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 THE 
 
 INFLUENCE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BLUE EAT OF THE SUNLIGHT 
 
 AND OF THE 
 
 BLUE COLOUR OF THE SKY, 
 
 IN DEVELOPING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE; 
 
 IN ARRESTING DISEASE, AND IN RESTORING HEALTH IN ACUTE AND 
 CHRONIC DISORDERS TO HUMAN AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS, 
 
 A3 ILLTJSTKATED BT TUB EXPERIMENTS OP 
 
 GEN. A. J. PLEASONTON, AND OTHERS, 
 Between the years 1861 and 1876. 
 
 Airessefl to lie PiMelpMa Society for Promoting Agriculture, 
 
 "Error may be tolerated, when reason is left free to combat itS'Tttomas Jefferson, 
 u Ifthii tluory be true, it upsets all other theories." Richmond Whig. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 CLAXTON. REMSEN A HAFFELFINGER. PUBLISHERS.
 
 F.ntercd according to Act of Congress in the year 1876, 
 
 Cv GEN. AUGUSTUS J. PLEASONTON, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 HAVING "been ranch interested In the phenomena of the physics of the earth, 
 the author, in offering to his readers a second edition of his work, "On the 
 Influence of the Blue Color of the Sky in Developing Animal and Vegetable 
 Life," may be indulged in his introduction into this preface of some views that 
 his observations have led him to entertain relative to the variations of tempera- 
 ture, and changes of our seasons, which are in harmony with the subjects treated 
 by him in this work. 
 
 The first edition of the following memoir was printed for distribution 
 among scientific and literary institutions, and among persons of culture, for the 
 purpose of attracting the attention of those for whom it was intended, to the 
 subjects of which it treats. It was hoped that its publication would invite 
 investigation into the nature, composition, and influences of those great forces 
 which, in the poverty of our language, we call imponderables, that is to say, not 
 to be weighed in the balance, and consequently never to be found wanting. 
 This expectation is likely to be realized, if we may judge from the general 
 interest that appears to be taken in the memoir, which has been manifested in 
 the numerous applications that have been made to the author, from various 
 parts of our country, for copies of it. The edition has now been distributed, 
 yet so many persons who have applied for copies of the memoir are still without 
 it, that it has been deemed advisable to issue another edition. 
 
 If, by a course of study, and observation of the great forces of nature, as 
 they are exhibited, not in the laboratory, upon the minutest scale, but in those 
 grand operations by which physical changes are at every moment developed 
 before our eyes, we can succeed in penetrating the mysteries of their origin, 
 of their evolution, of their application, and of their reciprocal conversions into 
 each other, we shall become indeed wise in our generation, and mankind in the 
 future will be able to rejoice in a development never yet reached in any pre- 
 ceding age.
 
 By way of Illustration of this idea, we may suggest that this planet it 
 surrounded, at variable altitudes above its surface, by a canopy of cold, increas- 
 ing in intensity with its distance above the earth. Now, we may ask, what 
 produces the changes of our seasons? We answer, simply the descent or ascent 
 of columns of this canopy of cold I 
 
 It has been observed, for any years, that the first frost of the autumn 
 appears in Texas or Louisiana, or some other of the Gulf States, while at tho 
 amo time no frost is observable In other localities situated much farther to tho 
 north tho commonly supposed place of departure of our winters. This frost, 
 therefore, must come from tho descent of tho cold of the higher atmosphere 
 immediately over tho locality where It prevails. Following the valley of the 
 Mississippi and those of Its tributaries, frost appears successively in various 
 places along those routes, till it reaches the vallies of tho Northern Lakes, 
 running along which It Is felt In Northern New York and the New England 
 States, and subsequently In the Middle and Southern Atlantic States. It does 
 not reach the vicinity of Philadelphia until some fifteen or twenty days after 
 it has shown Itself on the Gulf of Mexico. Now would It not seem that tho 
 Influences producing this frost are telluric, and not exclusively solar, as hitherto 
 they have been supposed to be* 
 
 We know that in the ocean there are columns of fresh water which differ in 
 temperature from the surrounding se^ "water, and with which they do not 
 mingle for a long time. So is it for a hundred or more miles at sea, distant from 
 the mouths of the great rivers Amazon, Orinoco, Mississippi, etc., whose fresh 
 waters do not mix with the salt waters surrounding them, owing to tho difference 
 of their densities. In like manner the cold air of the upper atmosphere descends 
 In columns of various extent over particular localities, to vary the temperature 
 and change tho seasons, on tho surface of our earth, without mixing with tho 
 wanner and more expanded air beneath, which it displaces. 
 
 Tho spring and summer Reasons are produced by Increased radiations from 
 the interior heat of the earth, forcing upwards tho dense cold of winter, whose 
 particles are so close together as to prevent tho intrusion among them of the 
 expanded warm air in its ascent. Much of the heat of tho lower atmosphere is 
 also developed in the conversion of vapor into clouds by condensation from cold. 
 
 It Is In this way that our seasons arc changed. Let our savans discover 
 how and why these effects ore produced. Until they do, it may bo suggested 
 that they are owing to electrical atmospherical disturbances in tho upper atmos- 
 phere, repelling the negative electricity of those regions, and forcing the cold
 
 iii 
 
 air to the surface of the earth, where It displaces the wanner and more rarefied 
 and expanded air, and condenses in rain, snow and hail, the vapors it contains, 
 driving the displaced warmer air to the tropics, and tho heat from the tropics 
 attracted to the condensed vapor in the clouds in tho temperate zones to liquefy 
 them in rain, producing winter. 
 
 In the opposite manner tho warm seasons of spring and summer are pro- 
 duced by the positive electricity of the surfaco-air of tho earth becoming warmed 
 by increased radiation of heat from the interior of tho earth, repelling itself, 
 and displacing the upper strata of cold air, till by induction of electricity tho 
 temperature of the season is established- 
 Geologists toll us that in the early existence of this planet, the greater part 
 of the earth's surface was covered with ice, and that this period of time is called 
 the Glacial Period. 
 
 Let us imagine that the igneous action of tho elementary substances of tho 
 interior of the earth's crust, just before that period, might have been so intense 
 as by the radiation of its heat to the surface of the earth to rarefy the lower 
 atmosphere, converting into vapor the water it contained, and forcing it upward 
 till the whole surface of the earth was almost incandescent. 
 
 To restore tho equilibrium, tho canopy of cold repelled by its own negative 
 electricity from above, which has been increased by the currents of polar elec- 
 tricity, largely developed by this central and interior igneous action and 
 attracted by tho positive electricity in the heated atmosphere below descended 
 to the surface of the earth, condensing the vapors of the atmosphere into rain, 
 and afterwards into hail and snow, driving the remainder of the wanner air 
 of what we call, now, tho temperate zones, to the tropics, and covering the 
 surfaces of the earth, from tho poles to the tropics, with a dense mantle of ice, 
 freezing the rivers, bays, and seas of those latitudes. The internal central fires 
 thus concentrated, in due season increased their radiation of heat, and melted 
 the superjacent ice, which, breaking from the sides of glaciers in large masses, 
 slid and rolled to the ocean, there becoming icebergs, and carrying with them 
 those immense boulders which, torn from tho mountain sides by the adhesion 
 of the ice, have left the traces of their furrows on the slopes of the mountains, 
 and have marked their courses till, by the melting of the bergs, they have 
 been dropped in the ocean, which subsequently, by its subsidence, have left 
 them dry on the land. If such was the cause of the glacial period, it would 
 require no great stretch of fancy to comprehend the deluge of Deucalion or 
 that of our great ancestor Noah, when the rain descended for forty daya ;
 
 iv 
 
 occasioned no doubt by a lesser descent of the canopy of cold (limiting Its 
 effect to the condensation of the vapors of the atmosphere into rain) than 
 that which produced the glacial period. 
 
 If ouch effects follow from such causes, we need not be at a loss to account 
 for the changes of our seasons, or the daily variations of temperature in every 
 locality. 
 
 This edition of our memoir has been printed upon tinted paper with blue 
 ink, as an experiment, in an attempt to relieve the eyes of the reader from the 
 great glare, occasioned by the reflection of gas light at night from the white 
 paper usually employed in tho printing of books. If it shall succeed we may 
 hope to see the tinted paper introduced for all book* and periodicals. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, July 29, 187L
 
 PREFACE TO THE LAST EDITION. 
 
 IN the previous editions of my memoir " On the Influence of the Blue Colour 
 of the Sky in Developing Animal and Vegetable Life," an erroneous impres- 
 sion has been created by the ambiguity of the language employed in describing 
 the results of my experiments with light. From the tints reflected from the 
 outside of the coloured glass, upon certain localities in my terraced garden, I 
 fancied that the glass itself was of a violet tint, and so attributed the remarkable 
 results within the grapery to violet rays. Upon my attention having been 
 called to this apparent discrepancy, I investigated the matter, and found that the 
 glass was of a dark mazarine blue owing its colour to a preparation of cobalt, 
 which had been fused with the materials composing the glass during its manu- 
 facture and that the reflection of the violet ray on the outside was due to the 
 irregular surface of the glass itself upon which the light of the firmament, as 
 well as of the sunlight had fallen, and had been thus reflected. Whatever effect 
 r::iy be produced by the use of violet coloured glass is to be attributed to the 
 proportion of the blue ray which enters into the composition of the violet rays of 
 light, and not to those composite rays themselves. 
 
 This edition, begun in the summer of the year 1873, has been prepared at 
 intervals snatched from the occupations of a busy life, which will account "for 
 ruy incoherences that may appear in the subjects as they are treated herein.
 
 The following memoir was read by GET?. A. J. PLEASONTON. 
 before the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, on 
 Wednesday, the 3d of May, 1871, at their room, S. W. corner 
 of 9th and Walnut Streets, in the City of Philadelphia, npon 
 the following request : 
 
 1309 WALNUT ST., April 27th, 1871. 
 MR DEAR GENERAL: 
 
 Will it suit you, and will you do us the favor to explain your 
 process of using glass in improving stock to the Philadelphia So- 
 ciety for Promoting Agriculture, on Wednesday next, the 3d of 
 May, at eleven o'clock, A.M., at their Boom, S. W. corner of Ninth 
 and Walnut Streets, (entrance on Ninth street) ? You were kind 
 enough to express to me. in conversation, your willingness to give 
 us the result of your experiments. 
 
 Yours, very truly, 
 
 W. H. DRAYTQN, 
 
 President* 
 GENERAL PLEASONTCH.
 
 Mr, President and Gentlemen of The Philadelphia Society for 
 Promoting Agriculture. 
 
