Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1874-12-21
COLD.

dH dIIlCle euIlIIcu 'Colu may appear
to be rather chilly and uninteresting
reading; but if our readers think to pc
ruse this column, we will first cheer
them by treating of heat, and then give
them the subject-"Cold." Neither the
dictionary nor philosophy, tells just what
heat is, but it is easy to learn what it
does, if we know not what it is. 1t IS a
subtle something that has peculiar prop
critics, some of which are not unlike the
faculties of the mind. 1t is benevolent;
from its great solar source it shoots out
millions of miles to find some cold object
to warm and to cheer. Not planet or
a fragment of matter in all the suns
system, that is not blessed by the rays
of heat emanatlng from the sun. Let it
be made in the furnace, and it will pen
citrate its iron sides, and fill the room
with its soft influences. 1t warns the
palace of the king, and then turns aside
and saves the beggar from the effects of
the freezing blast. Heat is secretive;
it hides in the EARTH and ever and anon
sends forth a river of lava from the era
ter of a volcano it creeps into the coal
bed and lies dormant, ready to burst
forth into flames at the bidding of man !;
it nestles in the bosom of nature, and a
million blades of grass shoot up to tell
of its presence Heat is powerful; it
attacks the iceberg and it disappears in
the sea it goes over the frozen land
scape, and the snow and the frosts van
ish it seizes the iron bolt, and it CLOVIS
red and white, and then runs away in
liquid fire; it passes in red flames over
prairie, or forest, or city, and its track
Is marked by blackness and ruin.
Heat is of two kinds, or originates
from two sources: Solar heat, which the
sun pours upon the earth in inmeasura.
bic quantities, and heat produced by
combustion. The suns heat renders the
earth habitable by plants and animals.
Heat is produced by combustion in a va
riety of ways, and man produces this
kind of heat. that it may serve his pur-
poses as he desires Heat is necessity
of life. 1t exists in the lower orders of
animals, and fingers in the heart of man,
after his soul has fed. Within the ami
NAL there is mysterious furnace that
produces heat in sufficient quantities to
keep the creature alive When the eli
mate or the weather is cold, the anima
heat is greater, and the covering of ful
or feathers increases in thickness. Ma
ture takes care of the beast, and ever
assists man in withstanding the extreme
of temperature. In summer, the fire
in the furnace that warm the body, nee,
little fuel-sometlmes scarcely none, 70
the air is so hot that the body is sur
rounded by medium as warm as tn
blood Then it is that danger arise
from too much heat. The soft tissue
of fatty matter melt, and the ma
or creature dies.
Having spoken of heat, and havin
left the subject where it is, at least, III
comfortable, let us 60 to the other ez
IRENE, a distance of l4O degrees, and "
shall reach about the lowest state of he;
experienced in this climate. With ii
thermometer indicating 40 degrees belo
zero, neither man or beast can we'll endu
the weather. When the temperature
very low, and the body is not suficien
ly clad or warmed by artificial heat, Il
supply of animal heat is not sufficient
keep the surface, or the extremitie
warm, and the blood is chilled, much
the injury Of the health still great
degree of cold causes the body to freez
and death is the consequence.
The term cold merely indicates IL
absence of heat, but the reason why
abounds to so great an extent at Ii
season of the year may be aske
The sun is the earth's furnace, and VIII
Its rays of heat fall directly upon
surface for any length of time, it is he;
ed; but in the winter season, the moi
pole is turned away from that luminal
and it shines only little more than
third part of the time upon any o
place, and then in a slanting directlc
or upon snowy surface that retains
heat. During the remaining hours, t
little heat that falls in the day is RAJ
ated, scattered in the air and diffused
the space surrounding the earth, a
there is little or none left. The rea:
why our winters are long and cold, is
account of tie distance we are from
equator, and our altitude. We h;
travelled over on the north side of |
equator, about 40 degrees (or half v
to the pole) and have also chosen no
high among the mountains. Our Il
tude gives US little sunshine and a |,
night, altitude, many storms, clouds ;
greater degree of cold. The PREVAIL
winds here, arc from the north, and
cold air that surrounds the frozen regi
of the pole, rushes down upon us v
its freezing temperature, to conquer
heat that the sun leaves in the day.