A Brief Essay On Heat Light Electricity And Magnetism

Excerpt from A Brief Essay on Heat, Light, Electricity and Magnetism What is heat? This question, to one who has not reflected much on the subject, will appear easy of solu tion, and unimportant, and yet the ablest minds, from the dawn of science to the present day, have failed to reach a satisfactory solution. The importance of the correct solution equals the difficulties that surround the subject. The solution of this question will lead us into the inner chamber of the temple of science. All the forces of nature are intimately blended with the forces of heat. Light, heat and electricity are so intimately blended as to give rise to the supposition that they are different manifestations of the same force. Heat and motion are so intimately connected as to give rise to the theory of correlation of forces. This intimate connection has also given rise to what is called the dynamical, or mechanical theory of heat. This theory Views heat, as Dr. Tyndall expresses it, as a mere mode of motion. Grove, in writing on this subject, says, Though I am obliged, in order to be intelligible, to talk of heat as an entity, and of its conduction, radiation, &c., yet these expressions are, in fact, inconsistent with the dynamic theory which regards heat as motion and nothing else. Grove very properly says that he is obliged to Speak of heat as an entity in order to be understood, for how can a man speak intelligibly of a thing that does not exist? If heat is a nonentity we cannot rea son about its properties or effects, or even about its convertibility into something else. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.

The American journal of science and arts