Buffon's Natural History. Volume 10 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &cBuffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 10 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
But be this valuation as it may, there can be no doubt of the truth
of these facts which we have drawn from our observations, for in the
same manner as we found, from the comparison of 56 successive years,
the heat of summer at Paris 1026, or 26 degrees above the freezing
point, we also found, with the same thermometers, that the heat in
summer was 1026 in every climate of the earth, from the equator to
the polar circle;[K] at Madagascar, in the islands of France and
Bourbon, Roderigo, Siam, and the East-Indies; at Algiers, Malta,
Cadiz, Montpelier, Lyons, Amsterdam, Upsal, Petersburgh, and as far
as Lapland, near the polar circle. At Cayenne, Peru, Martinico,
Carthagena in America; at Panama; in short, in all the climates of
the two hemispheres and continents where observations could be made,
it has been constantly found that the liquor of the thermometer rose
equally to 25, 26, or 27 degrees in the hottest days in summer; and
hence ensues the incontestible fact of the equality of heat in summer
in all climates of the earth. There are indeed some exceptions, for
at Senegal, and some few other places, the thermometer rises 5 or 6
degrees higher, to 31 or 32 degrees; but that arises from accidental
and local causes, which do not alter the truth of the observations,
nor the certainty of the general fact, which alone might demonstrate
to us, that there really exists a very great heat in the terrestrial
globe, that the effect, or the emanations, of which are nearly equal
in all the points of its surface, and that the sun, very far from
being the only sphere of heat which animates nature, is at best only
the regulator. This important fact, which we consign to posterity,
will enable it to discover the real progression of the diminution of
the heat of the terrestrial globe, which we have been only able to
determine in a hypothetical manner. In a few centuries, I am confident
it will be found that the greatest heat of summer, instead of raising
the liquor of the thermometer to 26, will not raise it to more than 25,
or 24; and from this effect, which is the result of all the combined
causes, a judgment may be formed of the value of each of the particular
causes, which produce the total effect of heat on the surface of
the globe; for the heat which belongs to the earth, and which it
has possessed from the time of incadescence, has very considerably
diminished, and will continue to diminish with the course of time: this
heat is independent of that which comes from the sun; the latter may
be looked upon as constant, and consequently in futurity will make a
greater compensation than at present. To the loss of this innate heat
of the globe there are two other particular causes, which may add a
considerable quantity of heat to the effect of the two first, the only
ones we have as yet taken notice of.
[K] See the Memoirs of Rheaumur in those of the Academy (year 1735 and
1741), and also of the Memoirs of M. de Mairan in those of the year
1765, p. 213.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account