The Life of William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs, Volume 1Macmillan, 1910 |
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Agamemnon apparatus Atlantic Telegraph Atlantic Telegraph Company battery Blackburn British Association brother cable Cambridge Carnot coils conductor Cookson copper Crum David Thomson DEAR diamagnetic Dynamics earth Edinburgh elasticity electric electrometer energy engine examination experimental experiments Faraday father fluid force friction galvanometer give Glasgow gutta-percha heat Helmholtz hope Hopkins induction instruments investigation James Thomson Joule Joule's June laboratory laws lectures letter Liouville London Lord Kelvin magnetic mathe Mathematical Journal matical mechanical effect meeting memoir ment miles mirror mirror galvanometer motion Natural Philosophy P. G. TAIT paper Paris PETER'S COLLEGE Peterhouse physical present principles problems Professor received Regnault reply result Royal Society scientific sent signals Sir William Thomson Smith's Prize Tait tell temperature theory thermodynamic Thomson wrote Thornliebank tion University University of Glasgow Valencia week Whitehouse wire Wrangler write
Popular passages
Page 246 - ... and seldom sincerely to give a true account of their gift of reason to the benefit and use of men: as if there were sought in knowledge a couch whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit; or a terrace for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect; or a tower of state, for a proud mind to raise itself upon; or a fort or commanding ground, for strife and contention; or a shop, for profit or sale; and not a rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the...
Page 245 - But the greatest error of all the rest, is the mistaking or misplacing of the last or farthest end of knowledge : for men have entered into a desire of learning and knowledge, sometimes upon a natural curiosity, and inquisitive appetite ; sometimes to entertain their minds with variety and delight ; sometimes for ornament and reputation ; and sometimes to enable them to victory of wit and contradiction ; and most times for lucre and profession...
Page 242 - Again, for the pleasure and delight of knowledge and learning, it far surpasseth all other in nature ; for, shall the pleasures of the affections so exceed the senses, as much as the obtaining of desire or victory exceedeth a song or a dinner ; and must not, of consequence, the pleasures of the intellect or understanding exceed the pleasures of the affections ? We see in all other pleasures there is satiety, and. after they be used, their verdure departeth ; which showeth well...
Page 534 - The Author of nature has not given laws to the universe which, like the institutions of men, carry in themselves the elements of their own destruction. He has not permitted in His works any symptom of infancy or of old age, or any sign by which we may estimate either their future or their past duration.
Page 312 - ... the potential energy of gravitation may be in reality the ultimate created antecedent of all motion, heat, and light at present existing in the universe.* [.WT] * Trans Roy.
Page 278 - It is impossible by means of inanimate material agency to derive mechanical effect from any portion of matter by cooling it below the temperature of the coldest of the surrounding objects.
Page 277 - When equal quantities of mechanical effect are produced by any means whatever from purely thermal sources, or lost in purely thermal effects, equal quantities of heat are put out of existence or are generated.
Page 259 - It was in the year 1843 that I read a paper ' On the Calorific Effects of Magneto-Electricity and the Mechanical Value of Heat ' to the chemical section of the British Association assembled at Cork. With the exception of some eminent men, among whom I recollect with pride Dr.
Page 8 - Go, wondrous creature! mount where Science guides; Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides; Instruct the planets in what orbs to run, Correct old Time, and regulate the sun; Go, soar with Plato to th...
Page 291 - At all events we must admire the sagacity of Thomson, who, in the letters of a long known little mathematical formula, which only speaks of the heat, volume, and pressure of bodies, was able to discern consequences which threatened the universe, though certainly after an infinite period of time, with eternal death.