 At the request of my old friend and your respected Presi- 
 dent, J have attended your meeting this morning to impart to 
 you the results of certain experiments that I have made within 
 the last ten years in attempts to utilize the blue color of the 
 sky in the development of vegetable and animal life. 
 
 I may premise that for a long time I have thought that the 
 blue color of the sky, so permanent and so all-pervading, and 
 yet so varying in intensity of color, according to season and 
 latitude, must have some abiding relation and intimate con- 
 nection with the living organisms on this planet. 
 
 Deeply impressed with this idea, in the autumn of the year 
 1860, I commenced the erection of a cold grapery on my farm 
 in the western part of this city. I remembered that while a 
 student of chemistry I was taught that in the analysis of the 
 ray of the sun by the prism, in the year 1666, by Sir Isaac New- 
 ton, he had resolved it into the seven primary rays, viz : red, 
 orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, and had disco- 
 vered that these elementary rays had different indices of refrac- 
 tion ; that for the red ray at one side of the solar spectrum being 
 the least, while that of the violet at the opposite side thereof was 
 the greatest, from which he deduced his celebrated doctrine 
 of the different refrangibility of the rays of light ; and further, that 
 Sir John Ilerschel in his subsequent investigation of the pro- 
 perties of light had shown that the chemical power of the solar 
 ray is greatest in the blue rays, which give the least light of any of 
 the luminous prismatic radiations, but the largest quantity of so- 
 lar heat, and that later experiments established the fact of the 
 stimulating influence of the blue rays upon vegetation. Having 
 concluded to make a practical application of the properties of 
 the blue and violet rays of light just referred to in stimulating ve- 
 getable life, I began to inquire in every accessible direction if 
 this stimulating quality of the blue or violet ray had ever re- 
 ceived any practical useful application. My inquiries developed 
 the facts that various experiments had been made in England 
 and on the European continent with glass colored with j*ach of
 
 the several primary rajs, but that they were so unsatisfactory 
 in their results that nothing useful came of them so far as any 
 improvement in the process of developing vegetation was con- 
 cerned. Finding no beaten track, I was left to grope my way 
 as best I could under the guidance of the violet ray alone. 
 
 rapery was finished in March, 1861. Its dimensions were, 
 
 t long, 26 feet wide, 16 feet high at the ridge, with a dou- 
 ble-pitched roof. It was built at the foot of a terraced garden, in 
 the direction of N. E. by E. to S. W. by "W. On three'sides of it 
 there was a border 12 feet wide, and on the fourth or N. E. by 
 E. side the border was only five feet wide, being a walk of the 
 garden. The borders inside and outside were excavated 3 feet 
 6 inches deep, and were filled up with the usual nutritive mat- 
 ter, carefully prepared for growing vines. I do not think they 
 differed essentially from thousands of other borders which 
 have been made in many parts of the world. The first ques- 
 tion to be solved on the completion of the frame of the 
 grapery, was the proportion of blue or violet glass to be used 
 on the roof. Should too much be used, it would reduce the 
 temperature too much, and cause a failure of the experiment; 
 if too little, it would not afford a fair test. At a venture I 
 adopted every eighth row of glass on the roof to be violet 
 colored, alternating the rows on opposite sides of the roof, so 
 that the sun in its daily course should cast a beam of violet 
 light on every leaf in the grapery. Cuttings of vines of some 
 twenty varieties of grapes, each one year old, of the thickness 
 of a pipe-stem, and cut close to the pots containing them, were 
 planted in the borders inside and outside of the grapery, in 
 the early part of April, 1861. Soon after being planted the 
 growth of the vines began. Those on the outside were 
 trained through earthen pipes in the walls to the inside, and 
 
 icy grew they were tied up to the wires like those which 
 had been planted within. Very soon the vines began to at- 
 tract great notice of all who saw them from the rapid growth 
 
 \vere making. Every day disclosed some new extension, 
 and tin- :irdencr was kept busy in tying up the new wood 
 which the day before he had not observed. In a few weeks 
 after the vines had been planted, the walls and inside of the 
 roof were closely covered with the most luxurious and healthy 
 development of foliage and wood. 
 
 In the early part of September, 1861, Mr. Robert Buist, Sr., 
 a noted seedsman and distinguished horticulturist from whom 
 I had procured the vines, naving heard of their wonderful 
 growth, visited the grapery. On entering it he seemed to be
 
 lost in amazement at what he saw; after examining it very care- 
 fully, turning to me, he said, "General! I Lave born cultivating 
 plants and vines of various kinds for the last forty years; I have 
 seen some of the best vineries and conservatories in England and 
 Scotland, but I have never seen anything like this growth." 
 He then measured some of the vines and found them forty- 
 five feet in length, and an inch in diameter at the distance of 
 one foot above the ground ; and these dimensions were the 
 growth of only five months ! He then remarked, " I visited 
 last week a new grapery near Darby, the vines in which I fur- 
 nished at the same time I did yours ; they were of the same 
 varieties, of like age and size, when they were planted as yours ; 
 they were planted at the same time with yours. When I saw 
 them last week, they were puny spindling plants not more 
 than five feet long, and scarcely increased in diameter since 
 they were planted and yet they have had the best possible 
 care and attendance ! " 
 
 The vines continued healthy and to grow, making an abun- 
 dance of young wood during the remainder of the season of 
 1861. 
 
 In March of 1862 they were started to grow, having been 
 pruned and cleaned in January of that year. The growth in 
 this second season was, if anything, more remarkable than it 
 had been in the previous year. Besides the formation of new 
 wood and the display of the most luxuiriant foliage, there was 
 a wonderful number of bunches of grapes, which soon assumed 
 the most remarkable proportions the bunches being of extra- 
 ordinary magnitude, and the grapes of unusual size and de- 
 velopment. 
 
 In September of 1862 the same gentleman Mr. Robert Buist, 
 Sr., who had visited the grapery the year before came again 
 this time accompa nied by his foreman. The grapes were then 
 beginning to color and to ripen rapidly. On entering the grapery, 
 astonished at the wonderful display of foliage and fruit which it 
 presented, he stood for a while in silent amazement ; he then 
 slowly walked around the grapery several times, critically ex- 
 amining its wonders ; when taking from his pocket paper and 
 pencil, he noted on the paper each bunch of grapes, and esti- 
 mated its weight, after which aggregating the whole, he came to 
 me and said, " General ! do you know that you have 1200 pounds 
 of grapes in this grapery ?" On my saying that I had no idea 
 of the quantity it contained, he continued, " you have indeed 
 that weight of fruit, but I would not dare to publish it, for no
 
 8 
 
 one would believe me." "We may well conceive of his aston- 
 ishment at this product when we are reminded that in grape- 
 growing countries where grapes have heen grown for centu- 
 that a period of time of from five to six years will elapse 
 e a single hunch of grapes can ho produced from a young 
 vino while hefore him in the second year of the growth of 
 vines which he himself had furnished only seventeen months 
 before, he saw this remarkable yield of the finest and choicest 
 varieties of grapes. He might well say that an account of it 
 would be incredible. 
 
 During the next season (18G3) the vines again fruited and 
 matured a crop of grapes estimated by comparison with the 
 yield of the previous year to weigh about two tons ; the vines 
 were perfectly healthy and free from the usual maladies which 
 ail'ect the grape. By this time the grapery and its products 
 had become partially known among cultivators, who said that 
 such excessive crops would exhaust the vines, and that the 
 following year there would be no fruit, as it was well known 
 that all plants required rest after yielding large crops ; notwith- 
 standing, new wood was formed this year for the next year's 
 crop, which turned out to be quite as large as it had been in 
 the season of 1863, and so on year by year the vines have con- 
 tinued to bear large crops of fine fruit without intermission 
 for the last nine years. They are now healthy and strong, 
 and as yet show no signs of decrepitude or exhaustion. 
 
 The success of the grapery induced me to make an experi- 
 ment with animal life. In the autumn of 1869 I built a pig- 
 gery and introduced into the roof and three sides of it violet- 
 colored and white glass in equal proportions half of each 
 kind. Separating a recent litter of Chester county pigs into 
 two parties, I placed three sows and one barrow pig in the 
 ordinary pen, and three other sows and one other barrow pig 
 in the pen under the violet glass. The pigs were all about 
 two months old. The weight of the pigs was as follows, viz : 
 Under the violet glass, No. 1 sow, 42 Ibs., No. 2, a barrow pig, 
 . !>s., No. 3, a sow, 38 Ibs., No. 4, a sow 42, Ibs., their ag- 
 ate weight 167 Ibs. The weight of the others in the 
 uon pen was as follows, viz : No. 1., a sow, 50 Ibs., No. 2, 
 a BOW, 48 Ihs., No. 3, a harrow big, 59 Ibs., No. 4, a sow, 46 
 Ibs; their aggregate weight was 203 Ibs. It will be observed 
 that each of the pigs under the violet glass was lighter in 
 :it than the lightest in weight pig of those under the sun- 
 light alone in the common pen. The two sets of pigs were 
 treated exactly alike ; fed with the same kinds of food at
 
 equal intervals of time, and with equal quantities by measure 
 at each meal, and were attended by the same man. Tln i v 
 were put in the pens on the 3d day of November, 1869, anil 
 kept there until the 4th day of March, 1870, when they were 
 weighed again. By some misconception of my orders, the 
 separate weight of each pig was not had. The aggregate 
 weight of the three sows under the violet light on the 3d of 
 November, 1869, was 122 Ibs; on the 4th of March, 1870, it 
 was 520 Ibs., increase 398 Ibs. 
 
 The aggregate weight of the three sows in the old pens on 
 the 3d of November, 1869, was 144 Ibs., and on the 4th of 
 March, 1870, it was 530 Ibs., increase 386 Ibs., or 12 Ibs. less 
 than those under the violet glass had gained. 
 
 The weight of the barrow pig in the common pen on the 
 3d of November, 1869, was 59 Ibs., and on the 4th of March, 
 1870, it was 210 Ibs., increase 151 Ibs. The weight of the 
 barrow pig under the violet light, on the 3d of November, 
 1869, was 45J Ibs., and on the 4th of March, 1870, it was 170 
 Ibs., increase 124J Ibs. The large increase of the weight of 
 the barrow pig in the common pen is to be attributed to his 
 superior size and weight on being put in the same common 
 pen with the three sows, and which enabled him to seize upon 
 and appropriate to himself more than his share of the com- 
 mon food. 
 
 If the barrow pig under the violet light had increased at 
 the rate of increase of the barrow pig in the common pen, his 
 weight on the 4th March, 1870, would have been only 161,^, 
 Ibs. instead of his actual weight of 170 Ibs. showing his rate 
 of increase of weight to have been 8^ Ibs. more than that of 
 the other barrow pig. 
 
