Familiar Talks On Science: World-Building And Life; Earth, Air And Water.

Vol. I

Copyright, 1899 , BY FORDS, HOWARD &amp; HULBERT. THE MERSHON COMPANY PRESS, RAHWAY, N. J....

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INTRODUCTION.

Dear Reader: Please look through this "Introduction" before beginning with the regular chapters. It is always well to know the object, aim, and mode of treatment of a book before reading it, so as to be able to look at it from the author's view-point. First: A word about the title—"Nature's Miracles." Some may claim that it is unscientific to speak of the operations of nature as "miracles." But the point of the title lies in the paradox of finding so many wonderful things—as wonderful as any mir

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WORLD-BUILDING AND LIFE.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void." Whatever our speculations may be in regard to a "beginning," and when it was, it is written in the rocks, that, like the animals and plants upon its surface, the earth itself grew; that for countless ages, measured by years that no man can number, the earth has been gradually assuming its present form and composition, and that the processes of growth and decay are active every hour. The science tha

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LIMESTONE.

A large part of the structure of the earth's crust is formed of a substance called limestone. Ordinary limestone is a compound of common lime and carbon dioxide, a gas that is found mixed with the air to a very small degree. Carbon dioxide will be better known by the older people as carbonic acid. It is a gas that is given off whenever wood and coal are burned, or any substance containing carbon. It is composed of one atom of carbon to two of oxygen. Every ton of coal that is burned sends off th

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COAL.

Some time, long ago, some man made the discovery that what we now call coal would burn and produce light and warmth. Who he was or how long ago he lived we do not know, but as all earthly things have a beginning, we know that such a man did live and that the discovery that coal would burn was made. Coal, in the sense that we use the word here, is not mentioned in the Scriptures. According to some authorities, coal was used in England as early as the ninth century. It is recorded that in 1259 Kin

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SLATE AND SHALE.

Slate is one of the great commercial products of the world. As far back as the year 1877 the output of slate was not less than 1,000,000 tons per annum. The chief use to which slate is put is for covering buildings, and for this purpose it is better than any other known material. It is also used in the construction of billiard tables and for writing-slates; these latter uses are very insignificant as compared to its use in architecture. Slate, like building-stone and limestone, is quarried from

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SALT.

It may seem curious to the reader that we should care to discuss a subject seemingly so simple as common salt. But it is a very usual thing for us to live and move in the presence of things that are very common to our everyday experience, and yet know scarcely anything about them, beyond the fact that they in some way serve our purpose. Salt is one of the commonest articles used in the preparation of our food. It has been questioned by some people whether salt was a real necessity as an animal f

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THE ATMOSPHERE.

Meteorology is a science that at one time included astronomy, but now it is restricted to the weather, seasons, and all phenomena that are manifested in the atmosphere in its relation to heat, electricity, and moisture, as well as the laws that govern the ever-varying conditions of the circumambient air of our globe. The air is made up chiefly of oxygen and nitrogen, in the proportions of about twenty-one parts of oxygen and seventy-nine parts nitrogen by volume, and by weight about twenty-three

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AIR TEMPERATURE.

The most recent definition of heat is that it is a mode of motion; not movement of a mass of substance, but movement of its ultimate particles. It has been determined by experiment that the ability of any substance to absorb heat depends upon the number of atoms it contains, rather than its bulk or its weight. It has also been stated that the atmosphere at sea-level weighs about fifteen pounds to the square inch, which means that a column of air one inch square extending from sea-level upward to

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CLOUD-FORMATION—EVAPORATION.

Water exists in different forms without, however, undergoing any chemical change. It is when condensed into the fluid state that we call it "water," and then it is heavier than the atmospheric air and therefore seeks the low places upon the earth's surface, the lowest of which is the bed of the ocean. Wherever there is water or moisture on the face of the globe there is a process going on at the surface called evaporation. This process is much more rapid under the action of heat than when it is

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CLOUD FORMATION—CONTINUED.

As water in its condensed state is 815 times heavier than air, the question naturally comes to one why it does not immediately fall to the earth when it condenses. There are at least two and probably more stages of condensation. Investigators into the phenomenon of cloud formation claim to have ascertained that the first effect of condensation is to form little globes of moisture that are hollow, like a bubble, with very thin walls. Everyone has recognized the ease with which a soap bubble will

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WIND—WHY IT BLOWS.

We have said that globules of moisture, released by the action of the sun's rays in the process of evaporation, tend to rise because they are lighter than the air. Right here let it be said that all material substances have weight; even hydrogen, the lightest known gas, has weight, and is attracted by gravitation. If there were no air or other gaseous substances on the face of the earth except hydrogen, it would be attracted to and envelop the earth the same as the air now does. Carbon dioxide i

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WIND—CONTINUED.

