooted to develop
-into a productive hypothesis.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Principle of Virtual Velocities.</i></h3>
-
-<p>191. In a previous chapter we have already detailed
-the labours in respect of heat of Davy, Rumford, and
-Joule. Galileo and Newton, if they, did not grasp the
-dynamical nature of heat, had yet a clear conception of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span>
-the functions of a machine. The former saw that what
-we gain in power we lose in space; while the latter went
-further, and saw that a machine, if left to itself, is strictly
-limited in the amount of work which it can accomplish,
-although its energy may vary from that of motion to
-that of position, and back again, according to the
-geometric laws of the machine.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Rise of true Conceptions regarding Work.</i></h3>
-
-<p>192. There can, we think, be no question that the great
-development of industrial operations in the present age
-has indirectly furthered our conceptions regarding work.
-Humanity invariably strives to escape as much as
-possible from hard work. In the days of old those
-who had the power got slaves to work for them;
-but even then the master had to give some kind of
-equivalent for the work done. For at the very lowest a
-slave is a machine, and must be fed, and is moreover apt
-to prove a very troublesome machine if not properly
-dealt with. The great improvements in the steam
-engine, introduced by Watt, have done as much, perhaps,
-as the abolition of slavery to benefit the working man.
-The hard work of the world has been put upon iron
-shoulders, that do not smart; and, in consequence, we have
-had an immense extension of industry, and a great
-amelioration in the position of the lower classes of mankind.
-But if we have transferred our hard work to
-machines, it is necessary to know how to question a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span>
-machine—how to say to it, At what rate can you
-labour? how much work can you turn out in a day?
-It is necessary, in fact, to have the clearest possible idea
-of what work is.</p>
-
-<p>Our readers will see from all this that men are not
-likely to err in their method of measuring work. The
-principles of measurement have been stamped as it were
-with a brand into the very heart and brain of humanity.
-To the employer of machinery or of human labour, a
-false method of measuring work simply means ruin; he
-is likely, therefore, to take the greatest possible pains to
-arrive at accuracy in his determination.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Perpetual Motion.</i></h3>
-
-<p>193. Now, amid the crowd of workers smarting from
-the curse of labour, there rises up every now and then
-an enthusiast, who seeks to escape by means of an artifice
-from this insupportable tyranny of work. Why not
-construct a machine that will go on giving you work
-without limit without the necessity of being fed in any
-way. Nature must have some weak point in her armour;
-there must surely be some way of getting round her; she
-is only tyrannous on the surface, and in order to stimulate
-our ingenuity, but will yield with pleasure to the persistence
-of genius.</p>
-
-<p>Now, what can the man of science say to such an
-enthusiast? He cannot tell him that he is intimately
-acquainted with all the forces of Nature, and can prove<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span>
-that perpetual motion is impossible; for, in truth, he
-knows very little of these forces. But he does think
-that he has entered into the spirit and design of Nature,
-and therefore he denies at once the possibility of such
-a machine. But he denies it intelligently, and works
-out this denial of his into a theory which enables him
-to discover numerous and valuable relations between the
-properties of matter—produces, in fact, the laws of energy
-and the great principle of conservation.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Theory of Conservation.</i></h3>
-
-<p>194. We have thus endeavoured to give a short sketch
-of the history of energy, including its allied problems, up
-to the dawn of the strictly scientific period. We have
-seen that the unfruitfulness of the earlier views was due
-to a want of scientific clearness in the conceptions entertained,
-and we have now to say a few words regarding
-the theory of conservation.</p>
-
-<p>Here also the way was pointed out by two philosophers,
-namely, Grove in this country, and Mayer on
-the continent, who showed certain relations between
-the various forms of energy; the name of Séguin
-ought likewise to be mentioned. Nevertheless, to
-Joule belongs the honour of establishing the theory on
-an incontrovertible basis: for, indeed, this is preeminently
-a case where speculation has to be tested by
-unimpeachable experimental evidence. Here the magnitude
-of the principle is so vast, and its importance is so<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span>
-great, that it requires the strong fire of genius, joined to
-the patient labours of the scientific experimentalist, to
-forge the rough ore into a good weapon that will cleave
-its way through all obstacles into the very citadel of
-Nature, and into her most secret recesses.</p>
-
-<p>Following closely upon the labours of Joule, we have
-those of William and James Thomson, Helmholtz, Rankine,
-Clausius, Tait, Andrews, Maxwell, who, along
-with many others, have advanced the subject; and while
-Joule gave his chief attention to the laws which regulate
-the transmutation of mechanical energy into heat,
-Thomson, Rankine, and Clausius gave theirs to the converse
-problem, or that which relates to the transmutation
-of heat into mechanical energy. Thomson, especially,
-has pushed forward so resolutely from this point of view
-that he has succeeded in grasping a principle scarcely
-inferior in importance to that of the conservation of
-energy itself, and of this principle it behoves us now to
-speak.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Dissipation of Energy.</i></h3>
-
-<p>195. Joule, we have said, proved the law according
-to which work may be changed into heat; and Thomson
-and others, that according to which heat may be changed
-into work. Now, it occurred to Thomson that there was
-a very important and significant difference between these
-two laws, consisting in the fact that, while you can with
-the greatest ease transform work into heat, you can by
-no method in your power transform all the heat back<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span>
-again into work. In fact, the process is not a reversible
-one; and the consequence is that the mechanical energy
-of the universe is becoming every day more and more
-changed into heat.</p>
-
-<p>It is easily seen that if the process were reversible,
-one form of a perpetual motion would not be impossible.
-For, without attempting to create energy by a
-machine, all that would be needed for a perpetual motion
-would be the means of utilizing the vast stores of heat
-that lie in all the substances around us, and converting
-them into work. The work would no doubt, by means
-of friction and otherwise, be ultimately reconverted into
-heat; but if the process be reversible, the heat could
-again be converted into work, and so on for ever. But
-the irreversibility of the process puts a stop to all this.
-In fact, I may convince myself by rubbing a metal
-button on a piece of wood how easily work can be
-converted into heat, while the mind completely fails to
-suggest any method by which this heat can be reconverted
-into work.</p>
-
-<p>Now, if this process goes on, and always in one
-direction, there can be no doubt about the issue. The
-mechanical energy of the universe will be more and
-more transformed into universally diffused heat, until the
-universe will no longer be a fit abode for living beings.</p>
-
-<p>The conclusion is a startling one, and, in order to
-bring it more vividly before our readers, let us now proceed
-to acquaint ourselves with the various forms of useful<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span>
-energy that are at present at our disposal, and at the
-same time endeavour to trace the ultimate sources of
-these supplies.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Natural Energies and their Sources.</i></h3>
-
-<p>196. Of energy in repose we have the following
-varieties:—(1.) The energy of fuel. (2.) That of food.
-(3.) That of a head of water. (4.) That which may be
-derived from the tides. (5.) The energy of chemical
-separation implied in native sulphur, native iron, &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p>Then, with regard to energy in action, we have mainly
-the following varieties:—</p>
-
-<p>(1.) The energy of air in motion. (2.) That of water
-in motion.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Fuel.</i></h3>
-
-<p>197. Let us begin first with the energy implied in fuel.
-We can, of course, burn fuel, or cause it to combine with
-the oxygen of the air; and we are thereby provided with
-large quantities of heat of high temperature, by means of
-which we may not only warm ourselves and cook our
-food, but also drive our heat-engines, using it, in fact, as
-a source of mechanical power.</p>
-
-<p>Fuel is of two varieties—wood and coal. Now, if we
-consider the origin of these we shall see that they are
-produced by the sun’s rays. Certain of these rays,
-as we have already remarked (<abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art180">180</a>), decompose
-carbonic acid in the leaves of plants, setting free the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span>
-oxygen, while the carbon is used for the structure or
-wood of the plant. Now, the energy of these rays is
-spent in this process, and, indeed, there is not enough
-of such energy left to produce a good photographic impression
-of the leaf of a plant, because it is all spent in
-making wood.</p>
-
-<p>We thus see that the energy implied in wood is
-derived from the sun’s rays, and the same remark applies
-to coal. Indeed, the only difference between wood and
-coal is one of age: wood being recently turned out from
-Nature’s laboratory, while thousands of years have elapsed
-since coal formed the leaves of living plants.</p>
-
-<p>198. We are, therefore, perfectly justified in saying that
-the energy of fuel is derived from the sun’s rays;<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> coal
-being the store which Nature has laid up as a species of
-capital for us, while wood is our precarious yearly income.</p>
-
-<p>We are thus at present very much in the position
-of a young heir, who has only recently come into his
-estate, and who, not content with the income, is rapidly
-squandering his realized property. This subject has been
-forcibly brought before us by Professor Jevons, who
-has remarked that not only are we spending our
-capital, but we are spending the most available and
-valuable part of it. For we are now using the surface
-coal; but a time will come when this will be exhausted,
-and we shall be compelled to go deep down for our<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span>
-supplies. Now, regarded as a source of energy, such
-supplies, if far down, will be less effective, for we have
-to deduct the amount of energy requisite in order to
-bring them to the surface. The result is that we must
-contemplate a time, however far distant, when our supplies
-of coal will be exhausted, and we shall be compelled
-to resort to other sources of energy.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Food.</i></h3>
-
-<p>199. The energy of food is analogous to that of fuel,
-and serves similar purposes. For just as fuel may be
-used either for producing heat or for doing work, so food
-has a twofold office to perform. In the first place, by its
-gradual oxidation, it keeps up the temperature of the
-body; and in the next place it is used as a source of
-energy, on which to draw for the performance of work.
-Thus a man or a horse that works a great deal requires
-to eat more food than if he does not work at all. Thus,
-also, a prisoner condemned to hard labour requires a
-better diet than one who does not work, and a soldier
-during the fatigues of war finds it necessary to eat more
-than during a time of peace.</p>
-
-<p>Our food may be either of animal or vegetable origin—if
-it be the latter, it is immediately derived, like fuel,
-from the energy of the sun’s rays; but if it be the former,
-the only difference is that it has passed through the body
-of an animal before coming to us: the animal has eaten
-grass, and we have eaten the animal.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span></p>
-
-<p>In fact, we make use of the animal not only as a
-variety of nutritious food, but also to enable us indirectly
-to utilize those vegetable products, such as grasses, which
-we could not make use of directly with our present
-digestive organs.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Head of Water.</i></h3>
-
-<p>200. The energy of a head of water, like that of fuel
-and food, is brought about by the sun’s rays. For the
-sun vaporizes the water, which, condensed again in upland
-districts, becomes available as a head of water.</p>
-
-<p>There is, however, the difference that fuel and food are
-due to the actinic power of the sun’s rays, while the
-evaporation and condensation of water are caused rather
-by their heating effect.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Tidal Energy.</i></h3>
-
-<p>201. The energy derived from the tides has, however,
-a different origin. In <abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art133">133</a> we have endeavoured to
-show how the moon acts upon the fluid portions of
-our globe, the result of this action being a very gradual
-stoppage of the energy of rotation of the earth.</p>
-
-<p>It is, therefore, to this motion of rotation that we
-must look as the origin of any available energy derived
-from tidal mills.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span></p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Native Sulphur, &amp;c.</i></h3>
-
-<p>202. The last variety of available energy of position
-in our list is that implied in native sulphur, native iron,
-&amp;c. It has been remarked by Professor Tait, to whom
-this method of reviewing our forces is due, that this may
-be the primeval form of energy, and that the interior of
-the earth may, as far as we know, be wholly composed of
-matter in its uncombined form. As a source of available
-energy it is, however, of no practical importance.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Air and Water in Motion.</i></h3>
-
-<p id="art203">203. We proceed next to those varieties of available
-energy which represent motion, the chief of which are
-air in motion and water in motion. It is owing to the
-former that the mariner spreads his sail, and carries his
-vessel from one part of the earth’s surface to another,
-and it is likewise owing to the same influence that the
-windmill grinds our corn. Again, water in motion is
-used perhaps even more frequently than air in motion as
-a source of motive power.</p>
-
-<p>Both these varieties of energy are due without doubt
-to the heating effect of the sun’s rays. We may, therefore,
-affirm that with the exception of the totally insignificant
-supply of native sulphur, &amp;c., and the small
-number of tidal mills which may be in operation, all
-our available energy is due to the sun.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span></p>
-
-
-<h3><i>The Sun—a Source of High Temperature Heat.</i></h3>
-
-<p>204. Let us, therefore, now for a moment direct our
-attention to that most wonderful source of energy, the
-Sun.</p>
-
-<p>We have here a vast reservoir of high temperature
-heat; now, this is a kind of superior energy which has
-always been in much request. Numberless attempts
-have been made to construct a perpetual light, just as
-similar attempts have been made to construct a perpetual
-motion, with this difference, that a perpetual light was
-supposed to result from magical powers, while a perpetual
-motion was attributed to mechanical skill.</p>
-
-<p>Sir Walter Scott alludes to this belief in his description
-of the grave of Michael Scott, which is made
-to contain a perpetual light. Thus the Monk who buried
-the wizard tells William of Deloraine—</p>
-
-<p class="poetry">
-“Lo, Warrior! now the Cross of Red<br />
-Points to the Grave of the mighty dead;<br />
-Within it burns a wondrous light,<br />
-To chase the spirits that love the night.<br />
-That lamp shall burn unquenchably<br />
-Until the eternal doom shall be.”<br />
-</p>
-
-<p>And again, when the tomb was opened, we read—</p>
-
-<p class="poetry">
-“I would you had been there to see<br />
-How the light broke forth so gloriously,<br />
-Stream’d upward to the chancel roof,<br />
-And through the galleries far aloof!<br />
-No earthly flame blazed e’er so bright.”<br />
-</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span></p>
-
-<p>No earthly flame—there the poet was right—certainly
-not of this earth, where light and all other forms of
-superior energy are essentially evanescent.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>A Perpetual Light Impossible.</i></h3>
-
-<p>205. In truth, our readers will at once perceive that
-a perpetual light is only another name for a perpetual
-motion, because we can always derive visible energy out
-of high temperature heat—indeed, we do so every day
-in our steam engines.</p>
-
-<p>When, therefore, we burn coal, and cause it to combine
-with the oxygen of the air, we derive from the process a
-large amount of high temperature heat. But is it not
-possible, our readers may ask, to take the carbonic acid
-which results from the combustion, and by means of low
-temperature heat, of which we have always abundance at
-our disposal, change it back again into carbon and oxygen?
