Transcriber’s Note: Boldface is indicated by =equals signs=, italics by _underscores_. SCIENCE IN SHORT CHAPTERS. BY W. MATTIEU WILLIAMS, F.R.A.S., F.C.S. AUTHOR OF “_The Fuel of the Sun_,” “_Through Norway with a Knapsack_,” “_A Simple Treatise on Heat_,” _etc._ NEW YORK: JOHN B. ALDEN, PUBLISHER. 1883. PREFACE. I am not aware that this reprint of some of my scattered notes and essays demands any apology. The practice of making such collections and selections by the author himself has now become very general, and is much better done thus than by friends after his death. Besides this, it supplies a growing want of these busy times, when so many of us are prevented by the struggles of business from sitting down to the consecutive systematic study of a formal treatise. I have kept this demand steadily in view throughout, by selecting subjects which are likely to be interesting to all readers who are sufficiently intelligent to prefer sober fact to sensational fiction, but who, at the same time, do not profess to be scientific specialists. In the writing of these papers my highest literary ambition has always been to combine clearness and simplicity with some attempt at philosophy. W. M. W. WILLESDEN, _September, 1882_. CONTENTS. PAGE The Fuel of the Sun 7 Dr. Siemens’ Theory of the Sun 38 Another World Down Here 41 The Origin of Lunar Volcanoes 50 Note on the Direct Effect of Sun-Spots on Terrestrial Climates 56 The Philosophy of the Radiometer and its Cosmical Revelations 59 On the Social Benefits of Paraffin 65 The Solidity of the Earth 72 A Contribution to the History of Electric Lighting 75 The Formation of Coal 88 The Solar Eclipse of 1871 93 Meteoric Astronomy 104 The “Great Ice Age” and the Origin of the “Till” 112 The Barometer and the Weather 140 The Chemistry of Bog Reclamation 159 Aerial Exploration of the Arctic Regions 170 The Limits of our Coal Supply 189 “The Englishman’s Fireside” 213 “Baily’s Beads” 221 The Coloring of Green Tea 223 “Iron Filings” in Tea 227