In our last chapter we discussed the winds that prevail in the regions of the tropics called trade winds, because they follow a direct course through the year, with the exceptions noted in regard to their shifting to the north or south with the changing seasons; we also described the phenomena of land and sea breezes, which during certain seasons of the year reverse their direction twice daily. We will now describe another kind of wind, called monsoons, that prevail in India. India lies directly

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LOCAL WINDS.

There are so many causes that will produce air motion that it is often difficult to determine just what one is the chief factor in causing the direction of the wind at any particular time. There are very many instances, however, where the cause can be traced without difficulty; many of these have already been mentioned and there are many more that might be. Of course, as has been often stated, there is only one remote cause for all winds, and that is the sun, coupled with the movements of the ea

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WEATHER PREDICTIONS.

To predict with any great accuracy what the weather will be from day to day is a somewhat complicated problem, and, as all of us have reason to know, weather predictions made by those who have the matter in charge and are supposed to know all about it often fail to come to pass. The real trouble is that they do not know all about it. There are so many conditions existing that are outside of the range of barometers, thermometers, anemometers, and telegraphs that no one can tell just when some of

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HOW DEW IS FORMED.

Reader, did you ever live in the country? Were you ever awakened early on a summer's morning to "go for the cows"? Did you ever wade through a wheat field in June—or the long grass of a meadow—when the pearly dewdrops hung in clusters on the bearded grain, shining like brilliants in the morning sun? Have you not seen the blades of grass studded with diamonds more beautiful than any that ever flashed in the dazzling light of a ballroom? If not, you have missed a picture that otherwise would have

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HAILSTONES AND SNOW.

A hailstone is a curious formation of snow and ice, and most of the large hailstones are conglomerate in their composition. They are usually composed of a center of frozen snow, packed tightly and incased in a rim of ice, and upon this rim are irregular crystalline formations jutting out in points at irregular distances. Frequently, however, we find them very symmetrically formed as to outline, and the snow centers are almost without exception round. Hailstones and hailstorms differ in different

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METEORS.

Meteors are the tramps of interplanetary space. They sometimes try to steal a ride on the surface of the earth, but meet with certain destruction the moment they come within the aërial picket line of our world's defense against these wandering vagrants of the air. They have made many attempts to take this earth by storm, as it were, and many more will be made. They fire their missiles at us by the millions every year with a speed that is incredible, but thanks to the protecting influence of the

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THE SKY AND ITS COLOR.

In the chapters on light in Vol. II. it will be stated that we see all objects by a reflected light, except those that are self-luminous, such as the sun or any other source of light. We see the moon and many of the planets entirely by reflection. There are myriads of smaller objects, too small to be seen as such, even under a microscope, that still have a power to reflect light that is sensible to our vision. The air surrounding the globe is literally filled with these microscopic light reflect

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LIQUID AIR.

Air, like water, assumes the liquid form at a certain temperature. Water boils and vaporizes at 212 degrees Fahrenheit above zero, while liquid air boils and vaporizes at 312 degrees below zero. Heat and cold are practically relative terms, although scientists talk about an "absolute zero" (the point of no heat), and Professor Dewar fixes this point at 461 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. Others have estimated that the force of the moon during its long night of half a month, is reduced in temperat

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RIVERS AND FLOODS.

Water covers such a large proportion of the earth's surface and is such an important factor in the economy of nature that it becomes a matter of interest to study the process of its distribution. Water is to our globe what blood is to our bodies. A constant circulation must be kept up or all animal and vegetable life would suffer. Here, as in every other operation of nature, the sun is the great heart and motive power that is active in the distribution of moisture over the face of the globe. The

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TIDES.

Anyone who has spent a summer at the seashore has observed that the water level of the ocean changes twice in about twenty-four hours, or perhaps it would be a better statement to say that it is continually changing and that twice in twenty-four hours there is a point when it reaches its highest level and another when it reaches its lowest. It swings back and forth like a pendulum, making a complete oscillation once in twelve hours. When we come to study this phenomenon closely we find that it v

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WHAT IS A SPONGE?

Before entering upon the great subject of water and ice—two of the most tremendous factors in world-building—let us consider a small matter, so far as its permanent effects are concerned, yet one which enters largely into the comfort and health of mankind, and which, though an animal, may be discussed where it belongs—under "Water." There are few things more familiar about the ordinary household than a piece of sponge, and yet, perhaps, there are but few things about which there is so little kno

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WATER AND ICE.

We now have entered upon a subject that is of intense interest, studied from the standpoint of facts as they exist to-day and of history as we read it in the rocks and bowlders that we find distributed over the face of the earth. The whole northern part of the United States extending to a point south of Cincinnati was at one time covered with a great ice-sheet, traces of which are plainly visible to anyone who has made anything of a study of this subject. The glaciers now to be seen in British C

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STORED ENERGY IN WATER.