-All this would be possible if what may be termed the
-temperature of disassociation—that is to say, the
-temperature at which carbonic acid separates into its
-constituents—were a low temperature, and it would also
-be possible if rays from a source of low temperature possessed
-sufficient actinic power to decompose carbonic acid.</p>
-
-<p>But neither of these is the case. Nature will not be
-caught in a trap of this kind. As if for the very purpose
-of stopping all such speculations, the temperatures
-of disassociation for such substances as carbonic acid are
-very high, and the actinic rays capable of causing their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span>
-decomposition belong only to sources of exceedingly high
-temperature, such as the sun.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Is the Sun an Exception?</i></h3>
-
-<p>206. We may, therefore, take it for granted that a perpetual
-light, like a perpetual motion, is an impossibility;
-and we have then to inquire if the same argument
-applies to our sun, or if an exception is to be made in
-his favour. Does the sun stand upon a footing of his
-own, or is it merely a question of time with him, as with
-all other instances of high temperature heat? Before
-attempting to answer this question let us inquire into the
-probable origin of the sun’s heat.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Origin of the Sun’s Heat.</i></h3>
-
-<p>207. Now, some might be disposed to cut the Gordian
-knot of such an inquiry by asserting that our luminary
-was at first created hot; yet the scientific mind finds
-itself disinclined to repose upon such an assertion. We
-pick up a round pebble from the beach, and at once
-acknowledge there has been some physical cause for the
-shape into which it has been worn. And so with regard
-to the heat of the sun, we must ask ourselves if there
-be not some cause not wholly imaginary, but one which
-we know, or at least suspect, to be perhaps still in operation,
-which can account for the heat of the sun.</p>
-
-<p>Now, here it is more easy to show what cannot<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span>
-account for the sun’s heat than what can do so. We
-may, for instance, be perfectly certain that it cannot
-have been caused by chemical action. The most probable
-theory is that which was first worked out by Helmholtz
-and Thomson;<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> and which attributes the heat of the
-sun to the primeval energy of position possessed by its
-particles. In other words, it is supposed that these particles
-originally existed at a great distance from each other,
-and that, being endowed with the force of gravitation, they
-have since gradually come together, while in this process
-heat has been generated just as it would be if a stone were
-dropped from the top of a cliff towards the earth.</p>
-
-<p>208. Nor is this case wholly imaginary, but we have
-some reason for thinking that it may still be in operation
-in the case of certain nebulæ which, both in their constitution
-as revealed by the spectroscope, and in their
-general appearance, impress the beholder with the idea
-that they are not yet fully condensed into their ultimate
-shape and size.</p>
-
-<p>If we allow that by this means our luminary has
-obtained his wonderful store of high-class energy, we
-have yet to inquire to what extent this operation is
-going on at the present moment. Is it only a thing
-of the past, or is it a thing also of the present? I
-think we may reply that the sun cannot be condensing
-very fast, at least, within historical times. For if the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span>
-sun were sensibly larger than at present his total eclipse
-by the moon would be impossible. Now, such eclipses
-have taken place, at any rate, for several thousands of years.
-Doubtless a small army of meteors may be falling into
-our luminary, which would by this fall tend to augment
-his heat; yet the supply derived from this source must
-surely be insignificant. But if the sun be not at present
-condensing so fast as to derive any sufficient heat from this
-process, and if his energy be very sparingly recruited
-from without, it necessarily follows that he is in the
-position of a man whose expenditure exceeds his income.
-He is living upon his capital, and is destined to share the
-fate of all who act in a similar manner. We must, therefore,
-contemplate a future period when he will be poorer
-in energy than he is at present, and a period still further
-in the future when he will altogether cease to shine.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Probable Fate of the Universe.</i></h3>
-
-<p>209. If this be the fate of the high temperature
-energy of the universe, let us think for a moment what
-will happen to its visible energy. We have spoken
-already about a medium pervading space, the office of
-which appears to be to degrade and ultimately extinguish
-all differential motion, just as it tends to reduce and ultimately
-equalize all difference of temperature. Thus the
-universe would ultimately become an equally heated
-mass, utterly worthless as far as the production of work
-is concerned, since such production depends upon difference
-of temperature.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span></p>
-
-<p>Although, therefore, in a strictly mechanical sense,
-there is a conservation of energy, yet, as regards usefulness
-or fitness for living beings, the energy of the
-universe is in process of deterioration. Universally
-diffused heat forms what we may call the great waste-heap
-of the universe, and this is growing larger year
-by year. At present it does not sensibly obtrude itself,
-but who knows that the time may not arrive when we
-shall be practically conscious of its growing bigness?</p>
-
-<p>210. It will be seen that in this chapter we have regarded
-the universe, not as a collection of matter, but
-rather as an energetic agent—in fact, as a lamp. Now, it
-has been well pointed out by Thomson, that looked at in
-this light, the universe is a system that had a beginning
-and must have an end; for a process of degradation
-cannot be eternal. If we could view the universe as a
-candle not lit, then it is perhaps conceivable to regard it
-as having been always in existence; but if we regard it
-rather as a candle that has been lit, we become absolutely
-certain that it cannot have been burning from eternity,
-and that a time will come when it will cease to burn.
-We are led to look to a beginning in which the particles
-of matter were in a diffuse chaotic state, but endowed
-with the power of gravitation, and we are led to look to
-an end in which the whole universe will be one equally
-heated inert mass, and from which everything like life or
-motion or beauty will have utterly gone away.</p>
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> This fact seems to have been known at a comparatively early period
-to Herschel and the elder Stephenson.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> This remark is due to Sir William Thomson.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> Mayer and Waterston seem first to have caught the rudiments of
-this idea.</p>
-
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span></p>
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.<br /><i>THE POSITION OF LIFE.</i></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p>211. We have hitherto confined ourselves almost
-entirely to a discussion of the laws of energy, as these
-affect inanimate matter, and have taken little or no account
-of the position of life. We have been content very much
-to remain spectators of the contest, apparently forgetful
-that we are at all concerned in the issue. But the conflict
-is not one which admits of on-lookers,—it is a universal
-conflict in which we must all take our share. It
-may not, therefore, be amiss if we endeavour to ascertain,
-as well as we can, our true position.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Twofold nature of Equilibrium.</i></h3>
-
-<p>212. One of our earliest mechanical lessons is on the
-twofold nature of equilibrium. We are told that this
-may be of two kinds, <em>stable</em> and <em>unstable</em>, and a very
-good illustration of these two kinds is furnished by an
-egg. Let us take a smooth level table, and place an egg
-upon it; we all know in what manner the egg will lie<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span>
-on the table. It will remain at rest, that is to say, it
-will be in equilibrium; and not only so, but it will be in
-stable equilibrium. To prove this, let us try to displace
-it with our finger, and we shall find that when we remove
-the pressure the egg will speedily return to its previous
-position, and will come to rest after one or two oscillations.
-Furthermore, it has required a sensible expenditure
-of energy to displace the egg. All this we express by
-saying that the egg is in stable equilibrium.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Mechanical Instability.</i></h3>
-
-<p>213. And now let us try to balance the egg upon its
-longer axis. Probably, a sufficient amount of care will
-enable us to achieve this also. But the operation is a
-difficult one, and requires great delicacy of touch, and even
-after we have succeeded we do not know how long our
-success may last. The slightest impulse from without, the
-merest breath of air, may be sufficient to overturn the
-egg, which is now most evidently in unstable equilibrium.
-If the egg be thus balanced at the very edge of the table,
-it is quite probable that in a few minutes it may topple
-over upon the floor; it is what we may call <em>an even
-chance</em> whether it will do so, or merely fall upon the
-table. Not that mere chance has anything to do with
-it, or that its movements are without a cause, but we
-mean that its movements are decided by some external
-impulse so exceedingly small as to be utterly beyond our
-powers of observation. In fact, before making the trial<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span>
-we have carefully removed everything like a current of
-air, or want of level, or external impulse of any kind,
-so that when the egg falls we are completely unable to
-assign the origin of the impulse that has caused it to
-do so.</p>
-
-<p>214. Now, if the egg happens to fall over the table
-upon the floor, there is a somewhat considerable transmutation
-of energy; for the energy of position of the egg,
-due to the height which it occupied on the table, has all
-at once been changed into energy of motion, in the first
-place, and into heat in the second, when the egg comes
-into contact with the floor.</p>
-
-<p>If, however, the egg happens to fall upon the table, the
-transmutation of energy is comparatively small.</p>
-
-<p>It thus appears that it depends upon some external
-impulse, so infinitesimally small as to elude our observation,
-whether the egg shall fall upon the floor and give
-rise to a comparatively large transmutation of energy, or
-whether it shall fall upon the table and give rise to a
-transmutation comparatively small.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Chemical Instability.</i></h3>
-
-<p>215. We thus see that a body, or system, in unstable
-equilibrium may become subject to a very considerable
-transmutation of energy, arising out of a very small
-cause, or antecedent. In the case now mentioned, the
-force is that of gravitation, the arrangement being one of
-visible mechanical instability. But we may have a substance,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span>
-or system, in which the force at work is not gravity,
-but chemical affinity, and the substance, or system, may,
-under certain peculiar conditions, become <em>chemically
-unstable</em>.</p>
-
-<p>When a substance is chemically unstable, it means
-that the slightest impulse of any kind may determine
-a chemical change, just as in the case of the egg the
-slightest impulse from without occasioned a mechanical
-displacement.</p>
-
-<p>In fine, a substance, or system, chemically unstable
-bears a relation to chemical affinity somewhat similar
-to that which a mechanically unstable system bears
-to gravity. Gunpowder is a familiar instance of
-a chemically unstable substance. Here the slightest
-spark may prove the precursor of a sudden chemical
-change, accompanied by the instantaneous and violent
-generation of a vast volume of heated gas. The various
-explosive compounds, such as gun-cotton, nitro-glycerine,
-the fulminates, and many more, are all instances of
-structures which are chemically unstable.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Machines are of two kinds.</i></h3>
-
-<p>216. When we speak of a structure, or a machine, or
-a system, we simply mean a number of individual particles
-associated together in producing some definite
-result. Thus, the solar system, a timepiece, a rifle, are
-examples of inanimate machines; while an animal, a
-human being, an army, are examples of animated structures<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span>
-or machines. Now, such machines or structures
-are of two kinds, which differ from one another not
-only in the object sought, but also in the means of
-attaining that object.</p>
-
-<p>217. In the first place, we have structures or
-machines in which systematic action is the object aimed
-at, and in which all the arrangements are of a conservative
-nature, the element of instability being avoided as
-much as possible. The solar system, a timepiece, a
-steam-engine at work, are examples of such machines,
-and the characteristic of all such is their <em>calculability</em>.
-Thus the skilled astronomer can tell, with the utmost
-precision, in what place the moon or the planet Venus
-will be found this time next year. Or again, the
-excellence of a timepiece consists in its various hands
-pointing accurately in a certain direction after a certain
-interval of time. In like manner we may safely count
-upon a steamship making so many knots an hour, at
-least while the outward conditions remain the same. In
-all these cases we make our calculations, and we are not
-deceived—the end sought is regularity of action, and the
-means employed is a stable arrangement of the forces of
-nature.</p>
-
-<p>218. Now, the characteristics of the other class of
-machines are precisely the reverse.</p>
-
-<p>Here the object aimed at is not a regular, but a sudden
-and violent transmutation of energy, while the means
-employed are unstable arrangements of natural forces.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span>
-A rifle at full cock, with a delicate hair-trigger, is a very
-good instance of such a machine, where the slightest
-touch from without may bring about the explosion of the
-gunpowder, and the propulsion of the ball with a very great
-velocity. Now, such machines are eminently characterized
-by their <em>incalculability</em>.</p>
-
-<p>219. To make our meaning clear, let us suppose that
-two sportsmen go out hunting together, each with a
-good rifle and a good pocket chronometer. After a hard
-day’s work, the one turns to his companion and says:—“It
-is now six o’clock by my watch; we had better rest
-ourselves,” upon which the other looks at his watch, and
-he would be very much surprised and exceedingly
-indignant with the maker, if he did not find it six o’clock
-also. Their chronometers are evidently in the same state,
-and have been doing the same thing; but what about
-their rifles? Given the condition of the one rifle, is it
-possible by any refinement of calculation to deduce that
-of the other? We feel at once that the bare supposition
-is ridiculous.</p>
-
-<p id="art220">220. It is thus apparent that, as regards energy,
-structures are of two kinds. In one of these, the object
-sought is regularity of action, and the means employed,
-a stable arrangement of natural forces: while in the other,
-the end sought is freedom of action, and a sudden transmutation
-of energy, the means employed being an unstable
-arrangement of natural forces.</p>
-
-<p>The one set of machines are characterized by their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span>
-calculability—the other by their incalculability. The
-one set, when at work, are not easily put wrong, while
-the other set are characterized by great delicacy of construction.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>An Animal is a delicately-constructed Machine.</i></h3>
-
-<p>221. But perhaps the reader may object to our use of
-the rifle as an illustration.</p>
-
-<p>For although it is undoubtedly a delicately-constructed
-machine, yet a rifle does not represent the same surpassing
-delicacy as that, for instance, which characterizes an
-egg balanced on its longer axis. Even if at full cock,
-and with a hair trigger, we may be perfectly certain it
-will not go off of its own accord. Although its object is
-to produce a sudden and violent transmutation of energy,
-yet this requires to be preceded by the application of an
-amount of energy, however small, to the trigger, and if
-this be not spent upon the rifle, it will not go off. There
-is, no doubt, delicacy of construction, but this has not
-risen to the height of incalculability, and it is only when
-in the hands of the sportsman that it becomes a machine
-upon the condition of which we cannot calculate.</p>
-
-<p>Now, in making this remark, we define the position
-of the sportsman himself in the Universe of Energy.</p>
-
-<p>The rifle is delicately constructed, but not surpassingly
-so; but sportsman and rifle, together, form a machine
-of surpassing delicacy, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ergo</i> the sportsman himself is
-such a machine. We thus begin to perceive that a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span>
-human being, or indeed an animal of any kind, is in
-truth a machine of a delicacy that is practically infinite,
-the condition or motions of which we are utterly unable
-to predict.</p>
-
-<p>In truth, is there not a transparent absurdity in the
-very thought that a man may become able to calculate
-his own movements, or even those of his fellow?</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Life is like the Commander of an Army.</i></h3>
-
-<p>222. Let us now introduce another analogy—let us
-suppose that a war is being carried on by a vast army,
-at the head of which there is a very great commander.
-Now, this commander knows too well to expose his person;
-in truth, he is never seen by any of his subordinates.
