The Correlation and Conservation of Forces: A Series of ExpositionD. Appleton, 1876 - 438 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
according æther amount of heat animal appear assume asteroid atmosphere attraction become binary compounds bodies carbonic acid cause centimetres chemical action chemical affinity combination combustion compounds conservation of force correlation definite degree direction distance duced dynamical earth effect electric current electricity equal equivalent ether existence expansion experiments expression fact fall fluid friction glass gravity greater hydrogen increase instance iron Joule kilogrammes latent latent heat liquid magnetism mass matter mechanical force metal metres mode of force molecular move nature ordinary organic original oxygen particles perpetual motion phenomena Phil physical piston planets plate platinum polarised portion present principle produced quantity of heat question radiation raised rays regard relation rotation solar space specific heat substance sun's supposed surface temperature theory tion Trans tricity vapour velocity vis viva viva voltaic voltaic arc weight wire zinc zodiacal light
Popular passages
Page 368 - That gravity should be innate, inherent, and essential to matter, so that one body may act upon another at a distance through a vacuum, without the mediation of anything else, by and through which their action and force may be conveyed from one to another, is to me so great an. absurdity, that I believe no man who has in philosophical! matters a competent faculty of thinking, can ever fall into it.
Page xxxvi - How this metamorphosis takes place — how a force existing as motion, heat, or light, can become a mode of consciousness — how it is possible for aerial vibrations to generate the sensation we call sound, or for the forces liberated by chemical changes in tho brain to give rise to emotion — these are mysteries which it is impossible to fathom.
Page 80 - Yet nature is made better by no mean, But nature makes that mean: so, o'er that art, Which you say adds to nature, is an art That nature makes. You see, sweet maid, we marry A gentler scion to the wildest stock, And make conceive a bark of baser kind By bud of nobler race: this is an art Which does mend nature, — change it rather; but The art itself is nature.
Page xxxvi - ... liberated by chemical changes in the brain to give rise to emotion — these are mysteries which it is impossible to fathom. But they are not profounder mysteries than the transformations of the physical forces into each other. They are not more completely beyond our comprehension than the natures of Mind and Matter. They have simply the same insolubility as all other ultimate questions. We can learn nothing more than that here is one of the uniformities in the order of phenomena.
Page xxiii - It is hardly necessary to add that anything which any insulated body, or system of bodies, can continue to furnish without limitation cannot possibly be a material substance: and it appears to me to be extremely difficult, if not quite impossible, to form any distinct idea of anything, capable...
Page 234 - If our earth were by a sudden shock brought to rest in her orbit — which is not to be feared in the existing arrangement of our system — by such a shock a quantity of heat would be generated equal to that produced by the combustion of fourteen such earths of solid coal. Making the most unfavourable assumption as to its capacity for heat — that is, placing it equal to that of water — the mass of the earth would thereby be heated 11,200 degrees ; it would, therefore, be quite fused, and for...
Page 19 - Essay, it would be going too far, at present, to assume their identity with it; I therefore use the term force in reference to them, as meaning that active principle inseparable •from matter which is supposed to induce its various changes.
Page 246 - ... the time during which the earth carried successive series of rank plants and mighty animals, and no men ; during which in our neighbourhood the amber-tree bloomed, and dropped its costly gum on the earth and in the sea; when in Siberia, Europe and North America groves of tropical palms flourished ; where gigantic lizards, and after them elephants, whose mighty remains we still find buried in the earth, found a home? Different geologists, proceeding from different premises, have sought to estimate...
Page 122 - Venus is nearer to the sun than the earth, that planet is hotter than our globe. The force emitted by the sun may take a different character at the surface of each different planet, and require different organisms or senses for its appreciation. Myriads of organised beings may exist imperceptible to our vision, even if we were among them...
Page 215 - The expenditure of force will, in the first place, other circumstances being equal, be proportioned to the weight of the hammer ; it .will, for example, be double when the weight of the hammer is doubled. But the action of the hammer depends not upon its weight alone, but also upon the height from which it falls. If it falls through two feet, it will produce a greater effect than if it falls through only one foot. It is, however, clear that if the machine, with a certain expenditure of force, lifts...