New-York tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1841-1842, 1841-12-22

severe q shock-which "a not the cas- Ii vas
an then that il performed no s1her psrt than 10
carry the influence 10 the inner surface OF the Jar
He then coated this inner surface and Ms expert
ulent was completely successful He then went
step iarthsr and ascert-ined that the form OF the
as was unessentiaI; Tor metal being laid upon
ach SIDE OF a common pane OF glass, the expert
meut was a successful in this i the o,aer
TEES, ieveloDements wore the work of consiiera-
bic tine and involved the experience OF the first
rnisIs of TIE day. So difficult was 1t to find thls
single grain of truth.
These Experiments al Lcyden soon reached L.n-
don and we're communicated 10 Franklin who re-
peaed them ana endeavored to explain the results
BY his theory.
DR.. LARSSER here announced that Tor lack OF
tine he should postpone the conclusion Of the sub
iect OF Electricity until til, next evening and then
after an niern-son OF fifteen minutes proceeded
to remark a: fellows upon
The Sus
The subject from Astronomy. Ladies and Gentle
men, Nh CO have chosen Tor ISIS evening Lee
ure i The Sug- object than which there Is
none more familiar and about which tsete Is We,
such lack Of correct knowledge. This .ignor-
ance, it | mast Use unplcasiug term, by nc
means confined to popular assemblies, sirce II i
only Ten or twelve years since the most remarkable
circumstance concerning the Scs. and the one
when first strikes attention. has been kuowa
even BY philosophers. You are all familiar with the
observation OF persons but lite vcrsed in As,rOno
nv. that .ne san is nearer 10 the Earth III winter
than in sumner, n truth easily explained by he
fact that the Earth moves IN an oval orbit, he Sun
being in one OF the two foci. The Earth passes
through that portion OF lis orbit which i nearest
h. Sun dursg the winter months; and as the dis
lance dmni>hes, it O, clear that the Sun IN gireA
time mpar.- more heat in winter than in summer
The reverse will evidently be the in the other
hemisphere This subject was not investigated
thoroughly until about ten yenrs since. PoISsoN,
a French philosopher. CLOSELY sitled the question
and has shown that the heat does not vary merely
with ;he change of distance and that there is no
more neat impaired in winter than in summer.
This fact remained unexplained unul 1890. 80 that
we may that whatever reproach attaches 10 ig-
norancc this subject philosophers are By no
means free from it, Poisson said-irue the Earth
is nearer the sun from Autumn until Spring than
from Spring Till Auiumn therefore IN glren time
'hs Sun viii inpart more heat during the formcr
han the latter space Bstit must be bonrc in min!
that the Earth takes shorter time in passing
around Us Winter than its Summer circuit; and
although the heat per item is greater VIXEN the
Earth Is arcSt than when most distant from the
sun, siil the number of days Is less: the quaniit!
give II during segment will be- greater lhaa dur
ing the other because TIE number OF DAYS occupied
in passing Is grcaer.
Poisson, 10y an ingenious mathematical analysis,
showed tina, these two Influences compensate each
other; that the increase of heat caused by the
dninujion OF distance is corrected by the acceera
ton in notion. Thus time and space mutually
l.
non that m.re heat is impaired 10 the earth in
winter than in summer: the amount being Just
the same.
Now tie real source of greater heat during the
srxmer arises not fron any change in the distance
bat from tni.: that the rays fall more perpendcu-
arly upo the surface al season than nj tn
other. If the rays of light be supposed TO fall
upoa board placed cbIiquely 70 them, the sur
face will receive only portion ot the rnys; while
Il it be placed in direction perpendicular To that
of the rays. 1t will receive the whole. The sam
Mods irue of heat and carrying 1t out with respect
20 the Earn, that during the summer the
north pole eQns toward the Sun, and hi. beams
tll nearly perpendicular upon the surface in wiz
tel the pole Is turned away, and the rays fall
obiiquely.
Thi- principle expllins wig there is mare heat
in summer than in winter. There Is one other
point OF some interest in popular explanation OF
tins subject You would naturally suppose, from
what have said, that the day when the Sum
avs fl. in a direction exactly perpendicuiar upon
he Earth. must If necessity be the hottest day.
II perpcndi u rity and proximity be the sole cause,
of variation in temperature then the hottest day
should be the longrst--the list day OF JIae But
this i. not so the hottest days do not occur until
the d0g days considerably later than the 2lst oil
June. This, then. appears incompatible with the
principle Just stated. lhi, point requires eHPlana-
ton winch may easily be gi'en. The heat OF the
weather dcpeuds altogether on the obliqnity OF
the Sua's rays. The heat on a glren day depends
on its 90 Equity; but if take the Earth from
sunrise one day to sunrise the next, we md that
durisg the day the Sun deposits upon the bartA
and all objects upon is surface certain amount
Of heat watch during the night, i, more or less
completely dis-ipated. \. IN midsummer the
aishts are shorter than the days, the loss during
the nieh i not 20 great - the acquisition during
the day so that during tie twenty.iour hours Inefe
j. on the - Aoe acqul.tIon OF heat. win I'M
acquisition the next day commences, durinS "hlch
the same process l. gone through Win, and another
cortain ar5unt OF h-a, is acquired during the day
over the loss during the night Tho same thing
o.cucs during every day while the highs ae
-hortet than the days. We thus may keep debt
and credit account between day and nignt-the
balance bling in favor # aeat. This would Only
continue wuile The loss during the night was less
than the acquisition during the day and utter the
nights became logger and the days gradually
,a,rter this would 10 pass, that the heat loei
1urin- The night woald just equal thar deposited
during the day and our balance would oe nothing
rnen would occur the hottest day, and this 'ak''
place during the dog days. The same reasoning
would evi4enily apply the GOODNESS OF the winter
months The 2lst OF December, which l. me
.bor.cst. +, not the codes, day The degree of
cold !. e1ueI 10 the excess OF the loss Of hea,
during the nigh, over tue increase during the day.
-rne halane..- !. .hrls in favor OF the cold