-He remains at work in a well-guarded room, from which
-telegraphic wires lead to the headquarters of the various
-divisions. He can thus, by means of these wires, transmit
-his orders to the generals of these divisions, and by the
-same means receive back information as to the condition
-of each.</p>
-
-<p>Thus his headquarters become a centre, into which all
-information is poured, and out of which all commands are
-issued.</p>
-
-<p>Now, that mysterious thing called life, about the nature
-of which we know so little, is probably not unlike such
-a commander. Life is not a bully, who swaggers out
-into the open universe, upsetting the laws of energy in
-all directions, but rather a consummate strategist, who,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span>
-sitting in his secret chamber, before his wires, directs the
-movements of a great army.<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
-
-<p>223. Let us next suppose that our imaginary army is
-in rapid march, and let us try to find out the cause of
-this movement. We find that, in the first place, orders
-to march have been issued to the troops under them by
-the commanders of each regiment. In the next place, we
-learn that staff officers, attached to the generals of the
-various divisions, have conveyed these orders to the
-regimental commanders; and, finally, we learn that the
-order to march has been telegraphed from headquarters
-to these various generals.</p>
-
-<p>Descending now to ourselves, it is probably somewhere
-in the mysterious and well-guarded brain-chamber that
-the delicate directive touch is given which determines
-our movements. This chamber forms, as it were, the
-headquarters of the general in command, who is so well
-withdrawn as to be absolutely invisible to all his subordinates.</p>
-
-<p>224. Joule, Carpenter, and Mayer were at an early
-period aware of the restrictions under which animals are
-placed by the laws of energy, and in virtue of which the
-power of an animal, as far as energy is concerned, is not
-creative, but only directive. It was seen that, in order<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span>
-to do work, an animal must be fed; and, even at a still
-earlier period, Count Rumford remarked that a ton of hay
-will be administered more economically by feeding a horse
-with it, and then getting work out of the horse, than by
-burning it as fuel in an engine.</p>
-
-<p>225. In this chapter, the same line of thought has
-been carried out a little further. We have seen that life
-is associated with delicately-constructed machines, so
-that whenever a transmutation of energy is brought
-about by a living being, could we trace the event back,
-we should find that the physical antecedent was probably
-a much less transmutation, while again the antecedent of
-this would probably be found still less, and so on, as far
-as we could trace it.</p>
-
-<p>226. But with all this, we do not pretend to have discovered
-the true nature of life itself, or even the true
-nature of its relation to the material universe.</p>
-
-<p>What we have ventured is the assertion that, as far as
-we can judge, life is always associated with machinery of
-a certain kind, in virtue of which an extremely delicate
-directive touch is ultimately magnified into a very considerable
-transmutation of energy. Indeed, we can
-hardly imagine the freedom of motion implied in life
-to exist apart from machinery possessed of very great
-delicacy of construction.</p>
-
-<p>In fine, we have not succeeded in solving the problem
-as to the true nature of life, but have only driven
-the difficulty into a borderland of thick darkness, into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span>
-which the light of knowledge has not yet been able to
-penetrate.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Organized Tissues are subject to Decay.</i></h3>
-
-<p>227. We have thus learned two things, for, in the
-first place, we have learned that life is associated with
-delicacy of construction, and in the next (<abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art220">220</a>), that
-delicacy of construction implies an unstable arrangement
-of natural forces. We have now to remark that the
-particular force which is thus used by living beings is
-chemical affinity. Our bodies are, in truth, examples of
-an unstable arrangement of chemical forces, and the
-materials which composed them, if not liable to sudden
-explosion, like fulminating powder, are yet preeminently
-the subjects of decay.</p>
-
-<p>228. Now, this is more than a mere general statement;
-it is a truth that admits of degrees, and in virtue of
-which those parts of our bodies which have, during life,
-the noblest and most delicate office to perform, are the
-very first to perish when life is extinct.</p>
-
-<p class="poetry">
-“Oh! o’er the eye death most exerts his might,<br />
-And hurls the spirit from her throne of light;<br />
-Sinks those blue orbs in their long last eclipse,<br />
-But spares us yet the charm around the lips.”<br />
-</p>
-
-<p>So speaks the poet, and we have here an aspect of
-things in which the lament of the poet becomes the true
-interpretation of nature.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span></p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Difference between Animals and Inanimate
-Machines.</i></h3>
-
-<p>229. We are now able to recognize the difference between
-the relations to energy of a living being, such as
-man, and a machine, such as a steam-engine.</p>
-
-<p>There are many points in common between the two.
-Both require to be fed, and in both there is the transmutation
-of the energy of chemical separation implied in
-fuel and food into that of heat and visible motion.</p>
-
-<p>But while the one—the engine—requires for its maintenance
-only carbon, or some other variety of chemical
-separation, the other—the living being—demands to be
-supplied with organized tissue. In fact, that delicacy of
-construction which is so essential to our well-being, is
-not something which we can elaborate internally in our
-own frames—all that we can do is to appropriate and
-assimilate that which comes to us from without; it is
-already present in the food which we eat.</p>
-
-
-<h3><i>Ultimate Dependence of Life upon the Sun.</i></h3>
-
-<p>230. We have already (<abbr title="article">Art.</abbr> <a href="#art203">203</a>) been led to recognize
-the sun as the ultimate material source of all the energy
-which we possess, and we must now regard him as the
-source likewise of all our delicacy of construction. It
-requires the energy of his high temperature rays so to
-wield and manipulate the powerful forces of chemical
-affinity; so to balance these various forces against each<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span>
-other, as to produce in the vegetable something which
-will afford our frames, not only energy, but also delicacy
-of construction.</p>
-
-<p>Low temperature heat would be utterly unable to
-accomplish this; it consists of ethereal vibrations which
-are not sufficiently rapid, and of waves that are not sufficiently
-short, for the purpose of shaking asunder the
-constituents of compound molecules.</p>
-
-<p>231. It thus appears that animals are, in more ways
-than one, pensioners upon the sun’s bounty; and those
-instances, which at first sight appear to be exceptions,
-will, if studied sufficiently, only serve to confirm the rule.</p>
-
-<p>Thus the recent researches of Dr. Carpenter and Professor
-Wyville Thomson have disclosed to us the existence
-of minute living beings in the deepest parts of the ocean,
-into which we may be almost sure no solar ray can
-penetrate. How, then, do these minute creatures obtain
-that energy and delicacy of construction without which
-they cannot live? in other words, how are they fed?</p>
-
-<p>Now, the same naturalists who discovered the existence
-of these creatures, have recently furnished us with
-a very probable explanation of the mystery. They think
-it highly probable that the whole ocean contains in
-it organic matter to a very small but yet perceptible
-extent, forming, as they express it, a sort of diluted soup,
-which thus becomes the food of these minute creatures.</p>
-
-<p>232. In conclusion, we are dependent upon the sun and
-centre of our system, not only for the mere energy of our<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span>
-frames, but also for our delicacy of construction—the
-future of our race depends upon the sun’s future. But
-we have seen that the sun must have had a beginning,
-and that he will have an end.</p>
-
-<p>We are thus induced to generalize still further, and
-regard, not only our own system, but the whole material
-universe when viewed with respect to serviceable energy,
-as essentially evanescent, and as embracing a succession
-of physical events which cannot go on for ever as they
-are.</p>
-
-<p>But here at length we come to matters beyond our
-grasp; for physical science cannot inform us what must
-have been before the beginning, nor yet can it tell us
-what will take place after the end.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span></p>
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> <i>See</i> an article on “The Position of Life,” by the author of this
-work, in conjunction with <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> J. N. Lockyer, “Macmillan’s Magazine,”
-September, 1868; also a lecture on “The Recent Developments of Cosmical
-Physics,” by the author of this work.</p>
-
-</div>
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span></p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2>
-APPENDIX.</h2>
-<hr class="r5" />
-<p class="center big">CORRELATION OF VITAL WITH CHEMICAL AND
-PHYSICAL FORCES.</p>
-<p class="center">
-<span class="smcap">By</span> JOSEPH LE CONTE,<br />
-<br /><span class="small">
-PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY IN THE
-UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.</span><br />
-</p>
-</div>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span></p>
-<h3 class="nobreak" id="CORRELATION_OF_VITAL_WITH_CHEMICAL">CORRELATION OF VITAL WITH CHEMICAL
-AND PHYSICAL FORCES.</h3>
-</div>
-
-
-<p>Vital force; whence is it derived? What is its relation
-to the other forces of Nature? The answer of
-modern science to these questions is: It is derived from
-the lower forces of Nature; it is related to other forces
-much as these are related to each other—it is correlated
-with chemical and physical forces.</p>
-
-<p>At one time matter was supposed to be destructible.
-By combustion or by evaporation matter seemed to be
-consumed—to pass out of existence; but now we know
-it only changes its form from the solid or liquid to the
-gaseous condition—from the visible to the invisible—and
-that, amid all these changes, the same quantity of
-matter remains. Creation or destruction of matter, increase
-or diminution of matter, lies beyond the domain
-of Science; her domain is confined entirely to the
-changes of matter. Now, it is the doctrine of modern
-science that the same is true of force. Force seems often<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span>
-to be annihilated. Two cannon-balls of equal size
-and velocity meet each other and fall motionless. The
-immense energy of these moving bodies seems to pass
-out of existence. But not so; it is changed into heat,
-and the exact amount of heat may be calculated; moreover,
-an equal amount of heat may be changed back
-again into an equal amount of momentum. Here, therefore,
-force is not lost, but is changed from a visible to
-an invisible form. Motion is changed from bodily motion
-into molecular motion. Thus heat, light, electricity,
-magnetism, chemical affinity, and mechanical force,
-are transmutable into each other, back and forth; but,
-amid all these changes, the amount of force remains unchanged.
-Force is incapable of destruction, except by
-the same power which created it. The domain of Science
-lies within the limits of these changes—creation and
-annihilation lie outside of her domain.</p>
-
-<p>The mutual convertibility of forces into each other
-is called <em>correlation of forces</em>; the persistence of the
-same amount, amid all these protean forms, is called
-<em>conservation of force</em>.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span></p>
-<p>The correlation of physical forces with each other
-and with chemical force is now universally acknowledged
-and somewhat clearly conceived. The correlation
-of vital force with these is not universally acknowledged,
-and, where acknowledged, is only imperfectly
-conceived. In 1859 I published a paper<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> in which I
-attempted to put the idea of correlation of vital force
-with chemical and physical forces in a more definite
-and scientific form. The views expressed in that paper
-have been generally adopted by physiologists. Since
-the publication of the paper referred to, the subject has
-lain in my mind, and grown at least somewhat. I propose,
-therefore, now to reëmbody my views in a more
-popular form, with such additions as have occurred to
-me since.</p>
-
-<p>There are four planes of material existence, which
-may be represented as raised one above another. These
-are: 1. The plane of elementary existence; 2. The plane
-of chemical compounds, or mineral kingdom; 3. The
-plane of vegetable existence; and, 4. The plane of animal
-existence. Their relations to each other are truly
-expressed by writing them one above the other, thus:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p>I may sometimes use the word energy instead. If any one should charge
-me with want of precision in language, my answer is: Our language cannot
-be more precise until our ideas in this department are far clearer than now.</p>
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span></p>
-<p class="poetry">
-4. <i>Animal Kingdom.</i><br />
-3. <i>Vegetable Kingdom.</i><br />
-2. <i>Mineral Kingdom.</i><br />
-1. <i>Elements.</i><br />
-</p>
-
-<p>Now, it is a remarkable fact that there is a special
-force, whose function it is to raise matter from each
-plane to the plane above, and to execute movements on
-the latter. Thus, it is the function of chemical affinity
-alone to raise matter from No. 1 to No. 2, as well as to
-execute all the movements, back and forth, by action
-and reaction; in a word, to produce all the phenomena
-on No. 2 which together constitute the science of chemistry.
-It is the prerogative of vegetable life-force alone
-to lift matter from No. 2 to No. 3, as well as to execute
-all the movements on that plane, which together constitute
-the science of vegetable physiology. It is the prerogative
-of animal life-force alone to lift matter from
-No. 3 to No. 4, and to preside over the movements on
-this plane, which together constitute the science of animal
-physiology. But there is no force in Nature capable
-of raising matter at once from No. 1 to No. 3, or
-from No. 2 to No. 4, without stopping and receiving an
-accession of force, of a different kind, on the intermediate
-plane. Plants cannot feed upon elements, but only
-on chemical compounds; animals cannot feed on minerals,
-but only on vegetables. We shall see in the sequel<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span>
-that this is the necessary result of the principle of conservation
-of force in vital phenomena.</p>
-
-<p>It is well known that atoms, in a nascent state—i. e.,
-at the moment of their separation from previous combination—are
-endowed with peculiar and powerful affinity.
-Oxygen and nitrogen, nitrogen and hydrogen,
-hydrogen and carbon, which show no affinity for each
-other under ordinary circumstances, readily unite when
-one or both are in a nascent condition. The reason seems
-to be that, when the elements of a compound are torn
-asunder, the chemical affinity which previously bound
-them together is set free, ready and eager to unite the
-nascent elements with whatever they come in contact
-with. This state of exalted chemical energy is retained
-but a little while, because it is liable to be changed into
-some other form of force, probably heat, and is therefore
-no longer chemical energy. To illustrate by the
-planes: matter falling down from No. 2 to No. 1 generates
-force by which matter is lifted from No. 1 to No.
-2. Decomposition generates the force by which combination
-is effected. This principle underlies every thing
-I shall further say.</p>
-
-<p>There are, therefore, two ideas or principles underlying
-this paper: 1. The correlation of vital with physical
-and chemical forces; 2. That in all cases <em>vital force
-is produced by decomposition</em>—is transformed nascent
-affinity. Neither of these is new. Grove, many years<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span>
-ago, brought out, in a vague manner, the idea that
-vital force was correlated with chemical and physical
-forces.<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> In 1848 <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Freke, M. R. I. A., of Dublin,
-first advanced the idea that vital force of animal life
-was generated by decomposition. In 1851 the same
-idea was brought out again by <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Watters, of <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Louis.
-These papers were unknown to me when I wrote my
-article. They have been sent to me in the last few
-years by their respective authors. Neither of these authors,
-however, extends this principle to vegetation, the
-most fundamental and most important phenomenon of
-life. In 1857 the same idea was again brought out by
-<abbr title="professor">Prof.</abbr> Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution, and by
-him extended to vegetation. I do not, therefore, now
-claim to have first advanced this idea, but I do claim to
-have in some measure rescued it from vagueness, and
-given it a clearer and more scientific form.</p>
-
-<p>I wish now to apply these principles in the explanation
-of the most important phenomena of vegetable and
-animal life:</p>
-
-<p>1. <span class="smcap">Vegetation.</span>—The most important phenomenon in
-the life-history of a plant—in fact, the starting-point of
-all life, both vegetable and animal—is the formation of
-organic matter in the leaves. The necessary conditions
-for this wonderful change of mineral into organic matter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span>
-seem to be, sunlight, chlorophyl, and living protoplasm,
-or bioplasm. This is the phenomenon I wish
-now to discuss.</p>
-
-<p>The plastic matters of which vegetable structure is
-built are of two kinds—amyloids and albuminoids. The
-amyloids, or starch and sugar groups, consist of C, H,
-and O; the albuminoids of C, H, O, N, and a little S
-and P. The quantity of sulphur and phosphorus is very
-small, and we will neglect them in this discussion. The
-food out of which these substances are elaborated are,
-CO₂, H₂O, and H<sub>3</sub>N—carbonic acid, water, and ammonia.
-Now, by the agency of sunlight in the presence of
-chlorophyl and bioplasm, these chemical compounds
-(CO₂, H₂O, and H<sub>3</sub>N) are torn asunder, or shaken asunder,
-or decomposed; the excess of O, or of O and H, is rejected,
-and the remaining elements in a nascent condition
-combine to form organic matter. To form the
-amyloids—starch, dextrine, sugar, cellulose—only CO₂
-and H₂O are decomposed, and excess of O rejected. To
-form albuminoids, or protoplasm, CO₂, H₂O, and H<sub>3</sub>N,
-are decomposed, and excess of O and H rejected.</p>
-
-<p>It would seem in this case, therefore, that physical
-force (light) is changed into nascent chemical force, and
-this nascent chemical force, under the peculiar conditions
-present, forms organic matter, and reappears as
-vital force. Light falling on living green leaves is destroyed
-or consumed in doing the work of decomposition;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span>
-disappears as light, to reappear as nascent chemical
-energy; and this in its turn disappears in forming
-organic matter, to reappear as the vital force of the organic
-matter thus formed. The light which disappears
-is proportioned to the O, or the O and H rejected; is
-proportioned also to the quantity of organic matter
-formed, and also to the amount of vital force resulting.
