The Earth: Its Physical Condition and Most Remarkable Phenomena |
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
action activity agent amount animals appearance atmosphere attend attraction beds bodies called causes character circumstances clouds colour combination condition consequently considerable considered containing continued currents determine direction distance earth effects electricity elevation entirely equal eruption evidence existence experiments fact fall feet fluid force formed frequently give given greater heat height important increase influence instance intensity knowledge known lakes land laws less light liquid magnetic mass matter mean measure metal miles mind motion mountain nature necessary object observed ocean opinion origin particles passing period phenomena philosophers poles portion position present pressure principle probably produced proportion proved quantity rain rays received relation remains remarkable result rise rivers rocks says seen side situated sometimes sound substances sufficient supposed surface temperature theory tion vapour volcanic
Popular passages
Page 125 - Or hear'st thou rather pure ethereal stream, Whose fountain who shall tell ? before the sun, Before the heavens thou wert, and at the voice Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest The rising world of waters dark and deep, Won from the void and formless infinite.
Page 83 - It seems possible to account for all the phenomena of heat, if it be supposed that in solids the particles are in a constant state of vibratory motion, the particles of the hottest bodies moving with the greatest velocity, and through the greatest space; that in fluids and elastic fluids, besides the vibratory motion, which must be conceived greatest in the last, the particles have a motion round their own axes, with different velocities...
Page 99 - Sometime, we see a cloud that's dragonish, A vapour, sometime, like a bear, or lion, A tower'd citadel, a pendant rock, A forked mountain, or blue promontory With trees upon't, that nod unto the world, And mock our eyes with air: thou hast seen these signs; They are black vesper's pageants.
Page 83 - ... lower temperature — that is, can give an expansive motion to its particles — it is a probable inference that its own particles are possessed of motion ; but as there is no change in the position of its parts, as long as its...
Page 83 - The immediate cause of the phenomenon of heat, then, is motion ; and the laws of its communication are precisely the same as the laws of the communication of motion.
Page 123 - Brightens his crest. As when a wandering fire, Compact of unctuous vapour, which the night Condenses, and the cold environs round, Kindled through agitation to a flame, Which oft, they say, some evil spirit attends, Hovering and blazing with delusive light, Misleads the amazed night-wanderer from his way To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool ; There swallowed up and lost, from succour far...
Page 99 - That which is now a horse, even with a thought The rack dislimns, and makes it indistinct, As water is in water.
Page 343 - THE HISTORICAL WORKS of the Rev. WILLIAM ROBERTSON, DD ; comprising his HISTORY OF AMERICA; CHARLES V.; SCOTLAND; and INDIA. In 3 vols. 8vo. With plates.
Page 41 - Venus a pea, on a circle of 284 feet in diameter ; the Earth also a pea, on a circle of 430 feet ; Mars a rather large pin's head, on a circle of 654 feet ; the Asteroids, grains of sand, in orbits of from 1000 to 1200 feet; Jupiter a moderate-sized orange, in a circle nearly half a mile across...
Page 83 - Temperature may be conceived to depend upon the velocities of the vibrations; increase of capacity on the motion being performed in greater space ; and the diminution of temperature during the conversion of solids into fluids or gases, may be explained on the idea of the loss of vibratory motion, in consequence of the revolution of particles round their axes, at the moment when the body becomes fluid or aeriform, or from the loss of rapidity of vibration in consequence of the motion of the particles...