Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1870-07-08
Natures Elevator

"WHAT goes up must come down." we
bows used to sing in one of our youthful
games. The converse, what comes down
must have gone up, or have been forced
up, leads to the consideration of some OF
the most stupendous operations OF nature.
On all hands we may see these opera
tions proceeding in silent grandeur.
Masses of matter, which, aggregated, be-
come almost inconcelvable in magnitude,
are constantly moved upward from the
earth's surface, to descend in due time;
again to be raised and again to fall: 80
the ponderous engine of nature oscillates
constantly, without falteriDg, yet it moves
so quietly and with so little friction, that
only occasionally, when the thunder
shakes the earth, or the hurricane ravages
the land and sea, do we note the tremen-
dous power of the common natural forces,
which, in the calm summer day or the
winters storm, are always at work about
us.
The water constantly accumulating in
the air descends and fills the rivers. We
see and wonder at the aggregated power
of these torrents as they impetuously
rush toward the sea, learing preclpices
and sweeping every obstacle before them
| but we do not realize the great truth that
all the while the silent force OF solar heat
is transporting to the clouds as much
water as the rivers are carrying down.
We stand by some mountain side whose
forests are being felled and transported
| to the valleys, without rejecting that all
this vast mass of material was carried up,
molecule by molecule, in the atmosphere
and in the sap, until its accumulation be-
came so great as to be demanded for the
uses of mankind.
The unseen power that does all this
work is solar heat Where there is life
there is heat" and it would seems that
heat is essential to all life. At least, we
cannot conceive of life without heat and
so intimately connected are heat and mass
melton thai it is difficult to conceive OF
them as other than co-existent
Heat is the great prime mover; all else
is secondary in natural as well as artlnclal
mechanics. Does falling water turn our
Wheelss Heat raised the water hrst.
Does wood or coal generate our steamg
Solar heat stored up the carbon which
constitutes the bulk of that fuel, and set
the rivers running and the winds blow
ing, by which we transport it to our fur
naces Do we employ animals to carry
our burdensP The food which nourishes
them and enables them to perform Ia
Dor, was collected by the action OF the
solar heat. -,
We find, then, all life, all motion, all
work, traceable to the power OF solar
heat. This is the great mechanical en-
CINE employed by nature to keep every
thing running. To day bold inventors
are endeavoring to bring this heat into
direct subsection as motor, but should
they succeed, 30 that coal, wood, peat, or
other fuel should no longer be needed to
impel machinery, they will only have
eliminated few terms of the great me-
chanical equation. 1t is the sun that does
the work on the water-wheel and in the
steam boiler, as truly as in Ericssons
solar engine.
And In the present state OF science
there is little doubt, that not only me-
chanical energy, but every other form OF
terrestrial energy included in the cate,
CORY of force, may be ultimately traced
TO the sun AS its source. The sun is, In
this view, the great central motor of the
solar system. From whence it derives its
power, what constantly maintains its
heat, is one of the grandest problems sci
ence has ever grappled with, and one
which is not yet solved.-Sctentyio An'sTE-
can.