The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1873-02-19
The Cold.

This is q great country. Every
thing tends to extremes. Last sum-
mer we had intolerablo hot weather,
so much so that the wiseacres were
specnlating on the startling sqgges,
tio.. that the sun, was actually burn
ingun; How Eis ii nSE? 24ldegrees
below zero at Z O'CLOCK O. m. down Mt
the bridge, 80 degrees below on the
bluff, % at Tying u Brotherson's pork k
house, 25 at Reynolds. e. Co.'S pork
house, and general misery and dis
comfort every where, especially in
bed rooms unblessed by q fire. There
are of course differences i'll thcrmom-
eters, but, adding the readings of the
above together; and dividing by four,
we havet27 degrees below zero as the
temperature Of yesterday morning
or SO degrees below tho freezing
point of water. .'',' : ''.... '.''''-
Where docs all this cold comefrom?
From the arctic regions some ono will
say But why from the arctic regions
The answer is again ready -becadse
tho heat Of the sun is withdrawn
from the northern portion Of the
earth. Then it is thes that heats
up the air; but what cools it? Here
we are rightin presence of the ques:
n-wEers does the cold come from?
Withdraw the sun, and the heat soi
onr atmosphere would be dissipated
in space. 'Then it must be very cold
out in the regions of space. OF
course'it is, and the cold Of space
chilling the northern atmosphere, it
is blown down upon US, and yesterday
gave us hint Of what kind of tem'
perature surrounds our world, ! just
outside of the coverlid of air.
The scientists think they have sue
cecded in doing q big thing when they
inform US that heat is form of mo
tion-that the molecules Of matter
being in intense motion heat is the
consequence, and heat, ! (say they
may be- converted into Im3tion and
motion into heat, therefore they have
madcsgood their caise.E TAgood den
might be said in opposition TO this
scientific dogma, but we forbear al
present, What is cold? The ,,ab
sence of motion, SO say our wise men
That.the reason why we slap" ou,
hands on frosty. morning. But SCI
in motion and stopped :.snddenly by
being struck against our Bodies the
motion is converted into heat,y and
our bcnumbed fingers take a new
lease Of life in the operation Well
let that pass too. 'a.p1a.l!o& ,~en~f..'l
d The greatest observed natural colo
on record is reported by Capt. Back
ut Fort Reliance in the Arctic regions
being a. degrees below zeeo. This
statement has been questioned Capt
Sabine certl6es to So degrees below
zero; q very low temperature indeed
Strong vino. freezes.at 2Q~degrees
above zero,;s mercury aty39s Below
While. liquid Z carbonic- acid require,
| II degrees below. Faraday produced
artificial cold 266 degrees below zero
and Fatterer 220 below. What the
cold of the planetary spaces is nc
man can tell, though it has been va
riously guessed at. Itmust be much
greater than the lowest Temperature
observed in the Arctic regions. TT
2 ] Think ,then-of the ~vafue of our at
mospheric envelopes,,.s medium fol
the accumulation and distribution ol
heat all over the globe. When 'if is
exposed to the cold Of space, without
the modifying ngeneyiof the san, we
get q taste of the echaracLcr Of that
Intensely cold .regionbetwe .asI and
the other orbs Of ithe sky 4'it:, III,