The reason why : $b a careful collection of many hundreds of reasons for things which, though generally believed, are imperfectly understood. A book of condensed scientific knowledge for the million — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The reason why : $b a careful collection of many hundreds of reasons for things which, though generally believed, are imperfectly understood. A book of condensed scientific knowledge for the million
John Stuart Mill · en
And at the depth of 100 miles there is a temperature equal to the
greatest artificial heat yet observed; a temperature capable of
fusing platina, porcelain, and indeed every refractory substance we
are acquainted with. These temperatures are calculated from Guyton
Morveau's corrected scale of Wedgwood's pyrometer; and if we adopt
them, we find that the earth is fluid at the depth of 100 miles from
the surface, and that even in its present state very little more than
the soil on which we tread is fit for the habitation of organised
beings."
The above is to be found in Mr. Timbs's "Things not Generally Known,"
a little book which professes to set people right upon points on which
they are in error!
[Verse: "He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he
hath sent empty away."--LUKE I.]
Upon this subject Mr. Hunt, in his "Poetry of Science," says:--
1336. "A question of great interest, in a scientific point of view, is
the temperature of the centre of the earth. We are, of course, without
the means of solving this problem; but we advance a little way onwards
in the inquiry by a careful examination of subterranean temperature
at such depths as the enterprise of man enables us to reach. These
researches show us, that where the mean temperature of the climate is
50 deg., the temperature of the rock at 59 fathoms from the surface is
60 deg.; at 132 fathoms it is 70 deg; at 239 fathoms it is 80 deg.;
being an increase of 10 deg. at 59 fathoms deep, or 1 deg. in 35.4
feet; of 10 deg. more at 73 fathoms deeper, or 1 deg. in 43.8 feet; and
of 10 deg. more at 114 fathoms still deeper, or 1 deg. in 64.2 feet.
Although this would indicate an increase to a certain depth of about
one degree in every fifty feet, yet it would appear that the rate of
increase diminishes with the depth. It appears therefore probable, that
the heat of the earth, so far as man can examine it, is due to the
absorption of the solar rays by the surface. The evidences of intense
igneous action at a great depth cannot be denied, but the doctrine of
a cooling mass, and of the existence of an incandescent mass, at the
earth's centre, remains but one of those guesses which active minds
delight in."
Upon the subject of _hunger_ and _thirst_, by which living creatures
are prompted to feast upon the bounties of nature, Sir Charles Bell
says, in "Appendix to Paley's Natural Theology:"--