 If the barrow pig under the sunshine in the common pen 
 had increased at the rate of increase of the barrow pig under 
 the violet glass, his weight on the 4th of March, 1870, should 
 have been 224$, Ibs. instead of 210 Ibs., his actual weight at 
 that date. 
 
 By these comparisons it seems obvious that the influence of 
 the violet-colored glass was very marked, although it must be 
 borne in mind that owing to the great declination of the sun 
 during the period of the experiment and the consequent com- 
 parative feebleness of the force of the actinic or chemical rays 
 of the blue sky at that time, the effect was not so great as it 
 would have been at a later period of the season ; but the time
 
 10 
 
 of the experiment was selected for that very reason. The 
 animals were not fed to produce fat or increase of size, but 
 simply to ascertain, if practicable, whether by the ordinary 
 mode of feeding usual on farms in this country, the develop- 
 ment of stock could be hastened by exposing them in pens to 
 mibined influence of sunlight and the transmitted rays 
 of the blue sky. 
 
 My next experiment was with an Alderney bull calf born on 
 
 -'tli of January, 1870; at its birth it was so puny and fee- 
 ble that the man who attends upon my stock, a very expe- 
 rienced hand, told me that it could not live. I directed him 
 to put it in one of the pens under the violet glass. It was done. 
 In -4 hours a v-ry sensible change had occurred in the animal. 
 It had arisen on its feet, walked about the pen, took its food 
 freely by the linger, and manifested great vivacity. In a few- 
 days its feeble condition had entirely disappeared. It began 
 to grow, and its development was marvelous. On the 31st 
 li, 1870, 2 months and 5 days after its birth, its rapid 
 growth was so apparent, that as its hind quarter was then 
 growing, I told my son to measure its height, and to note 
 down in writing the height of the hind quarter, and the time 
 of measurement which he did. On the 20th of the follow- 
 !;:y > 1 X TO), just fifty days afterwards, .my son again mea- 
 ! the hind quarter, and found that in that time it bad 
 gained ex"<'f('/ . v >x inches in height, rarrji'mij its lateral development 
 with it. Believing the question solved, the calf was turned into 
 the barn-yard, and when mingling with the cows he manifested 
 every symptom of full masculine vigor, though at the time he 
 was only four months old. Since the 1st of April of this year, 
 when he was just 14 months old, he has been kept with my 
 j, and has fulfilled every expectation that I had 
 formed of him. lie is now one of the best developed animals 
 that can be found any where. 
 
 Tip 'lemon, are the experiments about which your 
 
 M excited. If by the combination of sunlight 
 and blue, light from the sky, you can mature quadrupeds in 
 twelve months with no greater supply of food than would be 
 lor an immature animal in the same period, you can 
 scan Hie immeasurable value of this discovery 
 
 to an agricultural people. You would no longer have to wait 
 live r the maturity of a colt; and all your animals 
 
 could be produced in the greatest abundance and variety. A 
 prominent member of the bar a short time since told me that 
 his sister, who is a widow of a late distinguished general in
 
 11 
 
 the army, had applied blue light to the rearing of poultry, 
 with the most remarkable success, after having heard of my 
 experiments. In regard to the human family, its influence 
 would be wide spread you could not only in the temperate 
 regions produce the early maturity of the tropics, but you 
 could invigorate the constitutions of invalids, and develop in 
 the young, a generation, physically and intellectually, which 
 might become a marvel to mankind. Architects would be 
 required to so arrange the introduction of these mixed rays of 
 light into our houses, that the occupants might derive the 
 greatest benefit from their influence. Mankind will then not 
 only be able to live fast, but they can live well and also live 
 lone:. 
 
 & 
 
 Let us attempt an explanation of this phenomenon. It is 
 well known that differences of temperature evolve electricity, 
 as do also evaporation, pressure suddenly produced or suddenly 
 removed, in which may be comprised a blow or stroke, as, for 
 instance, from the horseshoe in the rapid motion of a horse on 
 a stone in the pavement, striking fire, which is kindled by the 
 electricity evolved in the impact, or, again, from the collision 
 of two silicious stones in which there is no iron, is electricity 
 produced. 
 
 Friction even of two pieces of dried wood excites combus- 
 tion by the evolution of hydrogen gas which bursts into flame 
 when brought into contact with the opposite electricity evolved 
 by the heat. Chrystallization, the freezing of water, the 
 melting of ice or snow every act of combination in respira- 
 tion, every movement and contraction of organic tissues, and, 
 indeed, every change in the form of matter evolve electricity, 
 which in turn contributes to form new modifications of the 
 matter which has yielded it. 
 
 The diamond, about whose origin so much mystery lias 
 always existed, it is likely, is the product of the decomposition 
 of carbonic acid gas in .the higher atmosphere by electricity, 
 liberating the oxygen gas, converting it into ozone, fusing the 
 carbon, and "by the intense cold there prevailing, which is of 
 opposite electricity, chrystallizing the fused carbon, which is 
 precipitated by its gravity to the earth. 
 
 To the repellent affinity of electricity are we indebted for 
 the expansive force of steam whose power wields the mighty 
 trip hammer, propels the ship through the ocean, and draws 
 the train over the land and to the opposite electricities of the 
 heated steam and the cold water introduced into the boiler to
 
 12 
 
 replenish it, do we owe those terrible explosions in steam 
 boilers whose prevention has hitherto defied human skill. 
 But the most interesting application of electricity, ig in 
 nature's development of vegetation. Let us illustrate it : 
 
 Seed perfectly dried, but still retaining the vital principle, 
 like the seed of wheat preserved tor thousands of years in 
 mummy cases in the catacombs of Egypt, if planted in a soil 
 of the richest alluvial deposits, also thoroughly dried, will not 
 germinate. Why? Let us examine. The alluvial soil is 
 composed of the debris of hills and mountains containing an 
 extensive variety of metallic and metalloid compounds min- 
 gled with the remains of vegetable and animal matter in a 
 state of great comminution, washed by the rains and carried 
 by freshets into the depressions of the surface of the earth. 
 
 o various elements of the soil have different electrical 
 attributes. In a perfectly dry state no electrical action will 
 occur among them, but let the rain, bringing with it ammonia 
 and carbonic aeid, in however minute quantities, from the 
 upper atmosphere, fall upon this alluvial soil, so as to moisten 
 its mass within the influence of light, heat, and air, and plant, 
 your seed within it, and what will you observe ? Rapid germi- 
 nation of the seed. Why? The slightly acidulated, or it may 
 be alkaline water of the rain has formed the medium to excite 
 galvanic currents of electricity in the heterogeneous matter of 
 
 Alluvial soil the vitality of the seed is developed and 
 
 able life is the result. Hence vegetable life owes its 
 to electricity. Herein consists the secret of success- 
 ful agriculture. If you can maintain the currents of electri- 
 city at the roots of plants by supplying the acidulated or 
 alkaline moisture to excite them during droughts, you will 
 
 e the most abundant and unvarying crops. To do this, 
 your soil should be composed of the m<>M varied elements, 
 mineral, earthy, alkaline, vegetable, and animal matter in a 
 state of greatly comminuted decomposition. 
 
 The poverty of soils arises from the homogeneous character 
 of their composition. A soil altogether clayey, or composed of 
 fiilici' I. or the <t<l>ris of limestone, or of alkaline sub- 
 
 irily be barren for the want 
 
 of electrical exeitement, which no one of the said elements 
 will ; ; but commingle them all with the addition of 
 
 able and animal matter, and you will form a 
 soil which will amply reward the toil of the husbandman. 
 
 What do you suppose lias produced the giant trees of Call-
 
 13 
 
 forma? Electricity! Since the west coast of America has 
 been known to Europeans, and perhaps for centuries be- 
 fore, it has been subjortvd to the most devastating earth- 
 quakes. From the Straits of M:i Lallan to the Arctic 
 Ocean, traces of volcanic action are everywhere visible. Its 
 mountains have been upheaved, broken, torn asunder, and 
 sometimes, like Ossa upon Pelion, one has been superimposed 
 on another. 
 
 All volcanic countries are noted in the temperate regions, 
 where they produce anything, for the exuberance of their 
 vegetable productions. Etna has been famous for its large 
 Chestnut trees, which have given a name Catania to the town 
 near its base. 
 
 The mineral richness of California has doubtless, by the 
 debris of its mountains, carried into the valleys where grow 
 these large trees, furnished an immense deposite of various 
 matter which, under the favorable circumstances of the locali- 
 ties, have maintained for ages a healthful electrical excitement 
 resulting through centuries of undisturbed growth in these 
 vegetable wonders. 
 
 Who is there that has not been struck with admiration in 
 looking upon the firmament, when the atmosphere was clear- 
 est, and was unclouded by the slightest vapor, when, in the 
 brightness of sunlight, it would put on its livery of blue, and 
 display its resplendent and glorious beauties? How many 
 myriads of mankind, in all ages, have gazed upon this mag- 
 nificent arch, of what men call "sky;" and how few have ever 
 asked the question, Why is the sky blue? and why should its 
 intensity of blue vary in different latitudes, and in different 
 seasons ? 
 
 HUMBOLDT said he had never seen its blue so intense as in 
 the tropics and under the equator. Arctic navigators have also 
 declared, that in the arctic regions the intensity of the blue 
 color of the sky was amazing. Here are two extremes of lati- 
 tude displaying the same effect; and in our own temperate re- 
 fion many have observed a variation in the intensity of the 
 lue of the sky, in different seasons, extending from the early 
 spring until the close of autumn, but never equaling in depth 
 of color what is represented of it, eithei in the tropics or in 
 the arctic or antarctic regions. 
 
 On no part of our planet is the development of vegetable 
 life so grand, so various, so excessive and so constant as in the
 
 14 
 
 tropics and in the equatorial regions. While this wonderful 
 disphiv of vegetation is observed in these regions, the exuber- 
 ance of animal life and the rapid growth of vegetable life in 
 :.ivtic regions are said to be unequaled in any other part 
 of our world. Let us see if these results in the two natural 
 kin_ i ay not be attributed largely to the same cause. 
 
 Recent discoveries have shown that the Zodiacal light over 
 the equator and the aurorse boreal is and australis are evolu- 
 f electricity. In the arctic regions there is little doubt 
 that the auroras are constantly evolved, though they are not 
 alwavs visible. They have been seen to emerge from the sur- 
 f the ocean, at short distances from the observers, and 
 ding into the upper regions of the atmosphere, to present 
 ations of brilliant light, shooting as it were to 
 luatorial regions, in rapid flashes, for which they have- 
 been noted wherever observed. 
 