In our last chapter we traced the upward movement in the mercury of the thermometer from 10 degrees below the freezing point up to the boiling point of water. We found that the thermometer was arrested at 32 degrees and remained stationary at that point until all the ice was melted, notwithstanding the fact that heat was being constantly applied. After the ice is all melted the mercury moves upward until it reaches the boiling point of water, where the movement is again arrested, and although th

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WHY DOES ICE FLOAT?

Nature is full of surprises. By a long series of experimental investigations you think you have established a law that is as unalterable as those of the Medes and Persians. But once in a while you stumble upon phenomena that seem to contradict all that has gone before. These, however, may be only the exceptions that prove the rule. It is recognized as a fundamental law that heat expands and cold contracts; that the atom when in a state of intense motion (which is the condition producing the effe

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GLACIERS.

Glaciers are rivers of ice, and, like other rivers, some of them are small and some very large. They flow down the gorges from high mountains, whose peaks are always covered with a blanket of eternal snow. Summer and winter the snow is precipitated upon these mountains, and from time to time the heat of the sun's rays softens the snow, when by its great weight it packs more closely together until it is, in many cases, formed into solid ice-cakes. If we take a quantity of snow or a quantity of gr

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EVIDENCES AND THEORIES OF AN ICE AGE.

There is abundant and unassailable evidence that at one time, ages ago, a vast ice sheet covered the whole of the northern part of North America, extending south in Illinois to a point between latitudes 37 and 38. This is the most southerly point to which the ice sheet reached. From this point the line of extreme flow runs off in a northeasterly and northwesterly direction. The northeasterly line is through southeastern Ohio and Pennsylvania, striking the Atlantic Ocean about at New York, thence

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GLACIAL AND PREGLACIAL LAKES AND RIVERS.

Since the recession of the ice, preglacial lakes have been filled up and are now dry land, and river beds have been changed so that new channels have been cut and new lakes have been formed. Even the imagination, that wonderful architect, with all its tendencies to exaggeration, palls in its attempt to give expression in measured quantities to the mighty power exerted by the great glacier or combination of glaciers that existed in comparatively recent times. I say recent times, because even 10,0

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SOME EFFECTS OF THE GLACIAL PERIOD.

There is a wonderfully interesting effect produced by the action of water during the subsidence of a glacier at Lucerne, Switzerland. Some years ago there was discovered under a pile of glacial drift at the edge of the town of Lucerne a number of deep holes worn in a great ledge of rocks that crop out at that point. One of these pot-holes having been discovered, excavations were continued until a large number of them were unearthed of various shapes and sizes. I had the pleasure of inspecting so

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DRAINAGE BEFORE THE ICE AGE.

We have already said that during the ice age river-beds were changed, valleys were filled up, new lakes were made, and waterfalls created. Great as were the changes made by the carrying power of moving ice, still greater were those made in preglacial times; not, however, from the action of moving ice, but from running water. Erosion caused by running water has, probably, during the life of the world, transported more material from place to place, from mountain to valley, and from valley to ocean

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BITS OF ORE FROM RICH MINES.

"Don't Worry" Nuggets : From Epictetus, Emerson, George Eliot, Robert Browning. Gathered by Jeanne G. Pennington. Portrait of Emerson. "Might be marked Multum in Parvo .... Hardly a paragraph that does not bring a new sense of strength and comfort."— Chicago Inter-Ocean. Patriotic Nuggets : From Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Webster, Lincoln, Beecher. Gathered by John R. Howard. Portrait of Washington. "A peculiarly suggestive, readable, useful compound of great historic thoughts from the gre

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NOVELS of the SOUTH.

Hot Plowshares (Rise of Anti-Slavery Sentiment). $1.50. "Completes that series of historical novels ... which have illustrated so forcibly and graphically the era of our Civil War—the causes that led up to it and the consequences resulting from it ... Forcible, picturesque."— Chicago Evening Journal. Figs and Thistles (A Typical American Career). $1.50. "Crowded with incident ... strong characters ... humor ... absorbing interest."— Boston Commonwealth. A Royal Gentleman (Master and Slave). $1.5

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OTHER WORKS.

Murvale Eastman : Christian Socialist. (Cloth, $1.50 . Uniform Edition. ) "A thrilling story of everyday life ... vividly portrayed.— Boston Traveller. "A great book ... wise, hopeful, artistic, with a broad basis of the soundest sense."— Bishop John H. Vincent. Black Ice. A Story of the North. A ringing winter; youth and love; thoroughbred horses; curious and interesting rural characters. Cloth, $1.50 . Uniform Edition. "Really original."— Boston Gazette. "Thoroughly interesting."— Chicago Inte

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