-To illustrate: In the case of amyloids, oxygen-excess
-falling or running down from plane No. 2 to plane No.
-1 generates force to raise C, H, and O, from plane No.
-2 to plane No. 3. In the case of albuminoids, oxygen-excess
-and hydrogen-excess running down from No. 2
-to No. 1 generate force to raise C, H, O, and N, from
-No. 2 to No. 3. To illustrate again: As sun-heat falling
-upon water disappears as heat, to reappear as mechanical
-power, raising the water into the clouds, so
-sunlight falling upon green leaves disappears as light, to
-reappear as vital force lifting matter from the mineral
-into the organic kingdom.</p>
-
-<p>2. <span class="smcap">Germination.</span>—Growing plants, it is seen, take
-their life-force from the sun; but seeds germinate and
-commence to grow in the dark. Evidently there must
-be some other source from which they draw their supply
-of force. They cannot draw force from the sun.
-This fact is intimately connected with another fact, viz.,
-that they do not draw their food from the mineral kingdom.
-The seed in germination feeds entirely upon a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span>
-supply of organic matter laid up for it by the mother-plant.
-It is the decomposition of this organic matter
-which supplies the force of germination. Chemical
-compounds are comparatively stable—it requires sunlight
-to tear them asunder; but organic matter is more
-easily decomposed—it is almost spontaneously decomposed.
-It may be that heat (a necessary condition of
-germination) is the force which determines the decomposition.
-However this may be, it is certain that a portion
-of the organic matter laid up in the seed is decomposed,
-burned up, to form CO₂ and H₂O, and that this
-combustion furnishes the force by which the mason-work
-of tissue-making is accomplished. In other words,
-of the food laid up in the form of starch, dextrine, protoplasm,
-a portion is decomposed to furnish the force by
-which the remainder is organized. Hence the seed always
-loses weight in germination; it cannot develop
-unless it is in part consumed; “it is not quickened except
-it die.” This self-consumption continues until the
-leaves and roots are formed; then it begins to draw
-force from the sun, and food from the mineral kingdom.</p>
-
-<p>To illustrate: In germination, matter running down
-from plane No. 3 to plane No. 2 generates force by
-which other similar matter is moved about and raised
-to a somewhat higher position on plane No. 3. As
-water raised by the sun may be stored in reservoirs, and
-in running down from these may do work, so matter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span>
-raised by sun-force into the organic kingdom by one
-generation is stored as force to do the work of germination
-of the next generation. Again, as, in water running
-through an hydraulic ram, a portion runs to waste,
-in order to generate force to lift the remainder to a
-higher level, so, of organic matter stored in the seed, a
-portion runs to waste to create force to organize the remainder.</p>
-
-<p>Thus, then, it will be seen that three things, viz., the
-absence of sunlight, the use of organic food, and the
-loss of weight, are indissolubly connected in germination,
-and all explained by the principle of conservation
-of force.</p>
-
-<p>3. <span class="smcap">Starting of Buds.</span>—Deciduous trees are entirely
-destitute of leaves during the winter. The buds must
-start to grow in the spring without leaves, and therefore
-without drawing force from the sun. Hence, also,
-food in the organic form must be, and is, laid up from
-the previous year in the body of the tree. A portion
-of this is consumed with the formation of CO₂ and
-H₂O, in order to create force for the development of the
-buds. So soon as by this means the leaves are formed,
-the plant begins to draw force from the sun, and food
-from the mineral kingdom.</p>
-
-<p>4. <span class="smcap">Pale Plants.</span>—Fungi and etiolated plants have
-no chlorophyl, therefore cannot draw their force from
-the sun, nor make organic matters from inorganic.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span>
-Hence these also must feed on organic matter; not, indeed,
-on starch, dextrine, and protoplasm, but on decaying
-organic matter. In these plants the organic
-matter is taken up in some form intermediate between
-the planes No. 3 and No. 2. The matter thus taken up
-is, a portion of it, consumed with the formation of CO₂
-and H₂O, in order to create force necessary to organize
-the remainder. To illustrate: Matter falling from
-some intermediate point between No. 2 and No. 3 to
-No. 2, produces force sufficient to raise matter from the
-same intermediate point to No. 3; a portion runs to
-waste downward, and creates force to push the remainder
-upward.</p>
-
-<p>5. <span class="smcap">Growth of Green Plants at Night.</span>—It is well
-known that almost all plants grow at night as well as in
-the day. It is also known that plants at night exhale
-CO₂. These two facts have not, however, as far as I
-know, been connected with one another, and with the
-principle of conservation of force. It is usually supposed
-that in the night the decomposition of CO₂ and
-exhalation of oxygen are checked by withdrawal of sun
-light, and some of the CO₂ in the ascending sap is exhaled
-by a physical law. But this does not account for
-the growth. It is evident that, in the absence of sun
-light, the force required for the work of tissue-building
-can be derived only from the decomposition and combustion
-of organic matter. There are two views as to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</span>
-the source of this organic matter, either or both of which
-may be correct: First. There seems to be no doubt that
-most plants, especially those grown in soils rich in <i>humus</i>,
-take up a portion of their food in the form of semi-organic
-matter, or soluble <i>humus</i>. The combustion of a
-portion of this in every part of the plant, by means of
-oxygen also absorbed by the roots, and the formation
-of CO₂, undoubtedly creates a supply of force night and
-day, independently of sunlight. The force thus produced
-by the combustion of a portion might be used to
-raise the remainder into starch, dextrine, etc., or might
-be used in tissue-building. During the day, the CO₂
-thus produced would be again decomposed in the leaves
-by sunlight, and thus create an additional supply of
-force. During the night, the CO₂ would be exhaled.<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
-
-<p>Again: It is possible that more organic matter is
-made by sunlight during the day than is used up in tissue-building.
-Some of this excess is again consumed,
-and forms CO₂ and H₂O, in order to continue the tissue-building
-process during the night. Thus the plant during
-the day stores up sun-force sufficient to do its work
-during the night. It has been suggested by <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> J. C.
-Draper,<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> though not proved, or even rendered probable,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</span>
-that the force of tissue-building (<i>force plastique</i>) is always
-derived from decomposition, or combustion of organic
-matter. In that case, the force of organic-matter
-formation is derived from the sun, while the force of
-tissue-building (which is relatively small) is derived
-from the combustion of organic matter thus previously
-formed.</p>
-
-<p>6. <span class="smcap">Fermentation.</span>—The plastic matters out of which
-vegetable tissue is built, and which are formed by sunlight
-in the leaves, are of two kinds, viz., amyloids
-(dextrine, sugar, starch, cellulose), and albuminoids, or
-protoplasm. Now, the amyloids are comparatively stable,
-and do not spontaneously decompose; but the albuminoids
-not only decompose spontaneously themselves,
-but drag down the amyloids with which they are associated
-into concurrent decomposition—not only change
-themselves, but propagate a change into amyloids. Albuminoids,
-in various stages and kinds of decomposition,
-are called ferments. The propagated change in
-amyloids is called fermentation. By various kinds of
-ferments, amyloids are thus dragged down step by step
-to the mineral kingdom, viz., to CO₂ and H₂O. The
-accompanying table exhibits the various stages of the
-descent of starch, and the ferments by which they are
-effected:</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</span></p>
-
-<table class="autotable">
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-1. Starch</td><td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Diastase.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-2. Dextrine</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-3. Sugar</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-4. Alcohol and CO₂</td><td class="tdl">Yeast.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-5. Acetic acid</td><td class="tdl">Mother of vinegar.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">
-6. CO₂ and H₂O</td><td class="tdl">Mould.</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>By appropriate means, the process of descent may
-be stopped on any one of these planes. By far too
-much is, unfortunately, stopped on the fourth plane.
-The manufacturer and chemist may determine the
-downward change through all the planes, and the chemist
-has recently succeeded in ascending again to No. 4;
-but the plant ascends and descends the scale at pleasure
-(avoiding, however, the fourth and fifth), and even passes
-at one step from the lowest to the highest.</p>
-
-<p>Now, it will be seen by the table that, connected
-with each of these descensive changes, there is a peculiar
-ferment associated. Diastase determines the change
-from starch to dextrine and sugar—saccharification;
-yeast, the change from sugar to alcohol—fermentation;
-mother of vinegar, the change from alcohol to acetic
-acid—acetification; and a peculiar mould, the change
-from acetic acid to CO₂ and water. But what is far
-more wonderful and significant is, that, associated with
-each of these ferments, except diastase, and therefore
-with each of these descensive changes, except the change
-from starch to sugar, or saccharification, there is a peculiar<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</span>
-form of life. Associated with alcoholic fermentation,
-there is the yeast-plant; with acetification, the vinegar-plant;
-and with the decomposition of vinegar, a
-peculiar kind of mould. We will take the one which is
-best understood, viz., yeast-plant (saccharomyce), and
-its relation to alcoholic fermentation.</p>
-
-<p>It is well known that, in connection with alcoholic
-fermentation, there is a peculiar unicelled plant which
-grows and multiplies. Fermentation never takes place
-without the presence of this plant; this plant never
-grows without producing fermentation, and the rapidity
-of the fermentation is in exact proportion to the rapidity
-of the growth of the plant. But, as far as I know,
-the fact has not been distinctly brought out that the decomposition
-of the sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid
-furnishes the force by which the plant grows and multiplies.
-If the growing cells of the yeast-plant be observed
-under the microscope, it will be seen that the
-carbonic-acid bubbles form, and therefore probably the
-decomposition of sugar takes place only in contact with
-the surface of the yeast-cells. The yeast-plant not only
-assimilates matter, but also force. It decomposes the
-sugar in order that it may assimilate the chemical force
-set free.</p>
-
-<p>We have already said that the change from starch to
-sugar, determined by diastase (saccharification), is the
-only one in connection with which there is no life.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</span>
-Now, it is a most significant fact, in this connection, that
-this is also the only change which is not, in a proper sense,
-descensive, or, at least, where there is no decomposition.</p>
-
-<p>We now pass from the phenomena of vegetable to
-the phenomena of animal life.</p>
-
-<p>7. <span class="smcap">Development of the Egg in Incubation.</span>—The
-development of the egg in incubation is very similar to
-the germination of a seed. An egg consists of albuminous
-and fatty matters, so inclosed that, while oxygen of
-the air is admitted, nutrient matters are excluded. During
-incubation the egg changes into an embryo; it
-passes from an almost unorganized to a highly-organized
-condition, from a lower to a higher condition.
-There is work done: there must be expenditure of
-force; but, as we have already seen, vital force is always
-derived from decomposition. But, as the matters
-to be decomposed are not taken <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ab extra</i>, the egg must
-consume itself; that it does so, is proved by the fact
-that in incubation the egg absorbs oxygen, eliminates
-CO₂ and probably H₂O, and loses weight. As in the
-seed, a portion of the matters contained in the egg is
-consumed in order to create force to organize the remainder.
-Matter runs down from plane No. 4 to plane
-No. 2, and generates force to do the work of organization
-on plane No. 4. The amount of CO₂ and H₂O
-formed, and therefore the loss of weight, is a measure
-of the amount of plastic work done.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</span></p>
-
-<p>8. <span class="smcap">Development within the Chrysalis Shell.</span>—It
-is well known that many insects emerge from the egg
-not in their final form, but in a wormlike form, called a
-larva. After this they pass into a second passive state,
-in which they are again covered with a kind of shell—a
-sort of second egg-state, called the chrysalis. From this
-they again emerge as the perfect insect. The butterfly
-is the most familiar, as well as the best, illustration of
-these changes. The larva or caterpillar eats with enormous
-voracity, and grows very rapidly. When its
-growth is complete, it covers itself with a shell, and remains
-perfectly passive and almost immovable for many
-days or weeks. During this period of quiescence of animal
-functions there are, however, the most important
-changes going on within. The wings and legs are
-formed, the muscles are aggregated in bundles for moving
-these appendages, the nervous system is more highly
-developed, the mouth-organs and alimentary canal
-are greatly changed and more highly organized, the
-simple eyes are changed into compound eyes. Now, all
-this requires expenditure of force, and therefore decomposition
-of matter; but no food is taken, therefore the
-chrysalis must consume its own substance, and therefore
-lose weight. It does so; the weight of the emerging
-butterfly is in many cases not one-tenth that of the
-caterpillar. Force is stored up in the form of organic
-matter only to be consumed in doing plastic work.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</span></p>
-
-<p>9. <span class="smcap">Mature Animals.</span>—Whence do animals derive
-their vital force? I answer, from the decomposition of
-their food and the decomposition of their tissues.</p>
-
-<p>Plants, as we have seen, derive their vital force from
-the decomposition of their mineral food. But the chemical
-compounds on which plants feed are very stable.
-Their decomposition requires a peculiar and complex
-contrivance for the reception and utilization of sunlight.
-These conditions are wanting in animals. Animals,
-therefore, cannot feed on chemical compounds of the
-mineral kingdom; they must have organic food which
-easily runs into decomposition; they must feed on the
-vegetable kingdom.</p>
-
-<p>Animals are distinguished from vegetables by incessant
-decay in every tissue—a decay which is proportional
-to animal activity. This incessant decay necessitates
-incessant repair, so that the animal body has been likened
-to a temple on which two opposite forces are at
-work in every part, the one tearing down, the other repairing
-the breach as fast as made. In vegetables no
-such incessant decay has ever been made out. If it exists,
-it must be very trifling in comparison. Protoplasm,
-it is true, is taken up from the older parts of vegetables,
-and these parts die; but the protoplasm does not seem
-to decompose, but is used again for tissue-building.
-Thus the internal activity of animals is of two kinds,
-tissue-destroying and tissue-building; while that of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</span>
-plants seems to be, principally, at least, of one kind, tissue-building.
-Animals use food for force and repair and
-growth, and in the mature animal only for force and
-repair. Plants, except in reproduction, use food almost
-wholly for growth—they never stop growing.</p>
-
-<p>Now, the food of animals is of two kinds, amyloids
-and albuminoids. The carnivora feed entirely on albuminoids;
-herbivora on both amyloids and albuminoids.