 In the equatorial regions it is well known that at certain 
 periods of the year the accumulation of electricity in the upper 
 -phere is so excessive, that the earth is shaken with thun- 
 derbolts, and the air illuminated by day as well as night with 
 constant sheets of electric flame, as they rush with frightful 
 velocity to their great centre of attraction, the earth and ocean 
 in those regions. Whence does this electricity come, and 
 where does it go ? 
 
 If we may be permitted to form a conjecture, we might 
 'st that the sixty odd primary elements which enter into 
 omposition of the crust of our planet such as carbon,, 
 sulphur, phosphorus, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, the metals,, 
 M'talloids. etc. having been endowed by the Creator with 
 rical qualities and conditions when they were 
 .!>!(! tog.-ther in this planet, evolved in the interior there- 
 of ell . light, heat, and magnetism in certain or variable 
 quali 1 quantities. The-e constitute the forces which 
 in all probability cause the rotation of the earth upon its axis, 
 volution around the sun. The electricity of 
 the interior of the earth is supposed to be positive electricity 
 which, a- -oon as evolved there, would be repelled according 
 to tl.' electricity of the same character repelling i 
 towani !es of the earth, and escaping there, would 
 1'V the - electricity which surrounds the 
 1 would display itself by night as aurora-, 
 
 confiscating toward the equator, to !>< there attracted by the 
 rial regions, and descending to the earth, to be
 
 15 
 
 again absorbed by it, for further use. This escape of polar 
 electricity into the upper atmosphere, and forming at night 
 the aurorse, when visible, and by day the blue firmament or 
 sky, will account for the intensity of the blue color of the sky 
 both in the arctic regions and the equatorial regions. 
 
 This positive electricity of the central interior of the earth, 
 repelling itself towards the poles, and from there into the at- 
 mosphere through the arctic and antarctic oceans, and attracted 
 there by the negative electricity of the upper atmosphere, 
 forms, by the union of the two electricities, the auroras, caus- 
 ing those crackling detonations heard during the prevalence 
 of the most brilliant auroras, in high latitudes and evolving 
 light, which, seen through the vaporous atmosphere of those 
 latitudes, is displayed by refractions of its rays in the lumin- 
 ous corruscations of varying tints as the rays of the sun or 
 moon are converted into the tints of the rainbow. 
 
 The negative electricity of those frigid regions attracted to 
 the equator through the upper atmosphere is there concen- 
 trated in enormous quantities, which are conducted and dis- 
 charged into the earth or ocean in the tropics, by the incessant 
 fall of water in rain during the rainy seasons, every drop of 
 water being a conductor of electricity, and every leaf of vege- 
 tation assisting in the conduct and distribution of this wonder- 
 ful force into the earth. 
 
 As under certain circumstances electricity becomes magnet- 
 ism, and this again is converted into electricity, we can com- 
 prehend how the auroral rays in some instances, following the 
 law of dia-magnetism, are attracted in the northern hemisphere 
 towards the southwest magnetic currents flowing from east 
 to west in opposition to the earth's motion from west to east; 
 hence in the auroras you have rays shooting to the zenith over 
 the equator, and others moving southwest, and others again 
 due west. 
 
 The simultaneous appearance of auroras frequently observed 
 in opposite hemispheres in corresponding latitudes would go 
 to show their origin from a common impulse in the central in- 
 terior repelling them towards the poles from under the equator. 
 
 "We now come to a presumed explanation of one of the rea- 
 sons for the blue color of the sky. 
 
 The sun's ray, or what is called the white light of the sun, 
 was resolved by means of a glass prism, by Sir ISAAC NEWTON, 
 into the seven primary rays of light, viz., red, blue, violet, etc.,
 
 16 
 
 and their combination again produced the white light- show- 
 ing 1 1 analytically of what the sun's light 
 was compos 
 
 It was announced in England about the beginning of this 
 century, that the red ray of light was heating, the yellow ray 
 . Laminating, nnd // blue ray in a remarkable degree stimulated 
 the d< vegetable life. 
 
 From this discovery we can imagine the immense influence 
 
 which the intensely blue color of the sky in the equatorial 
 
 :;d always has had in conjunction with the sun's 
 
 liijht, and the heat and moisture of those regions, upon 
 
 the development there of vegetable life. 
 
 This intensely blue color of the sky in the arctic regions 
 may also serve to explain the exuberance of animal life there. 
 It being known that the deeper water of the arctic ocean is 
 much wanner than the surface water which is often frozen, 
 furnishes abundant food for its inhabitants. The increased 
 temperature of this deep water is probably derived from radi- 
 ation of heat from the interior of the earth under it as all 
 .ions are more or less volcanic ; witness Iceland, Jean 
 Spitsbergen, etc. The laws of animal and vegetable 
 life 1 -ry analogous, what would stimulate one would 
 
 probably have a similar effect upon the other. 
 
 In the arctic waters you have warmth, food, light and elec- 
 tric!; ing through the waters into the air, and all stimu- 
 lat: 
 
 Whoever has noticed the color of the electric spark in at- 
 
 iieric air, from an electrical machine, will readily recog- 
 it.-> likeness of color to the blue color of the sky. 
 If expel-in,' ;ld be instituted to ascertain the electri- 
 
 cal coiidiiion of tlie .>ky, as associated in'/ It /Av blue color, and they 
 shon >15sh the .onneetion, the result would 
 
 \B\ blessing- 'iiferred upon 
 
 :ii>d. Wh;.- ii of vitality could be infused into the 
 
 it ure invalid, and the decrepit octogena- 
 rian! How ra). idly might the various races of our don 
 anii: multiplied, and how much might their individual 
 
 proportions be enlar;. 
 
 One of the most beautiful illustrations of the mighty influ- 
 ence of the blue color of the sky upon vegetation, is to be 
 d in the ..lor of the leaves of plants. It is known 
 
 that blue and yellow when mixed produce green, which ia
 
 17 
 
 darker when the blue is in excess over the yellow, and the re 
 verse when the yellow predominates. Now let us observe the 
 process of germination. Seeds are planted in the soil at first 
 a white worm-like thread at the lo\ver part of the seed appears; 
 it is white, and contains all the primary rays of light ; it is the 
 root of the plant, and remaining under the soil continues white. 
 At the upper end of the seed also appears a white swelling, 
 which continues to grow upward till it approaches the surface 
 of the soil, when a change occurs in its color. This is the leaf; 
 it absorbs yellow from the soil which is brown (composed of 
 yellow and black), and as it comes within the influence of the 
 blue sky, it absorbs from it the blue light, which mixing with 
 the yellow already absorbed, produces at first a yellowish-green, 
 which finally assumes the deeper tinge of green that is natural 
 to the plant. The plant blossoms, forms its seeds and seed- 
 vessels, and having fulfilled its mission, the blue color of the 
 leaves is eliminated, the leaves become yellow, and absorbing 
 the carbon of the plant, they change their color to brown ; the 
 sap-vessels of the leaves are choked by the carbon ; the leaves 
 are dead and fall to the ground. Thus the blue *ray is the 
 symbol of vitality the yellow ray that of decay and death. 
 
 Robert Hunt, in his Researches on Light, says " that the 
 rays of greatest refrangibility, viz., the violet, &c., favor dis- 
 oxygenation, but the rays of least refrangibility, viz., red, 
 orange, &c., favor oxygenation." 
 
 " The experiments of Seunebier show that the most refran- 
 
 fible of the solar rays, viz., the violet, are the most active in 
 etermining the decomposition of carbonic acid gas by plants." 
 
 These experiments have been confirmed by Mr. Robert 
 Hunt, who says, " that experiments have been made with ab- 
 sorbent media, and the light which has been carefully ana- 
 lyzed, permeating under the influence of blue light, in every 
 instance oxygen gas has been collected, but not any under the 
 energetic action of yellow or red light. * * It is only the green 
 parts of plants which absorb carbonic acid : the flowers absorb 
 oxygen gas. Plants grow in soils composed of divers mate- 
 rials, and they derive from these by the soluble powers of 
 water, which is taken up by the roots, and by mechanical 
 forces carried over every part, carbonic acid, carbonates 
 and organic matters containing carbon. Evaporation is con- 
 tinually going on, and this water escapes freely from the leaves 
 during the night when the functions of the vegetable, like 
 those of the animal world, are at rest, and carries with it car- 
 bonic acid. Water and carbonic acid are sucked up by ca-
 
 18 
 
 pillary attraction, and both evaporate from the exterir part of 
 fhe leaves." 
 
 " There is no reversion of the processes which are necessary 
 to support the life of a plant. The same functions are ope- 
 rating in the same way by day and by night, but differing 
 greatly in degree. During the hours of sunshine the whole 
 of the carbonic acid absorbed by the leaves or taken up with 
 water by the roots is decomposed, all the functions of the 
 plant are excited, the processes of inhalation and exhalation 
 are quickened, and the plant pours out to the atmosphere 
 streams of pure oxygen at the same time as it removes a large 
 quantity of deleterious carbonic acid from it. In the shade 
 the exciting power being lessened, these operations arc slower, 
 and in the dark they are very nearly, but certainly not quite, 
 suspended." 
 
 "Although a blue glass or fluid may appear to absorb all 
 the rays except the most refrangible ones, which have usually 
 been considered as the least calorific of the solar rays; yet it is 
 certain that some principle, has permeated the glass or fluid which 
 has a very decided and thermic influence. Numerous experi- 
 ments have been tried with the seeds of mignonette, many 
 varieties of the flowering pea, the common parsley, and cresses' 
 under the various tints of glass with all of them the seeds 
 have germinated, but except under the blue glass these plants 
 have all been marked by the extraordinary length to which 
 the stems of the cotyledons have grown, and by the entire ab- 
 sence of t/'C primula no true leaves forming, the cotyledons 
 soon perish and the plant dies; uinlcr the blue glass alone has 
 the process gone on healthfully to the end." 
 
 "The changes whi'-h take place in the seed during the pro- 
 of germination have been investigated by Saussure : 
 consumed and carbonic arid is evolved ; and the 
 volume of the latter is exactly equal to the volume of the 
 former. The grain weighs less after germination than it did 
 lie loss of weight varying from one-third to one-fifth. 
 This loss of course depends on the combination of its carbon 
 with the oxygen absorbed, which is evolved as carbonic acid." 
 "K"r the di-eovery that oxygen gas is exhaled from the 
 plants during the daytime. \ve are indebted to Dr. 
 tley; and Seiinebier first pointed out that carbonic acid 
 ,'iired for the d ment of the oxygen in this pro- 
 
 M. Theodore <! ire and De Candolle fully estab- 
 
 this fart." 
 
 The experiments of Seunebier show that the most refrangi-
 
 19 
 
 ble of the solar rays, viz., the violet, are the most active in deter- 
 mining the decomposition of carbonic acid by plants. 
 
