Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1872-01-03
Hot and Cold.

Nearly toriy years ago three young
naturalists-nOw famous beyond their
peers--speut several summers in a lowly
Seuner's hut to study glaciers, aud TO
climb the highest Of Alpine heights. One,
Agassiz belongs now to Us, and explores,
year after year, the mysteries Of the New
World. Another, Karl Vogt, after hav.
ing been the chief ruler Of an empire.
traces our race back to the age when dra-
gous aud megatheriums dWet on 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, aud Combe-N Narin,
with its twentY.tour guest chambers, often
shelters. as il did last year at the same
! time, the president Of the Swiss Confeder-
acy, famous SaraRt from the East In
dies, diamond merchant from Brazil,
and an illustrious statesman Of our Union.
They came to rest from their labors; to
enjoy the heathful air of the Alps, which
is cool aud brac;ng, while the plain is
pantiug in the fierce summer heat ; to in
hale the perfume of vast pine-forests, and
to do honor to their hosts most excellent
cellar. But even their leisure hours and
4 their friendly chat are constantly bearing
much precious fruit, aud the result Of
many lively discussion is carefully copi-
ed into gigantic album, from which an
uually extracts are made and published
in Swiss journals U
1t was at one of these delightful reun-
IONS, where all restraint is banished, all
ceremony laid aside, that u great Stuaat
suddenly asked why the temperature on
: mountaip.top should be lower than on
the pain, since the summit was surely so
many thousand feet nearer to the sun than
d the valley. His companions were aston
: lshcd to find that, while all admitted or
! knew the fact, none had ever tried to as
$ certain the reason. Thereupon they dis
e cussed the question, and this was the re-
e suit;
b The ray of heat, which comes from the
J. distant sun, has to pass through more than
j. ninety millions of miles Of space before il
a reaches the atmosphere of the earth, and
S then begius to lose its heat as it. passes
t through the lower layers, which are, Of
/. course, denser than the upper part. A
0 ray, therefore, which strikes an object at
/ height of six thousand feet above the
d sea, must be much warmer than another
t ray which reaches the surface of the earth
!. six thousand feet lower. This theoretic
, view has been proven by actual expert
e mcnt /: tie ter perature on the great
; plateau Of Mont Blanc, nearly nine thous
/ and feet above the valley, was found to be
higher than that near the village Of Cham
IS ounix, at its foot Hence the sun is actu
= = ally hotter on the summit, and must heat
o the soil more effectually there than below
Z in the plain. This also, is easily proven
70 by facts, Persons who ascend the Alps
y and heated by the effort, sit down in 0
. howery Alpine meadow, can do SO withou
Q inconvenience and injury, while in the
% valley the same proceeding would inevita'
4 bly, cause discomfort, aud most likely bring
. on AN attack of rheumatism A thermome
3 ter sunk into the ground on the Faulhorn
9 9ltwehty.six hundred and eighty metres
q above the sea, was observed during many
e weeks, and showed invariably a highel
Is Temperature than The soil of the valley
\ This heated state Of the soil produces sew
. Ieral striking effects on the physical geo
g craphy Of the Alps. The snow alway
% melts, not when the sun shines on it, bu
IS from below, by the warmth Of the soil
y y The foot, placed upon the edge Of a glace
% of a snow-feld, crdshes the thin crust, auC
q shows underneath a hollow space, where
% snow and ice have long since meltet
Is away. Huge vaults and caves of ice shell
y ter not Ontreqnently large numbers 0
70 bright flowers under their crystal roof
y and the vast glaciers move and slide dowl
Io the mountain slope, merely because thcil
: foot, the lower part which touches tn
roy ground. melts gradually away by contac
with the heated SOIL More than tel
ID thousand feet above the sea, tiny snow
JiI mouse sleers through the fearful winte
ad securely sheltered in little holes lcss,tha
an inch below thessurface! It. is differ
1 ent in Spitzbergen, where the snow cover
II the ground throughout the year; there n
animal life is possible, and even the mum
b Der Of phaneroganls is quite Insignificant
ri And yet it is cooler upon high noun
d tains than below Yes for this, heat
quickly given, is also quickly lost, sine
~ radiation is far more active there, Will
the plain is sheltered under an immens
ilayer of air, which prevents, to a certai
"a degree, the loss Of the heat which, has bee
accumulated during the day. A sligh
cover excluding the air sufices to protet
men at great heights even, and some Al
pine explorers slept comfortably night al
"a ter night upon the highest, and bleakes
parts Of Mont Blanc, with no other pre-
lection than plank upon the snow below
and a canvas tent overhead. = Nevertht
less, every thing in Nature loses heat q
IA IA night, ,lwhen the sun isno longer at wor
~ ~ warming us with its benign rays; mel
:" y animals, plants, and the air itself, all COZ
= = of. and return large part Of the he'
!, ~ they have accumulated during the da,
~ The very fact that the prarefed air o
e" mountain-tops allows the soil there to h
!! heated higher than in the plains, allo
~ also a more active radiation, and hence
~ y. greater loss OF beat at night. This is ali
i. ed, moreover, by the immense amount {
n, ~ moisture held BY the soil at such .elev'
~ ~ ton rain, nists, and melting snow, a
~ sink into the ground and saturate
!. throughout The Whole year. What v