Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-01-11
HOT AND COLD.
RN SCuEIE DE WIRE.


ing been the chief ruler of an empire,
traces our race back to the age when
dragons and megatheriums dwelt OH our
earth. The third, Desor, still lives on
those heights; in his beautiful villa, in
the Jura Mountains, he assemblies every
summer a circle of valued friends, and
Combe- Varin, with its twenty-four guest
chambers, often shelters, as it did last
year at the same time, the President of
the Swiss Confederacy, famous sdCdt
from the East Indies, a diamond mer
chant from Brazil and an illustrious states
man of our Union. They came to rest |
from their labors; to enjoy the healthful |
air of the Alps, which is cool and bracing, /
while the plain is painting in the fierce /
summer heat; to inhale the perfume of /
vast pine forests, and to do honor to their /
hosts most excellent cellar. But even /
their leisure hours and their friendly chat |
are constantly bearing much precious |
fruit, and the result of many lively dis |
cussion is carefully copied into gigan- !
tic album, from which annually extracts /
are made and published in Swiss journals
1t was at one of these delightful re-
unions, where all restraint is banished,
and all ceremony laid aside, that great
SoraRt suddenly asked why the tempera
ture on a mountain top should be lower
than on the plain, since the summit was
surely SO many thousand feet nearer TO
the sun than the valley. His compan-
ions were astonished to find that, while
all admitted or knew the fact, none had
ever tried to ascertain the reason. There
upon they discussed the question, and
this was the result:
The ray of heat, which comes from the
distant sun, has to pass through more than
ninety millions of miles of space before it
reaches the atmosphere of the earl ord
then begins to lose its hnr' i, ',', "' a'.a
through the low "S =! 10 p"''e
-, uenser than the upper part. A ray,
! therefore, which strikes an object dt a
| height of six thousand feet above the sea,
/ must lie mitch warmer than another ray
which reaches the surface of the earth
six thousand feet lower. This theoretic
view has been proven by actual expert
ment: the temperature on the great pla-
teau of Mont Blanc, nearly nine thousand
! feet above the valley, was found to be
higher than that near the village of Cha
mouniX, at its foot. Hence the sun is actu-
ally hotter on the summit, and must heat
the soil more effectually there than below
in the plain. This, also, is easily proven
by facts. Persons who ascend the Alps,
and, heated by the effort, sit down in
f1owery Alpine meadow, can do so with
the valley the same proceeding would in
evitably cause discomfort, and most like
ly bring on an attack of rheumatism. A
thermometer sunk into the ground on the
Faulhorn, twenty-six hundred and eighty
meters above the sea, was observed during
many weeks, and showed, invariably, a
higher temperature than the soil of the
valley This heated state of the soil pro-
duces several striking effects on the ply
sical geography of the Alps. The snow
always melts not when the sun shines on
it, but from below, by the warmth of the
soil. The foot, placed upon the edge of
glacier or snow-feld, crushes the thin
crust, and shows underneath a hollow
space, where snow and ice have long since
melted away. Huge vaults and caves OF
ice shelter, not unfrequently, large mum.
bers of bright flowers under their crystal
roof, and the vast glaciers move and slide
. down the mountain slope, merely because
their foot, the lower part which touches
the ground, melts gradually away by con
, tact with the heated soil. More than ter
thousand feet above the sea, tiny snow
) mouse sleeps through the fearful winter
, securely sheltered in little holes less thar
an inch below the surface 1t is differ
ent in SpitZbergen, where the snow cover:
:, the ground throughout the year; there NJ
' animal life is possible, and even the mum
: Der of phanerogams is quite insignificant
And yet it is cooler upon high noun
tains than below? Yes; for this heat
quickly given, is also quickly lost, since
u radiation is far more active there, while
: the plain is sheltered under an immense
u layer of air, which prevents, to certain
" degree, the loss of the heat which ha'
!, been accumulated during the day. A
slight cover excluding the air suffices tt
: protect men at great heights even, anC
some Alpine explorers slept comfortably
} night after night upon the highest anC
u bleakest parts of Mont Blanc with NJ
d other protection than plank upon th
;. snow below, and a canvas tent overhead
9 Nevertheless, everything in Nature lose
{ heat at night, when the sun is no longe
L OF work warming us with its benign rays
men, animals, plants, and the air itself
all cool off and return large part of tn
d heat they have accumulated during tn
y day The very fact that the rarefied al
1t on mountain-tops allows the soil there to b
heated higher than in the plains, allow
+ also more active radiation, and hence
!. greater loss of heat at night This i
aided, moreover, by the immense amour
e of moisture held by the soil at such ele
y vation; rain, mists, and melting snow, al
! Is sink into the ground and saturate
throughout the whole year. What we fee
d d when, upon coming out of bath, ligh
)" wind blows upon and suddenly chills us
the damp mountainsOil experiences con
tinually, for here almost perpetual wind
favor the evaporation of snow, ice an
water and thus cause a quick and cor
r, siderable falling of the temperature.
v The reasons why the air on high noun
If tains is cooler, although the sun burn
y hotter there, are, therefore, in the frs
'e place, the two simple facts of more activ
st radiation and quicker evaporation O
Y moisture. But there is a third reason, fa
% miiiar to all who have ever ascende
IF high mountain-tOps. They will not
,e apt to have forgotten the magnificen
n spectacle spread out before them on
% fine morning, when the air was still an
e. the sky clear. All the valleys were COY
" cred as with CHASTITY shroud of dense
N dismal mists; but the very first ra
,s of the rising sun, kissing the din
re gray surface, sent sudden shuC
at der of life through this vast, motion
il less ocean. The mass begins slowl
e. to swell and to rise, assuming a thousan
De marvellous and grotesque shapes, movin
OF wearily from place to place, and driftin
er from valley to valley. But, all of a SUE
It. den, it seems to make gigantic effort;
re rises deliberately and breaks into CLOUD
st which look as if they were striving I
al climb up the steep mountain-sides The
Id enormous balloons rise majestically int
st the air; their long thin bands wander O
is into snow-covered abysses, or hang di
ne hevelled and torn upon point and peal
to Immense horizontal masses cut the moul
be tain in two halfway up the summit,
u light, fleecy clouds wander purposele
sc from side to side. Here and there Il
ny mass is torn asunder and the delighte
e. eye plunges down into the deep vale.
&c. discerning, far below the smiling plai
ey tiowered meadows, and silvery brook
re with here a happy village, clusterir
ey around the tiny chapel, and there a brigl
he lake, looking like twinkling eye gain
y, up into the blue sky. Many of the.
d. clouds melt away as they rise higher an
ST. higher, and are seen no more othe
d. reach the top and envelop the travel
he for a time then they ascend far abo,