-All this food comes from the vegetable kingdom, directly
-in the case of herbivora, indirectly in the case of
-carnivora. Animals cannot make organic matter. Now,
-the tissues of animals are wholly albuminoid. It is obvious,
-therefore, that for the repair of the tissues the
-food must be albuminoid. The amyloid food, therefore
-(and, as we shall see in carnivora, much of the albuminoid),
-must be used wholly for force. As coal or wood,
-burned in a steam-engine, changes chemical into mechanical
-energy, so food, in excess of what is used for
-repair, is burned up to produce animal activity. Let us
-trace more accurately the origin of animal force by examples.</p>
-
-<p>10. <span class="smcap">Carnivora.</span>—The food of carnivora is entirely
-albuminoid. The idea of the older physiologists, in regard
-to the use of this food, seems to have been as follows:
-Albuminoid matter is exceedingly unstable; it is
-matter raised, with much difficulty and against chemical
-forces, high, and delicately balanced on a pinnacle, in a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</span>
-state of unstable equilibrium, for a brief time, and then
-rushes down again into the mineral kingdom. The animal
-tissues, being formed of albuminoid matter, are
-short-lived; the parts are constantly dying and decomposing;
-the law of death necessitates the law of reproduction;
-decomposition necessitates repair, and therefore
-food for repair. But the force by which repair is
-effected was for them, and for many physiologists now,
-underived, innate. But the doctrine maintained by me
-in the paper referred to is, that the decomposition of the
-tissues creates not only the necessity, but also the force,
-of repair.</p>
-
-<p>Suppose, in the first place, a carnivorous animal uses
-just enough food to repair the tissues, and no more—say
-an ounce. Then I say the ounce of tissue decayed
-not only necessitates the ounce of albuminous food for
-repair, but the decomposition sets free the force by which
-the repair is effected. But it will be perhaps objected
-that the force would all be consumed in repair, and none
-left for animal activity of all kinds. I answer: it would
-not all be used up in repair, for, the food being already
-albuminoid, there is probably little expenditure of force
-necessary to change it into tissue; while, on the other
-hand, the force generated by the decomposition of tissue
-into CO₂, H₂O, and urea, is very great—the ascensive
-change is small, the descensive change is great. The
-decomposition of one ounce of albuminous tissue into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</span>
-CO₂, H₂O, and urea, would therefore create force sufficient
-not only to change one ounce of albuminous matter
-into tissue, but also leave a considerable amount for
-animal activities of all kinds. A certain quantity of
-matter, running down from plane No. 4 to plane No. 2,
-creates force enough not only to move the same quantity
-of matter about on plane No. 4, but also to do much
-other work besides. It is probable, however, that the
-wants of animal activity are so immediate and urgent
-that, under these conditions, much food would be burned
-for this purpose, and would not reach the tissues, and
-the tissues would be imperfectly repaired, and would
-therefore waste.</p>
-
-<p>Take, next, the carnivorous animal full fed. In this
-case there can be no doubt that, while a portion of the
-food goes to repair the tissues, by far the larger portion
-is consumed in the blood, and passes away partly
-as CO₂ and H₂O through the lungs, and partly as urea
-through the kidneys. This part is used, and can be of
-use only, to create force. The food of carnivora, therefore,
-goes partly to tissue-building, and partly to create
-heat and force. The force of carnivorous animals is derived
-partly from decomposing tissues and partly from
-food-excess consumed in the blood.</p>
-
-<p>11. <span class="smcap">Herbivora.</span>—The food of herbivora and of man
-is mixed—partly albuminoid and partly amyloid. In
-man, doubtless, the albuminoids are usually in excess of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</span>
-what is required for tissue-building; but in herbivora,
-probably, the albuminoids are not in excess of the requirements
-of the decomposing tissues. In this case,
-therefore, the whole of the albuminoids is used for tissue-making,
-and the whole of the amyloids for force-making.
-In this class, therefore, these two classes of
-food may be called tissue-food and force-food. The force
-of these animals, therefore, is derived partly from the
-decomposition of the tissues, but principally from the
-decomposition and combustion of the amyloids and
-fats.</p>
-
-<p>Some physiologists speak of the amyloid and fat
-food as being burned to keep up the animal heat; but
-it is evident that the prime object in the body, as in the
-steam-engine, is not heat, but force. Heat is a mere
-condition and perhaps a necessary concomitant of the
-change, but evidently not the prime object. In tropical
-regions the heat is not wanted. In the steam-engine,
-chemical energy is first changed into heat, and heat into
-mechanical energy; in the body the change is, probably,
-much of it direct, and not through the intermediation
-of heat.</p>
-
-<p>12. We see at once, from the above, why it is that
-plants cannot feed on elements, viz., because their food
-must be decomposed in order to create the organic
-matter out of which all organisms are built. This
-elevation of matter, which takes place in the green<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</span>
-leaves of plants, is the starting-point of life; upon it
-alone is based the possibility of the existence of the
-organic kingdom. The running down of the matter
-there raised determines the vital phenomena of germination,
-of pale plants, and even of some of the vital
-phenomena of green plants, and all the vital phenomena
-of the animal kingdom. The stability of chemical
-compounds, usable as plant-food, is such that a
-peculiar contrivance and peculiar conditions found only
-in the green leaves of plants are necessary for their decomposition.
-We see, therefore, also, why animals as
-well as pale plants cannot feed on mineral matter.</p>
-
-<p>We easily see also why the animal activity of carnivora
-is greater than that of herbivora, for the amount
-of force necessary for the assimilation of their albuminoid
-food is small, and therefore a larger amount is left
-over for animal activity. Their food is already on plane
-No. 4; assimilation, therefore, is little more than a <em>shifting</em>
-on the plane No. 4 from a liquid to a solid condition—from
-liquid albuminoid of the blood to solid albuminoid
-of the tissues.</p>
-
-<p>We see also why the internal activity of plants may
-conceivably be only of one kind; for, drawing their
-force from the sun, tissue-making is not necessarily dependent
-on tissue-decay. While, on the other hand,
-the internal activity of animals must be of two kinds,
-decay and repair; for animals always draw a portion of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</span>
-their force, and starving animals the whole of their force,
-from decaying tissue.</p>
-
-<p>13. There are several general thoughts suggested by
-this subject, which I wish to present in conclusion:</p>
-
-<p><i>a.</i> We have said there are four planes of matter
-raised one above the other: 1. Elements; 2. Chemical
-compounds; 3. Vegetables; 4. Animals. Their relative
-position is truly represented thus:</p>
-
-<p class="poetry">
-4. <i>Animals.</i><br />
-3. <i>Plants.</i><br />
-2. <i>Chemical compounds.</i><br />
-1. <i>Elements.</i><br />
-</p>
-
-<p>Now, there are also four planes of force similarly related
-to each other, viz., physical force, chemical force,
-vitality, and will. On the first plane of matter operates
-physical force only; for chemical force immediately
-raises matter into the second plane. On the second
-plane operates, in addition to physical, also chemical
-force. On the third plane operates, in addition to physical
-and chemical, also vital force. On the fourth plane,
-in addition to physical, chemical, and vital, also the force
-characteristic of animals, viz., will.<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> With each elevation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</span>
-there is a peculiar force added to the already existing,
-and a peculiar group of phenomena is the result.
-As matter only rises step by step from plane to plane,
-and never two steps at a time, so also force, in its transformation
-into higher forms of force, rises only step by
-step. Physical force does not become vital except
-through chemical force, and chemical force does not become
-will except through vital force.</p>
-
-<p>Again, we have compared the various grades of matter,
-not to a gradually rising inclined plane, but to successive
-planes raised one above the other. There are,
-no doubt, some intermediate conditions; but, as a broad,
-general fact, the changes from plane to plane are sudden.
-Now, the same is true also of the forces operating
-on these planes—of the different grades of force, and
-their corresponding groups of phenomena. The change
-from one grade to another, as from physical to chemical,
-or from chemical to vital, is not, as far as we can see, by
-sliding scale, but suddenly. The groups of phenomena
-which we call physical, chemical, vital, animal, rational,
-and moral, do not merge into each other by insensible
-gradations. In the ascensive scale of forces, in the evolution
-of the higher forces from the lower, there are
-places of rapid, paroxysmal change.</p>
-
-<p><i>b.</i> Vital force is transformed into physical and chemical
-forces; but it is not on that account identical with
-physical and chemical force, and therefore we ought not,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</span>
-as some would have us, discard the term vital force.
-There are two opposite errors on this subject: one is
-the old error of regarding vital force as something innate,
-underived, having no relation to the other forces
-of Nature; the other is the new error of regarding the
-forces of the living body as nothing but ordinary physical
-and chemical forces, and therefore insisting that the
-use of the term vital force is absurd and injurious to
-science. The old error is still prevalent in the popular
-mind, and still haunts the minds of many physiologists;
-the new error is apparently a revulsion from the other,
-and is therefore common among the most advanced scientific
-minds. There are many of the best scientists
-who ridicule the use of the term vital force, or vitality,
-as a remnant of superstition; and yet the same men use
-the words gravity, magnetic force, chemical force, physical
-force, etc. Vital force is not underived—is not unrelated
-to other forces—is, in fact, correlated with them;
-but it is nevertheless a distinct form of force, far more
-distinct than any other form, unless it be still higher
-forms, and therefore better entitled to a distinct name
-than any lower form. Each form of force gives rise to
-a peculiar group of phenomena, and the study of these
-to a peculiar department of science. Now, the group
-of phenomena called vital is more peculiar, and more
-different from other groups, than these are from each
-other; and the science of physiology is a more distinct<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</span>
-department than either physics or chemistry; and therefore
-the form of force which determines these phenomena
-is more distinct, and better entitled to a distinct
-name, than either physical or chemical forces. De Candolle,
-in a recent paper,<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> suggests the term vital movement
-instead of vital force; but can we conceive of movement
-without force? And, if the movement is peculiar,
-so also is the form of force.</p>
-
-<p><i>c.</i> Vital is transformed physical and chemical forces;
-true, but the necessary and very peculiar condition of
-this transformation is the previous existence then and
-there of living matter. There is something so wonderful
-in this peculiarity of vital force that I must dwell on
-it a little.</p>
-
-<p>Elements brought in contact with each other under
-certain physical conditions—perhaps heat or electricity—unite
-and rise into the second plane, i. e., of chemical
-compounds; so also several elements, C, H, O, and N,
-etc., brought in contact with each other under certain
-physical or chemical conditions, such as light, nascency,
-etc., unite and rise into plane No. 3, i. e., form organic
-matter. In both cases there is chemical union under
-certain physical conditions; but in the latter there is
-one unique condition, viz., the previous existence then
-and there of organic matter, under the guidance of
-which the transformation of matter takes place. In a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</span>
-word, organic matter is necessary to produce organic
-matter; there is here a law of like producing like—there
-is an assimilation of matter.</p>
-
-<p>Again, physical force changes into other forms of
-physical force, or into chemical force, under certain
-physical conditions; so also physical and chemical forces
-are changed into vital force under certain physical conditions.
-But, in addition, there is one altogether unique
-condition of the latter change, viz., the previous existence
-then and there of vital force. Here, again, like
-produces like—here, again, there is assimilation of
-force.</p>
-
-<p>This law of like producing like—this law of assimilation
-of matter and force—runs throughout all vital
-phenomena, even to the minutest details. It is a universal
-law of generation, and determines the existence
-of species; it is the law of formation of organic matter
-and organic force; it determines all the varieties of organic
-matter which we call tissues and organs, and all
-the varieties of organic force which we call functions.
-The same nutrient pabulum, endowed with the same
-properties and powers, carried to all parts of a complex
-organism by this wonderful law of like producing like,
-is changed into the most various forms and endowed
-with the most various powers. There are certainly
-limits and exceptions to this law, however; otherwise
-differentiation of tissues, organs, and functions, could<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</span>
-not take place in embryonic development; but the
-limits and exceptions are themselves subject to a law
-even more wonderful than the law of like producing
-like itself, viz., the law of evolution. There is in all
-organic nature, whether organic kingdom, organic individual,
-or organic tissues, a law of variation, strongest
-in the early stages, limited very strictly by another law—the
-law of inheritance, of like producing like.</p>
-
-<p><i>d.</i> We have seen that all development takes place at
-the expense of decay—all elevation of one thing, in one
-place, at the expense of corresponding running down
-of something else in another place. Force is only transferred
-and transformed. The plant draws its force from
-the sun, and therefore what the plant gains the sun
-loses. Animals draw from plants, and therefore what
-the animal kingdom gains the vegetable kingdom loses.
-Again, an egg, a seed, or a chrysalis, developing to a
-higher condition, and yet taking nothing <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ab extra</i>, must
-lose weight. Some part must run down, in order that
-the remainder should be raised to a higher condition.
-The amount of evolution is measured by the loss of
-weight. By the law of conservation of force, it is inconceivable
-that it should be otherwise. Evidently,
-therefore, in the universe, taken as a whole, evolution
-of one part must be at the expense of some other part.
-The evolution or development of the whole cosmos—of
-the whole universe of matter—as a unit, by forces within<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</span>
-itself, according to the doctrine of conservation of
-force, is inconceivable. If there be any such evolution,
-at all comparable with any known form of evolution, it
-can only take place by a constant increase of the whole
-sum of energy, i. e., by a constant influx of divine energy—for
-the same quantity of matter in a higher condition
-must embody a greater amount of energy.</p>
-
-<p><i>e.</i> Finally, as organic matter is so much matter taken
-from the common fund of matter of earth and air,
-embodied for a brief space, to be again by death and
-decomposition returned to that common fund, so also it
-would seem that the organic forces of the living bodies
-of plants and animals may be regarded as so much force
-drawn from the common fund of physical and chemical
-forces, to be again all refunded by death and decomposition.
-Yes, by decomposition; we can understand this.
-But death! can we detect any thing returned by simple
-death? What is the nature of the difference between
-the living organism and a dead organism? We can detect
-none, physical or chemical. All the physical and
-chemical forces withdrawn from the common fund of
-Nature, and embodied in the living organism, seem to
-be still embodied in the dead until little by little it is
-returned by decomposition. Yet the difference is immense,
-is inconceivably great. What is the nature of
-this difference expressed in the formula of material science?
-What is it that is gone, and whither is it gone?<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</span>
-There is something here which science cannot yet understand.
-Yet it is just this loss which takes place in death,
-and before decomposition, which is in the highest sense
-vital force.</p>
-
-<p>Let no one from the above views, or from similar
-views expressed by others, draw hasty conclusions in
-favor of a pure materialism. Force and matter, or
-spirit and matter, or God and Nature, these are the opposite
-poles of philosophy—they are the opposite poles
-of thought. There is no clear thinking without them.
-Not only religion and virtue, but science and philosophy,
-cannot even exist without them. The belief in spirit,
-like the belief in matter, rests on its own basis of phenomena.