 " We have now certain knowledge. We know that all the 
 carbon which forms the masses of the magnificent trees of the 
 forests and of the herbs of the fields has been supplied from 
 the atmosphere, to which it has been given by the functions 
 of animal life and the necessities of animal existence. Man 
 and the whole of the animal kingdom require and take from 
 the atmosphere its oxygen for their support. It is this which 
 maintains the spark of life, and the product of this combustion 
 is carbonic acid, which is thrown off as waste material, and 
 which deteriorates the air. The vegetable kingdom, however, 
 drinks this noxious vapor ; it appropriates one of the elements 
 of this gas carbon and the other oxygen is liberated 
 again to perform its services to the animal world." 
 
 " The animal kingdom is constantly producing carbonic 
 acid, water in the state of vapor, nitrogen, and in combination 
 with hydrogen, ammonia. The vegetable kingdom contin- 
 ually consumes ammonia, nitrogen, water, and carbonic acid. 
 The one is constantly pouring into the air what the other is 
 as constantly drawing from it, and thus is the equilibrium of 
 the elements maintained." 
 
 "Beccaria examined the solar phosphor!, and ascertained 
 that the violet ray was the most energetic, and the red ray the 
 least so, in exciting phosphorescence in certain bodies." 
 
 "M. Biot and the elder Becquerel have proved that the 
 slightest electrical disturbance is sufficient to produce these 
 phosphorescent effects. May we not therefore regard the 
 action of the most refrangible rays, viz., the violet, as analo- 
 gous to that of the electric disturbance ? May not electricity 
 itself be but a development of this mysterious solar emana- 
 tion ? " 
 
 It has been long known to chemists that a mixture of chlo- 
 rine and- hydrogen gases might be preserved in darkness 
 without combining for some time, but that exposure to diffused 
 day light gradually occasioned their combination, and which 
 is effected with the greatest speed by the extreme blue and indigo 
 rays. M. Edrnond Becquerel in 1839 first called attention to 
 the " electricity developed during the chemical action excited 
 by solar agency." 
 
 The experiments of Dr. Morichini, repeated by MM. Carpa 
 and Ridolti, that violet rays magnetized a small needle, were 
 successfully confirmed by Mrs. Somerville.
 
 20 
 
 "Light is not solely a radiant visible element It has other 
 properties which cannot be overlooked. It oxidizes, colors, 
 bleaches. Light becomes absorbed light changes into heat, 
 and heat into electricity; in i'act, light in its radiant visible 
 character only shows one of its many phases. Light holds 
 many forces within its beams. It has properties, powers of its 
 own, which neither mathematician nor optician can grasp. Jt 
 jreat chemical agent. Colors are produced by a change 
 resulting from a polaric act of arrestation yellow and red 
 yellow belong to the acids; blue and red blue to the alkalies. 
 The undulatory theory explains the radiant visible property 
 of light, but it does not explain its chemical effects, the opti- 
 cal polarity of a chrystal and its connection with the polaric 
 condition of its constituents the diffraction, inflection, inter- 
 ferences, the oxidation of surfaces as the cause of natural co- 
 lors, the presence of the chemical action of light, the presence 
 of heat, electricity, magnetism ; yet light produces all these 
 phenomena ; it vitalizes, and the organic action of light is 
 witnessed in the fauna and flora around." 
 
 We have seen that blue light, and the violet ray which is a 
 compound of it, and the red ray being the most refrangible 
 f the solar spectrum excite magnetism, and electricity, 
 by which carbonic acid gas evaporated from growing plants 
 is decomposed and oxygen thereof liberated to be absorbed 
 again in maturing the flowers, fruit and seed of the plant, thus 
 stimulating the active energies of the plant into its fullest and 
 most complete development. Now this is just what I think is 
 done in the vegetable world by the blue light of the firmanent. 
 That blue light of the lirmanent, it' not itself electro-magne- 
 t'lMn. -e forces which compose it in our atmosphere, 
 
 and applying them at the season, vi/., the early spring, when 
 -ky is bluest, stimulates, after the torpor of winter, the 
 activ "S of the vegetable kingdom, by the decomposi- 
 
 tion of its carboni- aeid ga< supplying carbon for the plants 
 to mature it. and to complete its mission. 
 
 In the experiment which I have made in the cultivation of 
 
 grapes under violet light, I have endeavored to combine with 
 
 it the blue light of the lirmanent, causing the other rays of the 
 
 solar spectrum to be ab-orbod while the blue and violet rays 
 
 permit 1 'lie violet glass into the grapery. 
 
 The .[M-rature under the white glass and under 
 
 the violet glass of the grapery is supposed to have excited 
 
 curr- : i<-ient to decompose more rapidly the 
 
 >nic acid gas that had been evaporated from the leaves of 
 
 the vines, than would have been done under the influence of
 
 21 
 
 the sunshine alone thus stimulating the increased absorption 
 of oxygen, and the deposit of carbon in the vines, and con- 
 stantly and quickly renewing the evaporation of carbonic acid 
 gas. The result has been seen in the wonderfully large pro- 
 duct of fruit, accompanied by a prodigious formation of new 
 wood, to yield the crop of fruit for the ensuing year. 
 
 The investigations that have been made during the present 
 century regarding light have developed the existence of some 
 remarkable attributes; one of the most astonishing is the dis- 
 covery that there is no heat per se in the sun's ray, though it 
 is one of the causes which produce heat. This is established 
 beyond dispute by the existence of the intense cold which pre- 
 vails in the upper atmosphere, increasing with its altitude, and 
 through which all the sunlight which reaches the earth must 
 pass, but whose temperature it cannot alter. Hence you have 
 at the present time the line of perpetual snow, according to 
 Professor Agassiz, at an elevation of 15,000 feet at the equator, 
 of 6,000 feet at the latitude of 45, and gradually approaching 
 the surface of the earth till it reaches it at 60 of north lati- 
 tude, beyond which ice prevails nearly to the pole. 
 
 Aeronauts have remarked also at great altitudes above the 
 earth that the thermometer had ceased to mark any variation 
 of temperature when exposed in the full sunshine or in shadow. 
 
 A curious illustration of the fact that something more is 
 needed than sunlight to produce heat is to be found in the fact 
 stated by the famous arctic navigator, Dr. Scoresby, as well as 
 by others, that when, after a long night in the arctic regions, 
 the sun had appeared, though the thermometer was below 32 
 of Fahrenheit, and everything around was frozen hard, he 
 observed that the pitch with which the seams of the planks of 
 the ship had been payed, on the side of the ship exposed to 
 the sun, was melted, notwithstanding the great declination of 
 the sun and the small angle of incidence, that the nearly hori- 
 zontal rays of it made as they fell upon the pitch, while that 
 in the shade on the other side of the ship was so hard that it 
 was with difficulty broken with a hatchet other objects on the 
 ship manifesting at the same time the low temperature marked 
 by the thermometer. I am not aware that any explanation of 
 this phenomenon has ever been attempted. I may, therefore, 
 offer to v-icrgest that the pitch being an electric or non-con- 
 ductor or electricity and negatively electrified when the sun's 
 ray positively electrified fell upon it, an explosion took place, 
 heat was evolved, and the pitch was melted thus proving that
 
 22 
 
 heat from sunshine is produced by the contact of an electricity 
 opposed to that of the sun's rays. 
 
 As a corollary from what has just been stated, it may be 
 observed that the heat of the equatorial and tropical oceans is 
 not derived from the sun. We do not heat our houses by 
 kindling fires at the tops of our chimneys or boil our water 
 from above, but rather we descend into our cellars, and make 
 our fires for that purpose in the furnaces constructed there. 
 Besides, we know that from the surface of the water, if at rest, 
 and from its many surfaces, if agitated by winds, the rays of 
 the sun would be reflected in all possible angles corresponding 
 to the angles of incidence of the rays themselves, and the heat 
 would be lost in space. Whence comes, then, this ocean heat 
 in the tropics, finding its vent in the arctic and antarctic 
 regions through the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic, and the 
 Japan. Stream laving the shores of northeastern Asia, and tho 
 south-eastern current running along the south-western coast 
 of South America to the Antartic seas ? Does it not come by 
 radiation from the interior of the earth from those great fires 
 which, by the elastic gases and vapors engendered there, in 
 many parts of the world upheave mountains and islands, and 
 forming chimneys for themselves in their summits, belch out 
 that superfluous heat, light, electricity, and magnetism which 
 radiation to the surface of the earth at times is inadequate to 
 discharge? And are not these great ocean currents of heated 
 water merely channels or flues of radiation of heat from be- 
 neath, by which, for climatic purposes, the Omnipotent Creator 
 levised the means of distributing this interior heat over 
 the surface of our planet ? 
 
 All admit the existence of those great forces of nature in 
 the interior of the earth, manifested through volcanic action 
 in those imponderable elements of heat, light, electricity, and 
 'tism. Why are those forces there? May they not be 
 the forces which turn the earth on its axis, and aid in propel- 
 ling it around the sun? May not the frigid zones north and 
 south furnish the cold cushions of water in the extreme depths 
 of the ocean, of the uniform temperature of 39 of Fahren- 
 heit, and of nearly th> a1 density known to "that element, 
 for the purpo-e of restraining and controlling the radiation of 
 that great interior heat of the earth, which otherwise might 
 be wasted ': 
 
 Dr. Winslow, in his treatise on light, its influence on life 
 and health, says : " Accurate calculations have been made as to 
 the temperature of the ocean. The results obtained clearly 
 establish that the lowest degrees of temperature are obtainable
 
 23 
 
 on the surface of the water; and that about ten feet below the 
 surface the thermometer rises several degrees, 90 is said by 
 Mr. Agassi/; (son of Professor Agassiz,) to be the highest tem- 
 perature he has known the ocean to attain; at very great 
 depths of the ocean a uniform temperature of about 39^ has 
 been found." 
 
 The low temperature of the surface water of the ocean is 
 attributable to the evaporation which is constantly going on, 
 carrying off the atmospheric heat adjacent, and proving con- 
 clusively that the Gulf and other warm ocean currents do not 
 derive their heat from the sun. 
 
 These reflections have forced themselves upon me, while 
 pgndering over some of the great revelations of nature. 
 
 In a recent report of the Secretary of the Agricultural Bu- 
 reau at Washington, he states " On the 15th of June the sun 
 is more than 23 north of the equator, and therefore it might 
 be inferred that the intensity of heat should be greater at this 
 latitude than at the equator; but that it should continue to 
 increase beyond this even to the pole, may not at first sight appear 
 so clear. It will, however, be understood when it is recol- 
 lected that though in a northern latitude the obliquity of the 
 ray is greater, and on this account the intensity should bo less, 
 yet the longer duration of the day is more than sufficient to 
 compensate for this effect and produce the result exhibited." 
 
