The Hawaiian gazette., 1870-11-16

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silty Of trying to convey bis oxn impression BY
any extravagauce u description Of comparison
The wonder must lie IN tie Consideration Of az
thentic measuremenls which are lsfi 10 tel their
own story.
The public may not share the interest a. The
professional observer in such matters. bat orr opn
planet is too infimately connected with these phss
nomena not to make them claim some interest
from allofus. Why these magnetic needles move
responsivelg to these great changes in the sun Dr.
why aurOras win light upour winter sky, AZ ih-
tervals more frequently repeated as this solar &C
tion is more violent, are questions whish astrouo-
my is now trying to answer The hct that they
do 50 is certain :. the cause is still wholly an
known to science
TINS SuSs RAp1ASr HEAr--R RE,, Ark kh1z Ez-.
FkaIiaEsrs. Engineering and lhnl.g J0ag-
nal contains a drawing Of : ealorimessr Gun
trived BY Capt John Ericsson. who says; ~.
Preliminary experiments, conducted very care
fully having disclosed the The startling fact that
the real intensity ef solar radiation marks point
on the thermometic ic scale several hundred degrees
below the freezing boint Of water. resorted to
the sxpedient Of concentrating the suns rays By
such method that the degree Of eo1csnirafiag
could be accurately measured. investigations con
ducted in conformity with this method Of de-
termining the true intensity Of the radiant heat
proved the Temperatures to be nearly identical
with that shown by the preliminary experiments
referred to-, The extraordinary fact was Accord
ipglz established that the intensity Of the snnis
rays before gaining by terrestrial tradition Is no
feeble that fluid mercury contained ia an exhaus.
ted shallow vessel covered WITH Il thin lens 81
about so inches focus, and exposed to ths full
power Of clear sun, win very rapidly become
solid. provided the vessehis prevented from re-
cefyihg heat from surrounding substances. V
little whether the molecular action within the
mass Of mercury necessary to keepit 10 faid
state is checked by the slower undulations Of the
ray, as waves of rapid motion are checked By
mingling with waves Of less motion /; or Whethss
the molecular action within the mass Of msrcury
is communicated to the surrounding cold vessel
In either case the reduced molecular force within
the freezing mercury proves the inadequacy Of the
action produced by the suns rays to maintain the
metal in fluid state I.t
Incidentally the experiments thus instituted
to demonstrate the feeble power Of solar radia-
ton before its intensity is augmented b. the in
terventiou Of the earth's atmosphere have estab-
shed the fact that the surface Of the moon, beng
devoid of any gaseous envelope is at all tines.
even uuder the vertical sun Of The long lamar day,
intensely cold sfssl ~. -. .s,..s ~,
object 70 the ipieranees Ehieh Pouillet, Aay-
er and others have dpWu,fronl our knowledge Of
the dynamic force Of solar radiation on > given
surface Of the earth. Unquestionably thsamount
of heat transferred from ne sur % the earth may
be Accurately COMPUTED BY means Of the sol2f ealO-
rimeter but to infer from the point thas estab-
lished that the san paris with rs great an amount
of heat in all directions oman equal area as that
which the earth duringits orbital'notiOu receives
by intsrceptng and sueesssiyely .arresting theso-
lar wave is a,mere gratuitoas assumption. The
practical mind refuses 70 accept theory which
involves such vast dispropOrtion between he
means and the end as the assumption that ZOO
coo 900 times more heat Is wasted tha= that
which isenplcyed TO animate the planetary words
Of our system, more especially as iupr0babIs and
estravsgant. not to say absurd. speealasions which
have been put forth by Magero Helmh0llz. ard
others all fail to suggest any none q supplying,
the assumed enormous waste which does, not
point to speedy extinction Of the eentral force.
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