The Chautauquan, Vol. 05, April 1885Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Philosophy
The Chautauquan, Vol. 05, April 1885
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
P. 185.—“Mont Cenis,” mōⁿᵍ sŭh-nē. This tunnel under the Alps is in
reality some sixteen miles from Mont Cenis, whose name it bears. The
first mine was fired in 1857, and for four years the piercing was done
by hand; the need of a quicker method led to the invention of a machine
drill—a perforating machine worked by compressed air. The work was
carried on by day and night, from both sides of the mountains, until the
two bodies of workmen met, December 26, 1870. The tunnel was opened for
railway travel September 17, 1871. Its length is nearly eight miles, and
the cost of the tunnel was $15,000,000.
“St. Gotˈhard.” This tunnel is also through the Alps. The length is nine
and one fourth miles. Its construction was begun in 1872, and it was
completed in eight years.
P. 189.—“Phosphorus ne-croˈsis.” The latter term is derived from a Greek
word, meaning to make dead, to mortify, and is a disease which attacks
bony tissues, as gangrene effects the soft parts. “The acid fumes
thrown off from phosphorus in the various processes of making matches,
frequently cause among the people employed a terrible disease, which
attacks the teeth and jaws.… Its natural course is to rot the entire jaw
bone away.”
P. 190.—“Al-lŏtˈro-pĭsm.” Dana says allotropism is “the property of
existing in two or more conditions which are distinct in their physical
or chemical relations. Thus, carbon occurs crystallized in octahedron,
and other related forms, in a state of extreme hardness, in the diamond;
it occurs in hexagonal forms, and of little hardness, in black lead; and
again occurs in a third form, with entire softness, in lamp-black and
charcoal. In some cases one of these is peculiarly an active state, and
the others a passive one. Thus, ozone is an active state of oxygen, and
is distinct from ordinary oxygen, which is the element in its passive
state.”
P. 194.—“Chemicking,” kemˈik-ing.
P. 203.—Translation of French sentence: “This last virtue I believe it
still to possess, if the husband is rich enough to buy the jewel which
his wife is ambitious to own.”
P. 217.—“Boussingault,” booˌsănˈgoˌ; Jean Baptiste. A noted French
chemist of this century.
NOTES ON REQUIRED READINGS IN “THE CHAUTAUQUAN.”
ARISTOTLE.
1. “Schoolmen.” Philosophers and divines who in the middle ages adopted
the principles of Aristotle and dwelt much upon abstract speculation.
Scholasticism was a philosophy of dogmas. “Its elements were doctrines
which the authority of the church made indisputable,” and which were
looked upon as absolute truth. Facts in nature were set aside and an
artificial, logical scheme developed. Scholiasts thought experiment only
fit to follow and illustrate theories.
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