 It strikes me that this explanation is not sound. I remem- 
 ber several years ago, at Philadelphia, on the afternoon of a 
 day in August, when the thermometer was at 94, that in fif- 
 teen minutes the thermometer fell 40, which was owing no 
 doubt to a descending column of cold air from the upper at- 
 mosphere, attracted by some local electrical disturbance. The 
 continuous heat of the preceding summer months could no 
 more prevent this thermal change at Philadelphia than could 
 the long day with the oblique sun's rays increase the intensity 
 of the heat in high northern latitudes. 
 
 Professor Maury says "The summer temperature as ob- 
 served on the very borders of the Polar ocean is absolutely 
 marvelous. Observations made with a view of determining 
 this accurately have for some years been taken in Alaska. 
 One of the observers in the northern district of Yukon states 
 in the ' Agricultural Report' for 18G8, ' I have seen the ther- 
 mometer at noon at Fort Yukon, not in the direct rays of the 
 sun, standing at 112 ; and I am informed by the commander 
 of the post that several spirit thermometers graduated to 120 
 had burst under the scorching sun of the arctic midsummer, 
 which can only be appreciated by one who has endured it. In
 
 24 
 
 midsummer, on the Upper Yukon, the only relief from the 
 intense heat under which vegetation attains an almost tropical 
 luxuriance, is the two or three hours during which the sun 
 hovers near the northern horizon, and the weary voyager in 
 his canoe blesses the transient coolness of the midnight air.' ' 
 
 According to M. de Humboldt, the sky is bluer between the 
 tropics than in the higher temperate latitudes, but paler at sea 
 than in the interior of countries ; the blue is less intense at 
 the horizon than at the zenith. The early maturity of human 
 life in the tropics is to be attributed to the stimulating influ- 
 ence of the enormous quantities of electricity, which, continu- 
 ally passing by day as well as by night in the auroras from the 
 poles to the equator, and descending to the earth in those re- 
 gions, in those dazzling sheets of lightning flame, so terrifying 
 to all who have witnessed them, and conducted by the inces- 
 sant rains prevailing there in certain seasons of the year de- 
 oxygenate the enormous volumes of carbonic acid gas gene- 
 1 by the exuberant vegetation, as well in its growth as in 
 its decay, thus supplying excessive quantities of oxygen gas to 
 stimulate and support the animal life, as well as carbon to the 
 fresh vegetation which is being continually renewed the cir- 
 cle of development and decay in the vegetable kingdom being 
 thus always preserved. 
 
 We Lave thus seen that the magnetic, electric, and thermic 
 powers of the Sun's ray reside in the violet ray, which is a 
 compound of tho blue and red rays. These constitute what are 
 1 the chemical powers of the sunlight. That they are 
 the most important powers of nature, there can be no doubt, 
 hout them life cannot exist on tliis planet. Without these 
 chemical powers there could be no vegetation. Without veg- 
 etation there could be no insect lite, and no development of 
 the higher order of animal existence. The earth Avould be 
 without form and void, and we can now understand the poten- 
 tial meaning of the first sublime utterance of the Almighty in 
 forming this earth, when he said "Let there be Light," and 
 - Light. 
 
 >regoing premises we deduce the following con- 
 
 1. Heat is developed by opposite electricities in coujunction 
 11 proportion to the quantity and intensity of those elec- 
 tricities in contact with each other, will be the intensity of the 
 
 blue color of the sky, for one of its functions, de- 
 
 3 carbonic acid !'l''vi"if carbon to vegetation 
 
 and sustaining both vegetable and animal life with its oxygen.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. 119,242. 
 
 AUGUSTUS J. PLEASONTON, OP PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Improvement in Accelerating the Growth of Plants and Animals. 
 Specifications forming part of Letters Patent No. 119$4%y 
 dated September 26, 1871. 
 
 To all whom it may concern : 
 
 Be it known that I, Augustus J. Pleasonton, of the city of 
 Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have discovered a new 
 and valuable aid and improvement in accelerating the growth to 
 maturity of plants, vines, vegetables, cereals, and the flora of the 
 vegetable kingdom of nature, and of animals., fowls, fishes and 
 birds of the animal kingdom of nature ; and that I do hereby 
 declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of 
 the operation of the same by means of combining the natural 
 light of the sun transmitted through transparent glass with the 
 natural light of the sun transmitted through blue glass or any of 
 the varieties of blue, as indigo or violet, in varied proportions of 
 blue and white glass, from one of blue to eight of white, up to 
 equal proportions of blue and white, as greater or less caloric is 
 needed, according to the nature of the plants or animals, to 
 accelerate their natural growth, increase their vitality, and hasten 
 maturity ; reference being also made to the accompanying drawing 
 making a part of this specification, in which the figure represents 
 one form of construction of a conservatory or grapery, in which 
 A A A represent the clear or transparent glass, and B the blue 
 or coloured glass. Proper ventilation is effected by means of wire 
 cloth placed in the walls, as shown at C, and which can be opened 
 and closed at pleasure by means of hinged glazed sashes, as shown 
 at D. There is also represented at E a hinged sash, glazed with 
 both clear and blue glass, for changing the angle of incidence to 
 agree with the declination of the sun. These proportions of the 
 natural light of the sun with the blue or electric transmitted rays
 
 26 
 
 may be varied to conform to the specific constitution of tho 
 varieties oflifo in tho vegetable world and the varieties of consti- 
 tution in the animal wcrld. and can only ho ascertained throughout 
 l)i, tli kingdoms by progressive and continued experiment. Tho 
 proportions of the heating rays and the transmitted blue electric 
 ravs must bo varied to conform to tho constitutional vitality of 
 able or animal, and care must bo had that tho heating or 
 caloric light is not in excess of the electric or vitalizing and 
 growing tran-. mil ted blue light. 
 
 I routine myself to no particular form, externally or internally, 
 of tho buildings to bo used, whether they apply to tho growth and 
 propagation of plants, vegetables, fruits, &c., or to the growth 
 propagation, c., of animals, fishes and fowls; but the best form is 
 that building which will receive tho rays of tho sun during its daily 
 revolution as nearly perpendicular as practicable to the surfaces 
 of the glass covering, so that tho rays shall bo as little deflected as 
 ble, and the tiers or rows of blue gbss, violet or other degrees 
 of blue, shall be continuous over tho ontiro portion of tho building 
 on which the sun shines, imparting in this way to every portion 
 of tho interior uniformly throughout the day the caloric and 
 electric rays in the proportions of white and blue glass in their 
 alternations. Sucn structures should bo built on curves, conform- 
 ing to the curve in which tho sun moves in its daily revolution, 
 and tho alternating rows of white and blue glass should extend 
 over the portions on which tho sun shines, so that in the course of 
 tho day plants and vegetables, wherever they grow under tho 
 glass, will all have the same exposure to tho caloric and electric 
 transmitted light. Variations from these forms of buildings, and 
 variations in tho proportion of tho natural caloric and bluo 
 electric light will, in degree, accelerate tho growth and maturity 
 of plants and animals depending upon their constitution and 
 vitality; and tho samo proportions that hasten growth in tho 
 table kingdom are not tho best for many animals of tho 
 animal kiiy^dom. Kxperienco alone can determine tho best pro- 
 Mis of natural and blue light, depending on tho constitution 
 of the animal and the nature of plants. In extreme northern 
 latitudes the form given to the glass buil lings BO as to take tho 
 Run'.- -pendicularly to the surfaces during tho day would 
 
 vary from tho form that should ho given in southern latitudes to 
 same purpo-e. Therefore no one general plan for tho 
 ruction of conservatories, graperies, houses for animals, &c., 
 be adopted i,r dr>rril)ed b.-yond tho rule for tho builders to 
 >rm tho whapo of the gla>s portions HO as to present their 
 Around liis building in form to take tho sun's rays us 
 nearly perpendicularly as practicable, so as to avoid their deflec- 
 tion. All persons skilled in building will readily understand this 
 principle. ;i-id I. enable 1 to rnako us of the discovery and apply 
 it to practical use, in whatever place ho may live, extreme north
 
 27 
 
 or extreme south, within the limits of the sun's rising and setting. 
 I prefer, as a transmitting medium for the electric rays of the 
 Bun, blue glass, violet and indigo; but I do not confine myself to 
 the use of glass, as the sun's transmitted rays convey these colors 
 through other media, producing in degree the same results. 
 
 In buildings for the treatment of invalids, whether they be men 
 or animals, no particular form or construction of hospital, house or 
 stable will be necessary, as the beds of invalid men and the places 
 for animals can be so changed that the order of the means for 
 transmitting the blue light may be very variable. The propor- 
 tion of electric blue light and the natural light, however, should 
 be constant, or as nearly so as practicable, after the proportions 
 are ascertained by experience that prove most beneficial in their 
 healing process. 
 
 I do not pretend to be the first discoverer of the vitalizing and life- 
 growing qualities of the transmitted blue light of the solar rays, 
 and its effect in quickening life and intensifying vitality. 
 
 I have found, upon patient and long experiments, running 
 through many years, that plants, fruits of plants, vines and fruits 
 of vines and vegetables BO housed and inclosed as to admit the 
 natural light of the sun through ordinary glass, and the trans- 
 mitted light of the solar rays through the glasses of blue, violet or 
 purple colours in the proportion of eight ot natural light to one of 
 the blue or electric light, grow much more rapidly, ripen much 
 quicker, and produce much larger crops of fruit than the same 
 plants housed and treated with the natural light of day, the soils 
 and fertilizers and treatment nd culture being identical in both 
 cases and the exposure the same. 
 
 I have also found, by repeated and patient experiments of several 
 years, that young animals, fishes and fowls under the same care, 
 food, regimen, and treatment grow much more rapidly and to a 
 much larger size under the influence of the combined natural light 
 of day with the transmitted blue electric light than when exposed 
 only to the natural sunlight, and'that their flesh is equally good, and 
 their health, vigor and constitutions are equal to those that, under the 
 same circumstances of food, care and shelter, grow in the natural 
 light. In these experiments with animals, fishes and fowls, I have 
 not used the same proportions of natural light and transmitted 
 blue light, viz: eight of natural to ono of blue light, that I used in 
 my experiments with vines, vegetables and fruits, but with the 
 first named the proportions of natural and blue light were equal ; 
 and I prefer not those proportions of the natural caloric light and 
 the transmitted electric light; yet I do not doubt that other pro- 
 portions, depending upon the different organic constitutions in 
 both the animal ami vegetable creations, may be found to combine 
 life-growing and vitalizing powers even exceeding the results I 
 have produced, and still more productive of good in creating 
 greater results. In these experiments I have discovered and
 
 28 
 
 proved that the transmitted blue light of the solar rays in its 
 different degrees of intensity of color, in combination with natural 
 sunlight, imparts vigour and vitality to the vegetation and life- 
 gro\ving principle in nature, heretofore unknown and never before 
 utilized and applied to practical results of incalculable value to 
 stock growing, to agriculture and horticulture, both as relates to 
 time, labor and economy. 
 