-The true domain of philosophy is to reconcile
-these with each other.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</span></p>
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> In recent works the word <i>energy</i> is used to designate active or working
-force as distinguished from passive or non-working force. It is in this
-working condition only that force is conserved, and therefore <em>conservation
-of energy</em> is the proper expression. Nevertheless, since the distinction
-between force and energy is imperfectly or not at all defined in the higher
-forms of force, and especially in the domain of life, I have preferred in
-this article to use the word <i>force</i> in the general sense usual until recently.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> <i>American Journal of Science</i>, November, 1859. <i>Philadelphia Magazine</i>,
-<abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xix., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 133.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> In 1845 <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> J. R. Mayer published a paper on “Organic Motion and
-Nutrition.” I have not seen it.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> For more full account, see my paper, <i>American Journal of Science</i>,
-November, 1859, sixth and seventh heads.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> <i>American Journal of Science</i>, November, 1872. The experiments of
-<abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Draper are inconclusive, because they are made on <i>seedlings</i>, which, until their supply of organic food is exhausted, are independent of sunlight.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> I might add still another plane and another force, viz., the human
-plane, on which operate, in addition to all the lower forces, also free-will
-and reason. I do not speak of these, only because they lie beyond the
-present ken of inductive science.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> <i>Archives des Sciences</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xlv., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 345, December, 1872.</p>
-
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</span></p>
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CORRELATION_OF_NERVOUS_AND_MENTAL">CORRELATION OF NERVOUS AND MENTAL
-FORCES.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By</span> ALEXANDER BAIN, LL. D.,<br /><br />
-<span class="small">PROFESSOR OF LOGIC AND MENTAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE
-UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN.</span></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</span></p>
-<h3 class="nobreak" id="THE_CORRELATION_OF_NERVOUS_AND">THE CORRELATION OF NERVOUS AND
-MENTAL FORCES.</h3>
-</div>
-
-
-<p>The doctrine called the correlation, persistence,
-equivalence, transmutability, indestructibility of force,
-or the conservation of energy, is a generality of such
-compass that no single form of words seems capable of
-fully expressing it; and different persons may prefer
-different statements of it. My understanding of the
-doctrine is, that there are five chief powers or forces
-in Nature: one <em>mechanical</em>, or <em>molar</em>, the momentum
-of moving matter; the others <em>molecular</em>, or embodied
-in the molecules, also supposed in motion—these are,
-heat, light, chemical force, electricity. To these powers,
-which are unquestionable and distinct, it is usual to add
-vital force, of which, however, it is difficult to speak as
-a whole; but one member of our vital energies, the
-nerve-force, allied to electricity, fully deserves to rank
-in the correlation.</p>
-
-<p>Taking the one mechanical force, and those three of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</span>
-the molecular named heat, chemical force, electricity,
-there has now been established a definite rate of commutation,
-or exchange, when any one passes into any
-other. The mechanical equivalent of heat, the 772 foot-pounds
-of Joule, expresses the rate of exchange between
-mechanical momentum and heat: the equivalent or exchange
-of heat and chemical force is given (through the
-researches of Andrews and others) in the figures expressing
-the heat of combinations; for example, one
-pound of carbon burnt evolves heat enough to raise
-8,080 pounds of water one degree, <abbr title="celcius">C.</abbr> The combination
-of these to equivalents would show that the consumption
-of half a pound of carbon would raise a man of
-average weight to the highest summit of the Himalayas.</p>
-
-<p>It is an essential part of the doctrine, that force is
-never absolutely created, and never absolutely destroyed,
-but merely transmuted in form or manifestation.</p>
-
-<p>As applied to living bodies, the following are the
-usual positions. In the growth of plants, the forces of
-the solar ray—heat and light—are expended in decomposing
-(or deoxidizing) carbonic acid and water, and in
-building up the living tissues from the liberated carbon
-and the other elements; all which force is given up
-when these tissues are consumed, either as fuel in ordinary
-combustion, or as food in animal combustion.</p>
-
-<p>It is this animal combustion of the matter of plants,
-and of animals (fed on plants)—namely, the reoxidation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</span>
-of carbon, hydrogen, etc.—that yields all the manifestations
-of power in the animal frame. And, in particular,
-it maintains (1) a certain warmth or temperature
-of the whole mass, against the cooling power of
-surrounding space; it maintains (2) mechanical energy,
-as muscular power; and it maintains (3) nervous power,
-or a certain flow of the influence circulating through the
-nerves, which circulation of influence, besides reacting
-on the other animal processes—muscular, glandular, etc.—has
-for its distinguishing concomitant the <span class="allsmcap">MIND</span>.</p>
-
-<p>The extension of the correlation of force to mind,
-if at all competent, must be made through the nerve-force,
-a genuine member of the correlated group. Very
-serious difficulties beset the proposal, but they are not
-insuperable.</p>
-
-<p>The history of the doctrines relating to mind, as
-connected with body, is in the highest degree curious
-and instructive, but, for the purpose of the present paper,
-we shall notice only certain leading stages of the
-speculation.<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
-
-<p>Not the least important position is the Aristotelian;
-a position in some respects sounder than what followed
-and grew out of it. In Aristotle, we have a kind of
-gradation from the life of plants to the highest form of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</span>
-human intelligence. In the following diagram, the continuous
-lines may represent the material substance, and
-the dotted lines the immaterial:</p>
-
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p class="center">A. <i>Soul of Plants.</i></p>
-
-<p class="p0">
-—— Without consciousness.<br />
-</p>
-
-
-<p class="center">B. <i>Animal Soul.</i></p>
-
-<p class="p0">
-—— <span class="sub">Body and mind inseparable.</span><br />
-........<br />
-</p>
-
-
-<p class="center">C. <i>Human Soul</i>—<span class="smcap">Nous</span>—<i>Intellect</i>.</p>
-
-<p class="p0">I. Passive intellect.</p>
-
-<p class="p0">
-—— <span class="sub">Body and mind inseparable.</span><br />
-........<br />
-</p>
-
-<p class="p0">II. Active intellect—cognition of the highest principles.</p>
-
-<p class="p0">........ Pure form; detached from matter; the prime mover of
-all; immortal.</p>
-
-</div>
-<p>All the phases of life and mind are inseparably interwoven
-with the body (which inseparability is Aristotle’s
-definition of the soul) except the last, the active
-<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">nous</i>, or intellect, which is detached from corporeal matter,
-self-subsisting, the essence of Deity, and an immortal
-substance, although the immortality is not personal
-to the individual. (The immateriality of this higher
-intellectual agent was net, however, that thorough-going
-negation of all material attributes which we now
-understand by the word “immaterial.”) How such a
-self-subsisting and purely spiritual soul could hold communication
-with the body-leagued souls, Aristotle was
-at a loss to say—the difficulty reappeared after him, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</span>
-has never been got over. That there should be an
-agency totally apart from, and entirely transcending,
-any known powers of inert matter, involves no difficulty—for
-who is to limit the possibilities of existence?
-The perplexity arises only when this radically new and
-superior principle is made to be, as it were, off and on
-with the material principle; performing some of its
-functions in pure isolation, and others of an analogous
-kind by the aid of the lower principle. The difference
-between the active and the passive reason of Aristotle
-is a mere difference of gradation; the supporting
-agencies assumed by him are a total contrast in kind—wide
-as the poles asunder. There is no breach of
-continuity in the phenomena, there is an impassable
-chasm between their respective foundations.</p>
-
-<p>Fifteen centuries after Aristotle, we reach what may
-be called the modern settlement of the relations of
-mind and body, effected by Thomas Aquinas. He extended
-the domain of the independent immaterial principle
-from the highest intellectual soul of Aristotle to
-all the three souls recognized by him—the vegetable or
-plant soul (without consciousness), the animal soul (with
-consciousness), and the intellect throughout. The two
-lower souls—the vegetable and the animal—need the
-coöperation of the body in this life; the intellect works
-without any bodily organ, except that it makes use of
-the perceptions of the senses.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</span></p>
-
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p class="center">A. <i>Vegetable or Nutritive Soul.</i></p>
-
-<p class="p0">
-—— <span class="sub">Incorporates an immaterial part, although unconscious.</span><br />
-........<br />
-</p>
-
-
-<p class="center">B. <i>Animal Soul.</i></p>
-
-<p class="p0">
-—— <span class="sub">Has an immaterial part, with consciousness.</span><br />
-........<br />
-</p>
-
-
-<p class="center">C. <i>Intellect.</i></p>
-
-<p class="p0">........ Purely immaterial.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>The animal soul, B, contains sensation, appetite, and
-emotion, and is a mixed or two-sided entity; but the
-intellect, C, is a purely one-sided entity, the immaterial.
-This does not relieve our perplexities; the phenomena
-are still generically allied and continuous—sensation
-passes into intellect without any breach of continuity;
-but as regards the agencies, the transition from a mixed
-or united material and immaterial substance to an immaterial
-substance apart, is a transition to a differently constituted
-world, to a transcendental sphere of existence.</p>
-
-<p>The settlement of Aquinas governed all the schools
-and all the religious creeds, until quite recent times; it
-is, for example, substantially the view of Bishop Butler.
-At the instance of modern physiology, however, it has
-undergone modifications. The dependence of purely
-intellectual operations, as memory, upon the material
-processes, has been reluctantly admitted by the partisans
-of an immaterial principle; an admission incompatible
-with the isolation of the intellect in Aristotle and in
-Aquinas. This more thorough-going connection of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</span>
-mental and the physical has led to a new form of expressing
-the relationship, which is nearer the truth,
-without being, in my judgment, quite accurate. It is
-now often said <em>the mind and the body act upon each
-other</em>; that neither is allowed, so to speak, to pursue its
-course alone—there is a constant interference, a mutual
-influence between the two. This view is liable to the
-following objections:</p>
-
-<p>1. In the first place, it assumes that we are entitled
-to speak of mind apart from body, and to affirm its
-powers and properties in that separate capacity. But
-of mind apart from body we have no direct experience,
-and absolutely no knowledge. The wind may act upon
-the sea, and the waves may react upon the wind; but
-the agents are known in separation—they are seen to
-exist apart before the shock of collision; but we are not
-permitted to see a mind acting apart from its material
-companion.</p>
-
-<p>2. In the second place, we have every reason for believing
-that there is an unbroken material succession,
-side by side with all our mental processes. From the
-ingress of a sensation, to the outgoing responses in action,
-the mental succession is not for an instant dissevered
-from a physical succession. A new prospect
-bursts upon the view; there is a mental result of sensations,
-emotion, thought, terminating in outward displays
-of speech or gesture. Parallel to this mental<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</span>
-series is the physical series of facts, the successive agitation
-of the physical organs, called the eye, the retina,
-the optic nerve, optic centres, cerebral hemispheres,
-outgoing nerves, muscles, etc. There is an unbroken
-physical circle of effects, maintained while we go the
-round of the mental circle of sensation, emotion, and
-thought. It would be incompatible with every thing
-we know of the cerebral action to suppose that the physical
-chain ends abruptly in a physical void, occupied by
-an immaterial substance; which immaterial substance,
-after working alone, imparts its results to the other edge
-of the physical break, and determines the active response—two
-shores of the material with an intervening ocean of
-the immaterial. There is, in fact, no rupture of nervous
-continuity. The only tenable supposition is, that mental
-and physical proceed together, as individual twins.
-When, therefore, we speak of a mental cause, a mental
-agency, we have always a two-sided cause; the effect
-produced is not the effect of mind alone, but of mind in
-company with body. That mind should have operated
-on the body, is as much as to say that a two-sided phenomenon,
-one side being bodily, can influence the body;
-it is, after all, body acting upon body. When a shock
-of fear paralyzes digestion, it is not the emotion of fear,
-in the abstract, or as a pure mental existence, that does
-the harm; it is the emotion in company with a peculiarly
-excited condition of the brain and nervous system; and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</span>
-it is this condition of the brain that deranges the
-stomach. When physical nourishment, or physical stimulant,
-acting through the blood, quiets the mental irritation,
-and restores a cheerful tone, it is not a bodily
-fact causing a mental fact by a direct line of causation:
-the nourishment and the stimulus determine the circulation
-of blood to the brain, give a new direction to the
-nerve-currents, and the mental condition corresponding
-to this particular mode of cerebral action henceforth
-manifests itself. The line of mental sequence is thus,
-not mind causing body, and body causing mind, but
-mind-body giving birth to mind-body; a much more
-intelligible position. For this double or conjoint causation,
-we can produce evidence; for the single-handed
-causation we have no evidence.</p>
-
-<p>If it were not my peculiar province to endeavor to
-clear up the specially metaphysical difficulties of the
-relationship of mind and body, I would pass over what
-is to me the most puzzling circumstance of the relationship,
-and indeed the only real difficulty in the question.</p>
-
-<p>I say the real difficulty, for factitious difficulties in
-abundance have been made out of the subject. It is
-made a mystery how mental functions and bodily functions
-should be allied together at all. That, however,
-is no business of ours; we accept this alliance, as we
-do any other alliance, such as gravity with inert matter,
-or light with heat. As a fact of the universe, the union<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</span>
-is, properly speaking, just as acceptable, and as intelligible,
-as the separation would be, if that were the fact.
-The real difficulty is quite another thing.</p>
-
-<p>What I have in view is this: when I speak of mind
-as allied with body—with a brain and its nerve-currents—I
-can scarcely avoid <em>localizing</em> the mind, giving it a
-local habitation. I am thereupon asked to explain
-what always puzzled the schoolmen, namely, whether
-the mind is all in every part, or only all in the whole;
-whether in tapping any point I may come at consciousness,
-or whether the whole mechanism is wanted for
-the smallest portion of consciousness. One might perhaps
-turn the question by the analogy of the telegraph
-wire, or the electric circuit, and say that a complete
-circle of action is necessary to any mental manifestation;
-which is probably true. But this does not meet the
-case. The fact is that, all this time we are speaking of
-nerves and wires, we are not speaking of mind, properly
-so called, at all; we are putting forward physical
-facts that go along with it, but these physical facts are
-not the mental fact, and they even preclude us from
-thinking of the mental fact. We are in this fix: mental
-states and bodily states are utterly contrasted; they
-cannot be compared, they have nothing in common except
-the most general of all attributes, degree, and order
-in time; when engaged with one we must be oblivious
-of all that distinguishes the other. When I am studying<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</span>
-a brain and nerve communicating, I am engrossed
-with properties exclusively belonging to the object or
-material world; I am at that moment (except by very
-rapid transitions or alternations) unable to conceive a
-truly mental fact, my truly mental consciousness. Our
-mental experience, our feelings and thoughts, have no
-extension, no place, no form or outline, no mechanical
-division of parts; and we are incapable of attending to
-any thing mental until we shut off the view of all that.
-Walking in the country in spring, our mind is occupied
-with the foliage, the bloom, and the grassy meads, all
-purely objective things; we are suddenly and strongly
-arrested by the odor of the May-blossom; we give
-way for a moment to the sensation of sweetness: for
-that moment the objective regards cease; we think of
-nothing extended; we are in a state where extension
-has no footing; there is, to us, place no longer. Such
-states are of short duration, mere fits, glimpses; they
-are constantly shifted and alternated with object states,
-but while they last and have their full power we are in
-a different world; the material world is blotted out,
-eclipsed, for the instant unthinkable. These subject-moments
-are studied to advantage in bursts of intense
-pleasure, or intense pain, in fits of engrossed reflection,
-especially reflection upon mental facts; but they are seldom
-sustained in purity beyond a very short interval; we
-are constantly returning to the object-side of things—to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</span>
-the world where extension and place have their
-being.</p>
-
-<p>This, then, as it appears to me, is the only real difficulty
-of the physical and mental relationship. There
-is an alliance with matter, with the object, or extended
-world; but the thing allied, the mind proper, has itself
-no extension, and cannot be joined in local union.
-Now, we have no form of language, no familiar analogy,
-suited to this unique conjunction; in comparison with
-all ordinary unions, it is a paradox or a contradiction.
-We understand union in the sense of local connection;
-here is a union where local connection is irrelevant, unsuitable,
-contradictory, for we cannot think of mind
-without putting ourselves out of the world of place.
-When, as in pure feeling—pleasure or pain—we change
-to the subject attitude from the object attitude, we have
-undergone a change not to be expressed by place; the
-fact is not properly described by the transition from the
-<em>external</em> to the <em>internal</em>, for that is still a change in the
-region of the extended. The only adequate expression
-is a <em>change of state</em>: a change from the state of the extended
-cognition to a state of unextended cognition.
