The Republican journal., 1888-02-02
NUMBER 5.
A Chapter on Water.

Who would like to 90 with Tyndall to visit
the glaciers of Europe. and walking upon those
vast moving masses of ice contemplate the
mighty forces which change that huge mass Of
ice to myrads of forms-or possibly some of
the tiny atoms may find their way back to form
n glacier in the same river valley. Perhaps
few sketches from mountain scenery, and
thoughts upon their past and future history
may act as Emersons ''provocation" to rouse
the latent energies of the mind. This he de-
clares to be half the battle in instruction. Go
to the mouth of the Rhone and follow it past
Lake Geneva up into the Alps. You will pass
many small rivers or tributaries on the right
and left. and of course the Rhone grows small
er and smaller till at length you reach a huge
mass of ice filling the whole Rhone valley. and
from the bottom of this glacier the river flows.
Whence comes this ice: Above this ice is
an immense body of snow. Whence comes
this snow: 1t is clear that the Rhone comes
from the melting ice and the ice from the
melting snow and the snow from the
clouds. The same force that mets the Ice
to form the Rhone melts the snow to form
the ice and evaporates the moisture of the
earth to form the clouds. This heat-giying
force is the sun. 1t warns the earth and calls-
es the seed to germinate, digests the nutrimcnt
in the organs of the plant and sustains all crea-
ton by its warming and fe-yivin- influence.
The way in which heat is conveyed from the
sun to the earth has been a matter of much
speculation. Sir Isaac Newton and other early
philosophers, thought light was conveyed by
an inconeeirahIy fine matter issuing from the
luminous body and flying through space until
it reached the retna of the eye through the
pores supposed to exist in its humors. This
theory was found not competent to explain all
the phenomena Of light. But the wave theory
OF light. heat and sound has been universally
accepted because by il all the phenomena Of
! light, heat and sound may lie accounted for.
The little ripple> or waves caused on the sur
face of water by throwing stone into it have
been noticed by every one. lhe rippes widen
and widen until nnally they reach the shore
Just 50 the fiery. motion sun listurbS the
ether filling all space. The waves produced
widen and widen until they reach the earth.
Heat waves are of two kinds, luminous and
| non-umnou>. The sunbeam contains both
kinds. which may he separated by passing a
The luminous waves may be concentrated and
sent into water without >ensibly warming it.
While if the non-luminous heat waves be con-
| centrated i'll the same way. the water will boil
almost in>tantaneou>ly. Hence it is these dark
heat waves which penetrate the snow of the
Alps and cause the rivers to flow. These heat
waves penetrate the ocean most powerfully in
the tropica! regions and convert the water into
Napor. Thi, light, watery vapor, together with
the air heated on the surface of the earth, rises
to the upper regions of our atmosphere where
| it spreads over the whole earth. thus flowing
toward the poles, and the cold air flows from
the poles to take the place OF the heated air ris-
ing in tropical regions Two currents of air
are thus established. called the upper and low
er trade wind. As the tropical atmo> phcre
and watery Vapor expanded by heat a>cends
through the heavy air and flows toward the
poles, it is unable in those colder regions to alb
>orb 50 much moisture and it is condensed and
precipiated as rain or snow. Thu, the glacier
of the Alps is indebted to the ocean through
the direct agency of the sun for its very exist
enee. should the heat of the sun he diminished
the source of snow would be CORES spondinSly
diminished and the glaciers being formed from
snow would lose somewhat of their magnificent
proportions for want of material.
But the greatest rainfall occurs in the tropi-
| cal regions The moisture of the warm, ascend~
Ing atmosphere is condensed partly by cool,
dry winds from the polar regions and partly by
its own expansion. The expansion of asccnd-
Ing air may be proved by HIlinga bladder about
two-thlrd> full of air and taking it to the >um-
NIT OF some lofty mountain where it will he
found to he full of air. Carry it to the >ca level
| again and ii will be but two-thr,i> full. Thus
the weight of atmOsph here below the top of the
mountain dimfn>hc, the bulk of our atmos-
phere hy IFS pressure about one-third. Above
the mountain summit the expansion is still
more Forcibiy condensed air is found to be
warm by the Thermometer, while if stream
of the compressed air he allowed to strike
Thermometer it will be observed to chill it.
Lofty mountains act rs condeu>cr> by rai,-
i'm the humid ocean current to such a height
that the expansion chiil> the wattrN Napor and
prccipitate, it rain ON the other side. This
fact is proved by observation. Clouds are
sometimes formed by the chilling process of
the upper regions Which are cvaporated again
by the heat of the atmosphere before the
moisture falls to the earth a. rain. Water ap-
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