 1 have also discovered, by experiment and practice, special and 
 Kpecitic efficacy in the use of this combination of the caloric ra}-s 
 of the sun and the electric blue light in stimulating the glands of 
 the liody, the nervous system generally, and the secretive organs 
 of man and animals. It therefore becomes an important clement 
 in the treatment of diseases, especially such as have become 
 chronic, or result from derangement of the secretive, perspiratory 
 or glandular functions, as it vitalizes and gives renewed activity 
 and force to the vital currents that keep the health unimpaired, or 
 restores them when disordered or deranged. 
 
 Having thus fully described my discovery and invention, what I 
 claim, and desire to have secured to me by Letter Patent, is 
 
 1. Tho method herein described for utilizing the natural light of 
 the sun transmitted through clear glass, and the blue or electric 
 solar rays transmitted through blue, purple or violet coloured 
 glass, or its equivalent, in the propagation and growth of plants 
 and animals, substantially as herein set forth. 
 
 - The herein described construction of conservatories and other 
 buildings, when the roof, walls or parts thereof are covered with 
 alternating portions of clear and blue, purple, or violet glass or 
 equivalents, as and for the purposes set forth. 
 
 In testimoncy that I claim the above, I have hereunto sub- 
 scribed my name in the presence of two witnesses at the city of 
 Philadelphia, the 23d day of June, A. D. 1871. 
 
 AUGUSTUS J. PLEASONTON. 
 Witnesses : 
 
 II. Tt'MSON, 
 
 H. A. NAQLE. 
 
 [II.] 
 
 In the winter of the year 1872, I called at the Pennsylvania 
 
 tul, on 1'ine street, between Highth and .Ninth streets, in this 
 
 city, to suggest to its officers the introduction of my plan of using 
 
 the associated light, of the sun and the blue colour of the sky in 
 
 alh-viating the sufferings of, and probably in restoring to health 
 
 many of their patients. On being presented to them, one of the 
 
 icians, on hearing my name mentioned, asked mo if 
 
 - the author of the experiments with blue light of which ho 
 
 hac" read r n account. On receiving my answer, ho said ; " I have
 
 29 
 
 something curious to tell you. I am a native of Brazil, where my 
 father still resides ; I have been educated in the United States; 
 last, week I received a package of hooks, pamphlets, &c., from my 
 father, in Bra/il, who had ordered them from Paris. In his ac- 
 companying letter my father directed my particular attention to 
 a French pamphlet which detailed some remarkable experiments 
 on animal and vegetable life, that had been made with blue glass 
 and sunlight, that ho thought would be useful to me iu my medical 
 profession. On examining the pamphlet I discovered it to be a 
 translation in the French language of your memoir on that subject. 
 The translator, however, had not mentioned your name in it, in- 
 even the name of the locality where the experiments had been 
 made. It evidently was intended to convey the impression that 
 the experiments had been made in Paris." 
 
 If tho translator was a Frenchman we can pardon him for 
 omitting the name of the author, in memory of the ancient Revo- 
 lutionary alliance between his nation and our own. We can even 
 condone his fault, smarting as he must have been under the then 
 recent loss of Alsace and Lorraine but we think that it might 
 have occurred to him that the scene of my experiments was also 
 the locality of the electrical experiments of Franklin, whom his 
 countrymen and women always delighted to honor, and hence the 
 name of Franklin's home might have been associated with the 
 announcement of discoveries in physics that do no discredit even 
 to those of Franklin himself. 
 
 [III.] 
 
 THE DIAMOND ; ITS ORIGIN. In former editions of this memoir 
 I have attributed the origin of the diamond to electricity in the 
 upper atmosphere decomposing carbonic acid gas, fusing the car- 
 bon, converting the oxygen gas into ozone, and crystalizing the 
 fused carbon, under the great evaporating power of the intense 
 cold there prevailing. The Atheneum says: " A somewhat nove 1 
 idea is stated by M. Desdemaines Hugon, in a paper ' On tho 
 Diamond Diggings of South Africa/ which is printed in the Revue 
 Scientifiquede la France et 1 J Etranger. He states that the air is always 
 highly electric where diamonds abound, and he intimates his 
 opinion that this may throw some light on the formation of that 
 gem."
 
 30 
 
 [IV.] 
 [From the President of the Indiana University.'] 
 
 INDIANA UNIVERSITY, 1 
 BLOOMINGTON, June 15, 1871. } 
 GEN. PLEAKONTON. 
 
 DKAR SIR: I received a few days ago a pamphlet containing 
 an account of your interesting experiments on the influence of the 
 blue ray in developing animal and vegetable life. If the experi- 
 ments, where it so difficult to determine the amount of influence 
 due to the light, compared with that due to other circumstances, 
 have been fairly made, as doubtless they have been, you have 
 opened up a new field of great practical usefulness to all the world. 
 Thanking you for your kindness in sending mo your treatise, I 
 remain, 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 T. A. WYLIE, 
 
 [V-] 
 [From the President of the Lehigh University.'] 
 
 THE LEHIQII UNIVERSITY, ) 
 
 Sorm BETFT.EHEM, PA., PRESIDENT'S ROOMS, July 10, 1871. ) 
 MY BEAR GENERAL: 
 
 I have just received and at once read your very interesting 
 paper <>n ci-iU-t rays, &c. 
 
 The tacts are astonishing, and your explanation evinces care, 
 judgment and research. 
 
 I shall take pleasure in putting it among our scientific papers, 
 and thank you for sending it. 
 
 Very faithfully yours, 
 
 flENRY COPP^E. 
 GEN'U I'LEASONTON. 
 
 [VI.] 
 
 [From thr Hon. Wm. M. Men-dith, late Secretary of the Treasury 
 of the United States."] 
 
 M v I ) EAR I' 1 N : 
 
 I have delayed thanking you tor the pamphlet you sent me, 
 
 till I should have read it, which 1 have n<>\v done twice, with 
 
 It and pleasure I congratulate you sincerely 
 
 on th ry you have made, whkrh must not only be greatly 
 
 valuable in Agriculture and Horticulture, but in many o.thcr 
 ma: < II. 
 
 Always faithfully yours, 
 
 W. M. MKIM-IDITH. 
 . PLEASONTON, Monday, 10th July, 1871.
 
 31 
 
 [VII.] 
 
 [From Wm. A. Ingham, Esq., a Director of the Lehigh Valley 
 Railroad Company.'] 
 
 320 WALNUT ST., > 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, August 29th, 1871. j 
 DEAR GENERAL : 
 
 Allo-v mo to return my thanks for the copies of your pamphlet. 
 I have read it with great interest and am satisfied that your dis- 
 covery will have wonderful results, revolutionizing in fact tho 
 science of horticulture. 
 
 I am, very truly yours, 
 
 W'M. A. INGHAM. 
 GEN. A. J. PLEASONTON. 
 
 [YIIL] 
 
 [From the Hon. Joseph R. Chandler, late Minister Plenipotentiary 
 of the United States at the Court of Naples ] 
 
 153 NORTH TENTH STREET, ) 
 20th September, 1871. j 
 DEAR SIR: 
 
 I thank you for a copy of tho third edition of your pamphlet on 
 "tho influence of tho blue colour of the sky." I cannot doubt 
 the importance of your discovery, nor fail to see that the public 
 must hold itself indebted to you for your interesting and success- 
 ful experiments. 
 
 With great respect, your servant, 
 
 JOS. E. CHANDLER. 
 GEN. PLEASONTON. 
 
 [IX.] 
 
 DEPARTMENT OP THE INTERIOR, ) 
 PATENT OFFICE. } 
 
 WASHINGTON, D.JJC., August 15th, 1871. 
 A, J. PLEASONTON, Philadelphia, Penn. 
 
 Your letter of the 14th inst., relative to your invitation to tho 
 examiner in charge of the Agricultural class of this office to call 
 upon you to witness the influence of the " blue colour of the sky" 
 in developing animal and vegetable life, is received. 
 
 In reply you are informed that Prof. Brainerd is at present con- 
 fined to his room by sickness, but a leave will be given him for tho 
 purpose of accepting your invitation, as soon as he is able to travel. 
 Yery respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 M. D. LEGGETT, 
 
 Commissioner.
 
 32 
 
 [X.] 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 1 
 PATENT OFFICE. j 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., August 19th, 1871. 
 DEAR SIR: 
 
 I liavo so far recovered from my late illness as to bo able to pay 
 
 B visit in compliance with your invitation, for the purpose of 
 
 examining your improvement in the construction of conservatories. 
 
 1 purpose to leave this city on the 8 A. M. train on Tuesday, 
 
 and shall therefore bo due at Philadelphia at 1 P. M. * * * * 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 J. BRAINERD, 
 
 Examiner. 
 GEN. A. J. PLEASONTON, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 [XI] 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 
 PATENT OFFICE. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., September 6th, 1871. 
 DEAR GENERAL : 
 
 Your drawing arrived this morning, and the patent will now go 
 to issue, but will take the usual time. 
 
 The Commissioner yesterday introduced General Babcoek, who 
 
 is Superintendent of Public Grounds, and Consulting Engineer 
 
 of the Board of Public Works. The object of his call was to learn 
 
 particulars in regard to your cerulean process. I had a pleasant 
 
 view with him, at the close of which he desired me to write 
 
 ii, asking the privilege of using your invention upon a 
 
 grajx-ry which he is now fitting up on the President's grounds. 
 
 An :. .-rectcd to the care of myself or Commissioner of 
 
 Patents, will reach him promptly. ****** 
 
 Respectfully, 
 GENERAL A. J. PLEASONTON. J. BRAINERD. 
 
 [XII.] 
 
 PARIS, September 29th, 1871. 
 Pr K \*<-NTON. 
 