-By various theologians, heaven has been spoken of us
-not a place, but a <em>state</em>; and this is the only phrase that
-I can find suitable to describe the vast, though familiar
-and easy, transition from the material or extended, to the
-immaterial or unextended side of the universe of being.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</span></p>
-
-<p>When, therefore, we talk of incorporating mind
-with brain, we must be held as speaking under an important
-reserve or qualification. Asserting the union
-in the strongest manner, we must yet deprive it of the
-almost invincible association of union in place. An extended
-organism is the condition of our passing into a
-state where there is no extension. A human being is
-an extended and material thing, attached to which is
-the power of becoming alive to feeling and thought, the
-extreme remove from all that is material; a condition
-of <em>trance</em> wherein, while it lasts, the material drops out
-of view—so much so, that we have not the power to
-represent the two extremes as lying side by side, as container
-and contained, or in any other mode of local conjunction.
-The condition of our existing thoroughly in
-the one, is the momentary eclipse or extinction of the
-other.</p>
-
-<p>The only mode of union that is not contradictory is
-the union of close succession in <em>time</em>; or of position in
-a continued thread of conscious life. We are entitled
-to say that the same being is, by alternate fits, object
-and subject, under extended and under unextended consciousness;
-and that without the extended consciousness
-the unextended would not arise. Without certain peculiar
-modes of the extended—what we call a cerebral
-organization, and so on—we could not have those times
-of trance, our pleasures, our pains, and our ideas, which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</span>
-at present we undergo fitfully and alternately with our
-extended consciousness.</p>
-
-<p>Having thus called attention to the metaphysical difficulty
-of assigning the relative position of mind and
-matter, I will now state briefly what I think the mode
-of dealing with mind in correlation with the other forces.
-That there is a definite equivalence between mental
-manifestations and physical forces, the same as between
-the physical forces themselves, is, I think, conformable
-to all the facts, although liable to peculiar difficulties in
-the way of decisive proof:</p>
-
-<p>I. The mental manifestations are in exact proportion
-to their physical supports.</p>
-
-<p>If the doctrine of the thorough-going connection of
-mind and body is good for any thing, it must go this
-length. There must be a numerically-proportioned rise
-and fall of the two together. I believe that all the unequivocal
-facts bear out this proportion.</p>
-
-<p>Take first the more obvious illustrations. In the
-employment of external agents, as warmth and food, all
-will admit that the sensation rises exactly as the stimulant
-rises, until a certain point is reached, when the
-agency changes its character; too great heat destroying
-the tissues, and too much food impeding digestion.
-There is, although we may not have the power to fix it,
-a <em>sensational equivalent</em> of heat, of food, of exercise, of
-sound, of light; there is a definite change of feeling, an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</span>
-accession of pleasure or of pain, corresponding to a rise
-of temperature in the air of 10°, 20°, or 30°. And
-so with regard to every other agent operating upon
-the human sensibility: there is, in each set of circumstances,
-a sensational equivalent of alcohol, of odors,
-of music, of spectacle.</p>
-
-<p>It is this definite relation between outward agents
-and the human feelings that renders it possible to discuss
-human interests from the objective side, the only
-accessible side. We cannot read the feelings of our fellows;
-we merely presume that like agents will affect
-them all in nearly the same way. It is thus that we
-measure men’s fortunes and felicity by the numerical
-amount of certain agents, as money, and by the absence
-or low degree of certain other agents, the causes of pain
-and the depressors of vitality. And, although the estimate
-is somewhat rough, this is not owing to the indefiniteness
-of the sensational equivalent, but to the complications
-of the human system, and chiefly to the narrowness
-of the line that everywhere divides the wholesome
-from the unwholesome degrees of all stimulants.</p>
-
-<p>Let us next represent the equivalence under vital or
-physiological action. The chief organ concerned is the
-brain; of which we know that it is a system of myriads
-of connecting threads, ramifying, uniting, and crossing
-at innumerable points; that these threads are actuated
-or made alive with a current influence called the nerve<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</span>
-force; that this nerve-force is a member of the group of
-correlating forces; that it is immediately derived from
-the changes in the blood, and in the last resort from oxidation,
-or combustion, of the materials of the food, of
-which combustion it is a definite equivalent. We know,
-further, that there can be no feeling, no volition, no intellect,
-without a proper supply of blood, containing
-both oxygen and the material to be oxidized; that, as
-the blood is richer in quality in regard to these constituents,
-and more abundant in quantity, the mental processes
-are more intense, more vivid. We know also
-that there are means of increasing the circulation in one
-organ, and drawing it off from another, chiefly by calling
-the one into greater exercise, as when we exert the
-muscles or convey food to the stomach; and that, when
-mental processes are more than usually intensified, the
-blood is proportionally drawn to the brain; the oxidizing
-process is there in excess, with corresponding defect
-and detriment in other organs. In high mental excitement,
-digestion is stopped; muscular vigor is abated
-except in the one form of giving vent to the feelings,
-thoughts, and purposes; the general nutrition languishes;
-and, if the state were long continued or oft repeated,
-the physical powers, strictly so called, would
-rapidly deteriorate. We know, on the other extreme,
-that sleep is accompanied by reduced circulation in the
-brain; there is in fact a reduced circulation generally;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</span>
-while of that reduced amount more goes to the nutritive
-functions than to the cerebral.</p>
-
-<p>In listening to <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Frankland’s lecture on “Muscular
-Power,” delivered at the Royal Institution of London, I
-noticed that, in accounting for the various items of expenditure
-of the food, he gave “mental work” as one
-heading, but declined to make an entry thereinunder.
-I can imagine two reasons for this reserve, the statement
-of which will further illustrate the general position.
-In the first place, it might be supposed that mind
-is a phenomenon so anomalous, uncertain, so remote
-from the chain of material cause and effect, that it is
-not even to be mentioned in that connection.</p>
-
-<p>To which I should say, that mind is indeed, as a
-phenomenon, widely different from the physical forces,
-but, nevertheless, rises and falls in strict numerical concomitance
-with these: so that it still enters, if not directly,
-at least indirectly, into the circle of the correlated
-forces. Or, secondly, the lecturer may have held
-that, though a definite amount of the mental manifestations
-accompanies a definite amount of oxidation in the
-special organs of mind, there is no means of reducing
-this to a measure, even in an approximate way. To
-this I answer, that the thing is difficult but not entirely
-impracticable. There is a possibility of giving, approximately
-at least, the amount of blood circulating in the
-brain, in the ordinary waking state; and, as during a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</span>
-period of intense excitement we know that there is a
-general reduction, almost to paralysis, of the collective
-vital functions, we could not be far mistaken in saying
-that, in that case, perhaps one-half or one-third of all
-the oxidation of the body was expended in keeping up
-the cerebral fires.</p>
-
-<p>It is a very serious drawback in any department of
-knowledge, where there are relations of quantity, to
-be unable to reduce them to numerical precision. This
-is the case with mind in a great degree, although not
-with it alone; many physical qualities are in the same
-state of unprecise measurement. We cannot reduce
-to numbers the statement of a man’s constitutional
-vigor, so as to say how much he has lost by fatigue, by
-disease, by age, or how much he has gained by a certain
-healthy regimen. Undoubtedly, however, it is in mind
-that the difficulties of attaining the numerical statement
-are greatest if not nearly insuperable. When we say
-that one man is more courageous, more loving, more
-irascible than another, we apply a scale of degree, existing
-in our own mind, but so vague that we may apply
-it differently at different times, while we can hardly
-communicate it to others exactly as it stands to ourselves.
-The consequence is, that a great margin of allowance
-must always be made in those statements; we
-can never run a close argument, or contend for a nice
-shade of distinction. Between the extremes of timidity<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</span>
-and courage of character the best observer could not
-entertain above seven or eight varieties of gradation,
-while two different persons consulting together could
-hardly agree upon so minute a subdivision as that.
-The phrenologists, in their scale of qualities, had the
-advantage of an external indication of size, but they
-must have felt the uselessness of graduating this beyond
-the delicacy of discriminating the subjective side of
-character; and their extreme scale included twenty
-steps or interpolations.</p>
-
-<p>Making allowance for this inevitable defect, I will
-endeavor to present a series of illustrations of the principle
-of correlation as applied to mind, in the manner
-explained. I deal not with mind directly, but with its
-material side, with whose activity, measured exactly as
-we measure the other physical forces, true mental activity
-has a definite correspondence.</p>
-
-<p>Let us suppose, then, a human being with average
-physical constitution, in respect of nutritive vigor, and
-fairly supplied with food and with air, or oxygen. The
-result of the oxidation of the food is a definite total of
-force, which may be variously distributed. The demand
-made by the brain, to sustain the purely mental functions,
-may be below average, or above average; there
-will be a corresponding, but inverse, variation of the
-remainder available for the more strictly physical processes,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</span>
-as muscular power, digestive power, animal heat,
-and so on.</p>
-
-<p>In the first case supposed, the case of a small demand
-for mental work and excitement, we look for, and we
-find, a better <em>physique</em>—greater muscular power and
-endurance, more vigor of digestion, rendering a coarser
-food sufficient for nourishment, more resistance to excesses
-of cold and heat; in short, a constitution adapted
-to physical drudgery and physical hardship.</p>
-
-<p>Take, now, the other extreme. Let there be a great
-demand for mental work. The oxidation must now be
-disproportionately expended in the brain; less is given
-to the muscles, the stomach, the lungs, the skin, and secreting
-organs generally. There is a reduction of the
-possible muscular work, and of the ability to subsist on
-coarser food, and to endure hardship. Experience confirms
-this inference; the common observation of mankind
-has recognized the fact—although in a vague, unsteady
-form—that the head-worker is not equally fitted
-to be a hand-worker. The master, mistress, or overseer
-has each more delicacy of sense, more management,
-more resource, than the manual operatives, but to these
-belongs the superiority of muscular power and persistence.</p>
-
-<p>There is nothing incompatible with the principle in
-allowing the possibility of combining, under certain
-favorable conditions, both physical and mental exertion<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</span>
-in considerable amount. In fact, the principle teaches
-us exactly how the thing may be done. Improve the
-quality and increase the quantity of the food; increase
-the supply of oxygen by healthy residence; let the habitual
-muscular exertion be such as to strengthen and
-not impair the functions; abate as much as possible all
-excesses and irregularities, bodily and mental; add the
-enormous economy of an educated disposal of the forces;
-and you will develop a higher being, a <em>greater aggregate</em>
-of power. You will then have more to spare for all
-kinds of expenditure—for the physico-mental, as well
-as for the strictly physical. What other explanation is
-needed of the military superiority of the officer over
-the common soldier? of the general efficiency of the
-man nourished, but not enervated, by worldly abundance?</p>
-
-<p>It may be possible, at some future stage of scientific
-inquiry, to compute the comparative amount of oxidation
-in the brain during severe mental labor. Even
-now, from obvious facts, we must pronounce it to be a
-very considerable fraction of the entire work done in
-the system. The privation of the other interests during
-mental exertion is so apparent, so extensive, that if the
-exertion should happen to be long continued, a liberal
-atonement has to be made in order to stave off general
-insolvency. Mental excess counts as largely as muscular
-excess in the diversion of power; it would be competent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</span>
-to suppose either the one or the other reducing
-the remaining forces of the system to one-half of
-their proper amount. In both cases, the work of restoration
-must be on the same simple plan of redressing
-the inequality, of allowing more than the average flow
-of blood to the impoverished organs, for a length of
-time corresponding to the period when their nourishment
-has been too small. It is in this consideration that
-we seem to have the reasonable, I may say the arithmetical,
-basis of the constitutional treatment of chronic
-disease. We <em>repay the debt to Nature</em> by allowing the
-weakened organ to be better nourished and less taxed,
-according to the degradation it has undergone by the
-opposite line of treatment. In a large class of diseases
-we have obviously a species of insolvency, to be dealt
-with according to the sound method of readjusting the
-relations of expenditure and income. And, if such be
-the true theory, it seems to follow that medication is
-only an inferior adjunct. Drugs, even in their happiest
-application, can but guide and favor the restorative process;
-just as the stirring of a fire may make it burn,
-provided there be the needful fuel.</p>
-
-<p>There is thus a definite, although not numerically-statable
-relation, between the total of the physico-mental
-forces and the total of the purely physical processes.
-The grand aggregate of the oxidation of the system includes
-both; and, the more the force taken up by one,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</span>
-the less is left to the other. Such is the statement of
-the correlation of mind to the other forces of Nature.
-We do not deal with pure mind—mind in the abstract;
-we have no experience of an entity of that description.
-We deal with a compound or two-sided phenomenon—mental
-on one side, physical on the other; there is a
-definite correspondence in degree, although a difference
-of nature, between the two sides; and the physical side
-is itself in full correlation with the recognized physical
-forces of the world.</p>
-
-<p>II. There remains another application of the doctrine,
-perhaps equally interesting to contemplate, and
-more within my special line of study. I mean the correlation
-of the mental forces among themselves (still
-viewed in the conjoint arrangement). Just as we assign
-limits to mind as a whole, by a reference to the grant
-of physical expenditure, in oxidation, etc., for the department,
-so we must assign limits to the different
-phases or modes of mental work—thought, feeling, and
-so on—according to the share allotted to each; so that,
-while the mind as a whole may be stinted by the demands
-of the non-mental functions, each separate manifestation
-is bounded by the requirements of the others.
-This is an inevitable consequence of the general principle,
-and equally receives the confirmation of experience.
-There is the same absence of numerical precision of estimate;
-our scale of quantity can have but few divisions<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</span>
-between the highest and the lowest degrees, and these
-not well fixed.</p>
-
-<p>What is required for this application of the principle
-is, to ascertain the comparative cost, in the physical
-point of view, of the different functions of the mind.</p>
-
-<p>The great divisions of the mind are—feeling, will,
-and thought; feeling, seen in our pleasures and pains;
-will, in our labors to attain the one and avoid the other;
-thought, in our sensations, ideas, recollections, reasonings,
-imaginings, and so on. Now, the forces of the mind,
-with their physical supports, may be evenly or unevenly
-distributed over the three functions. They may go by
-preference either to feeling, to action, or to thinking;
-and, if more is given to one, less must remain to the
-others, the entire quantity being limited.</p>
-
-<p>First, as to the feelings. Every throb of pleasure costs
-something to the physical system; and two throbs cost
-twice as much as one. If we cannot fix a precise equivalent,
-it is not because the relation is not definite, but
-from the difficulties of reducing degrees of pleasure to
-a recognized standard. Of this, however, there can be
-no reasonable doubt—namely, that a large amount of
-pleasure supposes a corresponding large expenditure of
-blood and nerve-tissue, to the stinting, perhaps, of the
-active energies and the intellectual processes. It is a
-matter of practical moment to ascertain what pleasures
-cost least, for there are thrifty and unthrifty modes of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</span>
-spending our brain and heart’s blood. Experience
-probably justifies us in saying that the narcotic stimulants
-are, in general, a more extravagant expenditure
-than the stimulation of food, society, and fine art. One
-of the safest of delights, if not very acute, is the delight
-of abounding physical vigor; for, from the very supposition,
-the supply to the brain is not such as to interfere
-with the general interests of the system. But the theory
-of pleasure is incomplete without the theory of
-pain.</p>
-
-<p>As a rule, pain is a more costly experience than
-pleasure, although sometimes economical as a check to
-the spendthrift pleasures. Pain is physically accompanied
-by an excess of blood in the brain, from at least
-two causes—extreme intensity of nervous action, and
-conflicting currents, both being sources of waste. The
-sleeplessness of the pained condition means that the circulation
-is never allowed to subside from the brain; the
-irritation maintains energetic currents, which bring the
-blood copiously to the parts affected.</p>
-
-<p>There is a possibility of excitement, of considerable
-amount, without either pleasure or pain; the cost here
-is simply as the excitement: mere surprises may be of
-this nature. Such excitement has no value, except intellectually;
-it may detain the thoughts, and impress
-the memory, but it is not a final end of our being, as
-pleasure is; and it does not waste power to the extent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</span>
-that pain does. The ideally best condition is a moderate
-surplus of pleasure—a gentle glow, not rising into
-brilliancy or intensity, except at considerable intervals
-(say a small portion of every day), falling down frequently
-to indifference, but seldom sinking into pain.</p>
-
-<p>Attendant on strong feeling, especially in constitutions
-young or robust, there is usually a great amount
-of mere bodily vehemence, as gesticulation, play of
-countenance, of voice, and so on. This counts as muscular
-work, and is an addition to the brain-work. Properly
-speaking, the cerebral currents discharge themselves
-in movements, and are modified according to the scope
-given to those movements. Resistance to the movements
-is liable to increase the conscious activity of the
-brain, although a continuing resistance may suppress
-the entire wave.</p>
-
-<p>Next as to the will, or our voluntary labors and
-pursuits for the great ends of obtaining pleasure and
-warding off pain. This part of our system is a compound
-experience of feeling and movement; the properly
-mental fact being included under feeling—that is,
-pleasure and pain, present or imagined. When our
-voluntary endeavors are successful, a distinct throb of
-pleasure is the result, which counts among our valuable
-enjoyments: when they fail, a painful and depressing
-state ensues. The more complicated operations of the
-will, as in adjusting many opposite interests, bring in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</span>
-the element of conflict, which is always painful and
-wasting. Two strong stimulants pointing opposite
-ways, as when a miser has to pay a high fee to the surgeon
-that saves his eyesight, occasion a fierce struggle
-and severe draft upon the physical supports of the feelings.</p>
-
-<p>Although the processes of feeling all involve a manifest,
-and it may be a serious, expenditure of physical
-power, which of course is lost to the purely physical
-functions; and although the extreme degrees of pleasure,
-of pain, or of neutral excitement, must be adverse
-to the general vigor; yet the presumption is, that we
-can afford a certain moderate share of all these without
-too great inroads on the other interests. It is the
-thinking or intellectual part of us that involves the
-heaviest item of expenditure in the physico-mental department.
-Any thing like a great or general cultivation
-of the powers of thought, or any occupation that
-severely and continuously brings them into play, will
-induce such a preponderance of cerebral activity, in oxidation
-and in nerve-currents, as to disturb the balance
-of life, and to require special arrangements for redeeming
-that disturbance. This is fully verified by all we
-know of the tendency of intellectual application to exhaust
-the physical powers, and to bring on early decay.</p>
-
-<p>A careful analysis of the operations of the intellect
-enables us to distinguish the kind of exercises that involve<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</span>
-the greatest expenditure, from the extent and
-the intensity of the cerebral occupation. I can but
-make a rapid selection of leading points:</p>
-
-<p>First. The mere exercise of the senses, in the way
-of attention, with a view to watch, to discriminate, to
-identify, belongs to the intellectual function, and exhausts
-the powers according as it is long continued, and
-according to the delicacy of the operation; the meaning
-of delicacy being that an exaggerated activity of the
-organ is needed to make the required discernment. To
-be all day on the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">qui vive</i> for some very slight and barely
-perceptible indications to the eye or the ear, as in
-catching an indistinct speaker, is an exhausting labor
-of attention.</p>
-
-<p>Secondly. The work of acquisition is necessarily a
-process of great nervous expenditure. Unintentional
-imitation costs least, because there is no forcing of reluctant
-attention. But a course of extensive and various
-acquisitions cannot be maintained without a large
-supply of blood to cement all the multifarious connections
-of the nerve-fibres, constituting the physical side
-of acquisition. An abated support of other mental functions,
-as well as of the purely physical functions, must
-accompany a life devoted to mental improvement,
-whether arts, languages, sciences, moral restraints, or
-other culture.</p>
-
-<p>Of special acquisitions, languages are the most apparently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</span>
-voluminous; but the memory for visible or pictorial
-aspects, if very high, as in the painter and the
-picturesque poet, makes a prodigious demand upon the
-plastic combinations of the brain.</p>
-
-<p>The acquisition of science is severe, rather than multifarious;
-it glories in comprehending much in little, but
-that little is made up of painful abstract elements, every
-one of which, in the last resort, must have at its beck a
-host of explanatory particulars: so that, after all, the
-burden lies in the multitude. If science is easy to a select
-number of minds, it is because there is a large spontaneous
-determination of force to the cerebral elements
-that support it; which force is supplied by the limited
-common fund, and leaves so much the less for other
-uses.</p>
-
-<p>If we advert to the moral acquisitions and habits in
-a well-regulated mind, we must admit the need of a large
-expenditure to build up the fabric. The carefully-poised
-estimate of good and evil for self, the ever-present
-sense of the interests of others, and the ready obedience
-to all the special ordinances that make up the morality
-of the time, however truly expressed in terms of high
-and abstract spirituality, have their counterpart in the
-physical organism; they have used up a large and definite
-amount of nutriment, and, had they been less
-developed, there would have been a gain of power to
-some other department, mental or physical.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</span></p>
-
-<p>Refraining from further detail on this head, I close
-the illustration by a brief reference to one other aspect
-of mental expenditure, namely, the department of intellectual
-production, execution, or creativeness, to which
-in the end our acquired powers are ministerial. Of
-course, the greater the mere continuance or amount of
-intellectual labor in business, speculation, fine art, or
-any thing else, the greater the demand on the <i>physique</i>.
-But amount is not all. There are notorious differences
-of severity or laboriousness, which, when closely examined,
-are summed up in one comprehensive statement—namely,
-the number, the variety, and the conflicting nature
-of the conditions that have to be fulfilled. By this
-we explain the difficulty of work, the toil of invention,
-the harassment of adaptation, the worry of leadership,
-the responsibility of high office, the severity of a lofty
-ideal, the distraction of numerous sympathies, the meritoriousness
-of sound judgment, the arduousness of any
-great virtue. The physical facts underlying the mental
-fact are a wide-spread agitation of the cerebral currents,
-a tumultuous conflict, a consumption of energy.</p>
-
-<p>It is this compliance with numerous and opposing
-conditions that obtains the most scanty justice in our
-appreciation of character. The unknown amount of
-painful suppression that a cautious thinker, a careful
-writer, or an artist of fine taste, has gone through, represents
-a great physico-mental expenditure. The regard<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</span>
-to evidence is a heavy drag on the wings of speculative
-daring. The greater the number of interests that
-a political schemer can throw overboard, the easier his
-work of construction. The absence of restraints—of
-severe conditions—in fine art, allows a flush and ebullience,
-an opulence of production, that is often called the
-highest genius. The Shakespearean profusion of images
-would have been reduced to one-half, if not less, by the
-self-imposed restraints of Pope, Gray, or Tennyson.
-So, reckless assertion is fuel to eloquence. A man of
-ordinary fairness of mind would be no match for the wit
-and epigram of Swift.</p>
-
-<p>And again. The incompatibility of diverse attributes,
-even in minds of the largest compass (which supposes
-equally large physical resources), belongs to the
-same fundamental law. A great mind may be great in
-many things, because the same kind of power may have
-numerous applications. The scientific mind of a high
-order is also the practical mind; it is the essence of reason
-in every mode of its manifestation—the true philosopher
-in conduct as well as in knowledge. On such a
-mind also, a certain amount of artistic culture may be
-superinduced; its powers of acquisition may be extended
-so far. But the spontaneous, exuberant, imaginative
-flow, the artistic nature at the core, never was, cannot
-be, included in the same individual. Aristotle could
-not be also a tragic poet; nor Newton a third-rate portrait-painter.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</span>
-The cost of one of the two modes of intellectual
-greatness is all that can be borne by the most
-largely-endowed personality; any appearances to the
-contrary are hollow and delusive.</p>
-
-<p>Other instances could be given. Great activity and
-great sensibility are extreme phases, each using a large
-amount of power, and therefore scarcely to be coupled
-in the same system. The active, energetic man, loving
-activity for its own sake, moving in every direction,
-wants the delicate circumspection of another man who
-does not love activity for its own sake, but is energetic
-only at the spur of his special ends.</p>
-
-<p>And once more. Great intellect as a whole is not
-readily united with a large emotional nature. The incompatibility
-is best seen by inquiring whether men of
-overflowing sociability are deep and original thinkers,
-great discoverers, accurate inquirers, great organizers in
-affairs; or whether their greatness is not limited to the
-spheres where feeling performs a part—poetry, eloquence,
-and social ascendency.</p>
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> For the fuller elaboration of the point here referred to, see Chapter
-VII., Professor Bain’s “Mind and Body”—an earlier volume in the present
-series.</p>
-
-</div>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="p4 center">THE END.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX">INDEX.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">Absorbed heat changed into chemical separation, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">into actual visible energy, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">into light and heat, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Acquisition, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Actinic rays, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Action and reaction equal and opposite, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Affinity, chemical, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Air and water in motion, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Albuminoids, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Amber, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Ampère, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Amyloids, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Ancients, their ideas not prolific, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Andrews, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Animal heat, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Animals, how they live, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Animals and inanimate machines, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Aristotle on a medium, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">on mind and body, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Atmospheric circulation, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Atomic forces and heat, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Atomic or chemical separation, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Atoms and molecules, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Attention, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Attraction, molecular, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">mutual, of atoms, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">and repulsion of magnets, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">of electric currents, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Bacon, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Battery of Grove, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Budding, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Caloric, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Carnivora, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Chemical affinity, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">and electrical attraction, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">and heat, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Chemical combination producing heat, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Chemical instability, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Chemical separation converted into electrical separation, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">into electricity in motion, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Chlorophyll, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Chrysalis, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Circulation of the atmosphere, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Clausius, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Cohesion, force of, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Cold apparently produced by the electric current, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Conduction of electricity, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Conservation, laws of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">theory of, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Crossbow and watch-spring, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Current, the electric, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">and magnetism, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">heating effect of, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">chemical effect of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Currents, electric, attraction and repulsion of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">induction of, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Dalton, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Davy, Sir Humphrey, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Democritus on atoms, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Descartes, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Diastase, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Disease-germs, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Dissipation of energy, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Dissociation, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Egg, development of the, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Electric current, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">and magnetism, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">heating effect of, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">chemical effect of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">induction, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Electrical attraction and chemical affinity, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Electrical separation, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">when produced, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">transmuted into visible motion, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">into electric current, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Electro-magnetism, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Elastic forces, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Electricity, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">vitreous and resinous, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">negative and positive, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">theory of, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">in motion, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">transmuted into visible motion, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">into heat, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">into chemical separation, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Encke’s comet, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Energies, list of, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>-<a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">natural, and their sources, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Energy, meaning of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>-<a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">of bodies in motion proportional to their weight or mass, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">proportional to the square of the velocity, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">of visible motion, its transmutation, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">visible, transformed into absorbed heat, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">dissipation of, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">transmutations of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">varies as the square of the velocity, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">of motion, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">transformed into electrical separation, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">of position, a sort of capital, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Equilibrium, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Etiolation, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Fermentation, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Food, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Force, vital, whence derived, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">physical, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">chemical, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">of chemical affinity, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">of cohesion, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Force, mechanical or molar, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">molecular, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Friction, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Heat, absorbed, changed into chemical separation, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">into electrical separation, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">into electricity in motion, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Heat-units of different substances, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Heat-motion, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Heat-engines, their essential conditions, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Helmholtz, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Heraclitus on energy, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Herbivora, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Heterogeneity essential in electrical development, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Huyghens, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Hydraulic press, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Inclined plane, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Incubation, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Individuals, our ignorance of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Induction, electric, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">of electric currents, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Instability, mechanical, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">chemical, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Intellectual labor, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Joule, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Joule’s experiments on work and heat, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Kilogrammetre, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Larva, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Latent heat, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Laws of conservation, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Life depends on the sun, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Light, a perpetual, impossible, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Lime, carbonate, easily decomposed, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-List of energies, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>-<a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Machines, their true function, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">animated and inanimate, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Magnets, attachment and repulsion of, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Maxwell, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Mayor, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Mechanical energy changed into heat, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">equivalent of heat, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">force, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">instability, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Mental forces, mutual correlations of, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>-<a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Mind, its correlations to natural forces, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>-<a href="#Page_227">227</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">and body, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Molar force, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Molecular attraction and heat, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">separation, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Molecules, ultimate, of matter, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">their motions, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">and atoms, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Motion changed into an electric current, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Muscular power, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Narcotic stimulants, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Negative and positive electricity, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Nerve power, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Newton, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Non-conductors of electricity, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Percussion, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Perpetual motion, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Physical force, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Plants growing at night, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Positive and negative electricity, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Protoplasm, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Pulleys, their function, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Radiant energy, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">converted into absorbed heat, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">promoting chemical separation, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Rankine, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Resinous and vitreous electricity, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Rotation of earth retarded, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Rumford, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Silver oxide readily decomposed, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Solar rays, decomposition by, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Sulphur, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Sun—a source of high-temperature heat, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Sun’s heat, origin of, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">spots, auroras, and cyclones correlated, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Tait, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Temperature of dissociation, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Thermo-electricity, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Thermopile, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Thomas Aquinas, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Thomson, William and James, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Tides, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Tissues, decay of, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Universe, its probable fate, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Units of heat and work, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Vegetation, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Velocity and energy, relation between, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Virtual velocities, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">principle of, its history, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Vital force, whence derived, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Vitality, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Vitreous and resinous electricity, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Voltaic current, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">and magnetism, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">heating effect of, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">chemical effect of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Water at high level, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Watt, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Wild’s electro-magnetic machine, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Will, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
-<li class="ifrst">
-Work, definition of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">unit of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</li>
-<li class="isuba">rise of true conceptions regarding, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li>
-</ul><ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">
-Yeast-plant, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>
-</ul>
-
-
-<p class="center p2">THE END.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter transnote">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber’s Notes</h2>
-
-
-<p>Errors in punctuation have been fixed.</p>
-
-<p><a href="#Page_60">Page 60</a>: “heterogenous bodies” changed to “heterogeneous bodies”</p>
-
-<p><a href="#Page_80">Page 80</a>: “Analagous to this” changed to “Analogous to this”</p>
-
-<p><a href="#Page_82">Page 82</a>: “etherial medium” changed to “ethereal medium”</p>
-
-<p><a href="#Page_157">Page 157</a>: “without occcasioned” changed to “without occasioned”</p>
-
-</div>
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY ***</div>
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