 MI SIR: I have just received and read with great pleasure, 
 
 your Tery interesting paper from the Gardener's Monthly, of August 
 
 g your experiments on the action of coloured light 
 
 fii plants and animals. You will find in the "Report of tne
 
 33 
 
 Department of Agriculture," at Washington, for 1869, a very long 
 report of mine ''on the influence of cli Dialogic agents, atmospheric 
 and terrestrial, upon agriculture," where, in the chapters of light 
 and electricity, I have treated fully all these questions with a 
 great number of experiments and quotations of authors. At 
 that time I had no idea of any of your publications, although I 
 had formed a bibliography on that subject of 1326 articles in 
 every language. I am preparing a work in French and English 
 on Agricultural Meteorology, and I should be most happy to 
 mention in it your experiments, and to receive all that you havo 
 published. My name may be known to you through my papers 
 on Meteorology at the French Academy and in America. I was 
 the founder and director of the observatory at Havana until tho 
 beginning of our war, being now a victim of my patriotism. I 
 correspond with several journals of the United States, as tho 
 
 American Agriculturist, the Rural New Yorker, etc., etc. * * * 
 ***** 
 
 I remain, General, your most obedient servant, 
 
 ANDRE POET. 
 54 Rue Mazarine, Hotel Mazarin. 
 
 [XIII.] 
 
 PARIS, November 10th, 1871. 
 GENERAL A. J. PLEASONTON. 
 
 DEAR SIR : Your most affectionate of October 10th, is at hand, 
 with seven copies of your interesting pamphlet. After a very 
 careful study of that paper, I should advise you strongly to pursue 
 your experiments on the influence of coloured lights on vegetable 
 and animal life. There are still a great many points to be resolved, 
 and, unfortunately, this important question has been totally 
 abandoned in our days. Should you publish anything else, pray 
 do not forget me. I shall be very happy to quote all your experi- 
 ments in my works. At the next sitting of the French Academy, 
 I shall also endeavor to have a little extract of your pamphlet 
 inserted in the Comptes Rendus of that Institution, with a copy 
 presented in your name, aud also to M. Becquerel, M. Duchartro, 
 the Meteorological Society, etc. I am waiting for the return of 
 one of its perpetual Secretaries, M. Elie de Beaumont. I shall 
 have the pleasure to send you whatever may be published on your 
 experiments. I have sent another copy to the Meteorological 
 Society of Yienna, very much interested in the study of periodical 
 phenomena, treated in my second report to the Department of 
 Agriculture. ******** 
 
 I remain your most obedient servant, 
 
 ANDRE POEY. 
 54 Rue Mazarin, Hotel Mazarin.
 
 34 
 
 [XIV.] 
 
 PARIS, November 24th, 1871. 
 A. J. PLEASONTON. 
 I>KAR Sm : As I had promised you I enclose the little extract 
 n toil to the French Academy of Science, Monday last, and 
 which will appear to-morrow in tho Comptes Rendus. I took par- 
 ticular pains to write a condensed letter, giving tho most striking 
 f.u-t*, to tho perpetual Secretary, tho great Geologist, M. Elio de 
 Beaumont, who was very much interested in your experiments. 
 A copy was also presented to tho Academy, Bccqucrcl Father, 
 Dnchartro, and Barm I, tho editor of tho Practical Journal of Agri- 
 culture, who will reprint it in that paper. At tho same time dif- 
 foront scientific and political papers will make somo mention of it. 
 I shall send next week the translation of my letter to tho excel- 
 lent English journal called Mature', so your experiments and namo 
 
 will bo, in short, spread through tho scientific world in Europe. 
 ****** 
 
 I remain, General, your most obedient servant, 
 
 ANDR& POEY. 
 54 Ruo Mazarin, Hotel Mazarin. 
 
 [XV.] 
 
 [From Rev. Henry A. Boardmin, Pastor Tenth Presbyterian CJiurch, 
 
 Philadelphia.] 
 
 MY DEAR GENERAL : 
 
 ; for your generous supply of tho Memoir, and not 
 less for tho very kind terms of your note. 
 
 ynco before in our national history tho subject of " Blue Light " 
 
 I a great commotion. Tiioro will bo a greater still before 
 
 and in a somewhat more beneficent direction. I heartily 
 
 vou on tho just f.imo which is already assured to you 
 
 a.-j tlio reward of your great discovery. 
 
 1 shall place tho pamphlets where t'.icy will by appreciated. 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 11. A. IJOA'RDMAN, 
 May 1st, 1S72. 1311 Spruce Street. 
 
 [XVI.] 
 [From the same.] 
 
 loll SPRUCE Sr., June 1st, 1S72. 
 
 II Y 1>K.UI flF.NERAT.: 
 
 tri a viro laudato," to bo praised by a man who is him- 
 self praised, the Latins used to think was a very nice thing. So
 
 35 
 
 I take great pleasure in enclosing a letter from the Rev. Dr. 
 Sprague, for forty years a pastor at Albany, one of the most ac- 
 complished and revered clergymen of our church or country, and 
 enjoying a high European reputation. You will see what estimate 
 he puts upon your great discovery, and bow ho prizes your 
 autograph. For I took the liberty of sending him your kind noto 
 to me, for his famous autographic collection the largest (somo 
 20f>,000 specimens, I believe,) and finest in America. 
 
 1 enclose, also, a noto from Mr. Alex. Brown, Nineteenth and 
 "Walnut, to whom I gave the Memoir. I know it will gratify you. 
 With sincere regard, 
 
 I am, dear General, yours, 
 
 II. A, BO A RDM AX. 
 
 design these two autographs for your collection, so you 
 will not return them. 
 
 [XVII] 
 [From Alexander Brown, Esq., Banker, &c.~\ 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, May 30th, 1872. 
 HEV. H. A. BOARDMAN. 
 
 DEAR SIR : I thank you for the copy of Gen. Pleasonton's ad- 
 dress before the " Philadelphia Agricultural Society." 
 
 I have read it with great interest, and think that the successful 
 result of his experiments of the blue colour on animal and vegeta- 
 ble life must carry conviction to every mind. 
 
 Yery respectfully, yours, 
 
 ALEX. BROWN. 
 
 [XVIIL] 
 
 \From the Eev. Dr. W. B. Sprague, an eminent divine of Albany, 
 
 New York.'] 
 
 FLUSHING, May 30, 1872. 
 MY DEAR DR. BOADMAN. 
 
 Since I wrote you yesterday, (I believe misdating my letter.) 
 I have read the pamphlet you kindly sent me, with astonishment 
 and admiration. I am not chemist enough to pronounce upon 
 every part of it, but it seems to mo that the man who could havo 
 written it is destined to be a groat benefactor to the world ; I do 
 not see why it should not mark the introduction of a new and 
 better era. I shall lay it away, with the author's autograph, as 
 containing everything concerning him that I should desire. 
 With much love, as ever, yours, 
 
 W. B. SPKAGUE.
 
 36 
 
 [XIX.] 
 [From H. A. Boardman."} 
 
 1311 SPRUCE ST., Oct. 10th. 
 MY DEAR GENERAL: 
 
 Wo arc all prepared to testify that the blue glass grapes are in 
 nizo, color :ind flavor of the very choicest. If there bo gainsayers 
 send them to us. Wo give you many thanks for so generous a 
 sample of your crop. And what bunches, too ! 
 
 The fresh testimonies you recite are very remarkable a fur- 
 ther presage of the certain and early attention which will soon 
 be given to this whole subject, by men of science. I regret that I 
 am compelled to send this bare acknowledgment of your ex- 
 tremely interesting letter. 
 
 I am, very truly yours, 
 
 II. A. BOARDHAN. 
 
 [XX.] 
 
 Lieut. Col. Charles Manby, Royal Volunteer Engineer Staff' 
 Corps, England.] 
 
 GO WESTBOURNE TERRACE, HYDE PARK. 
 
 LONDON, March 23d, 1872. 
 MY DEAR GENERAL: 
 
 Pray accept my thanks for your kind letter of 5th inst., and for 
 x copies of your most interesting paper, which I shall dis- 
 tribute to the persons most capable of comprehending it, and of 
 repeating the experiments here. 
 
 I am grieved to say that my dear old friend A. II., of 
 Copenhagen, for whom I ventured to ask you. to send mo your 
 p:iper, h:is died in the interval, and ho never received your paper, 
 nor the copies of tho Comptes Rendus de V Academic de Sciences de 
 aingof thosubject, of which I procured him exomplaires. 
 ill, 1 hope, keep up his Horticultural Experiments and 
 when I next go to Denmark I will tell you whet her any experiments 
 : your system. I have many friends who will, 1 
 think, try the and if you desiro to make it known, scud 
 
 me some mor- ;iul they shall bo well placed among influ- 
 
 ential ])<: I am a member of tho Horticultural and tho 
 
 Botai ictics of London, and in my capacity of Honorary 
 
 Secretary of tho Institution of Civil Engineers of England, I am 
 in communication with scientific men, so I can make your system 
 well known to everybody. It is most interesting as an investiga- 
 tion, and I will try and get it tried in every way. ***** 
 Bclicvo mo, my dear General, yours sincerely, 
 
 CHARLES MANBY.
 
 37 
 
 [XXI.] 
 [From J. T. Alden, of Newport, Kentucky.'] 
 
 NEWPORT, KENTUCKY, May 6th, 1872. 
 GENERAL A. J. PLEASONTON, PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 DEAR SIR : Your esteemed favor of 23d inst., with pamphlets, at 
 hand, for which please accept my sincere thanks. 
 
 I read your treatise with absorbing interest and satisfaction, and 
 was amazed at the wonderful discoveries evolved by your critical 
 observations and the scientific deductions and logical conclusions, 
 and still more astounded by their grand and overwhelming 
 demonstrations. 
 
 Your mind and vision have penetrated into the labyrinth of the 
 "imponderable" deep of nature, and eliminated from her secret 
 chambers great practical truths that hitherto have been buried 
 in an abyss too profound for even man's comprehension. My dear 
 sir, I do most sincerely congratulate you as the author of a dis- 
 covery ranking in great practical value with those of Morse, 
 Newton, Fulton and Watt. I cannot feel you will soon be 
 adequately rewarded, because truths like these are too abstruse for 
 immediate apprehension by the common mind. But time will 
 reduce your grand theory (no longer theory in your hands,) to 
 practice, and not until then will your great efforts be duly appre- 
 ciated. 
 
 I bow in deep grateful devotion to you, as the chosen instru- 
 ment of God in communicating this valuable knowledge to man- 
 kind ; and may it be your happiness, as of Morse, to see its adoption 
 by your fellow-creatures throughout the civilized world, as well as 
 like him to reap the full fruition of its honors and fruits. And if 
 you are not deluged with letters, I would like to ask if these 
 principles may be applied in a more humble way than your 
 demonstration exhibits? Can they be made subservient to the 
 production of early vegetables by the ordinary hot bed cultivation ? 
 Have you experimented " on this line," or has any one under your 
 instruction? If two or three weeks can be anticipated over the 
 hot bed culture now so common, it would equal 400 miles of lati- 
 tude in influence and results. On this point, if consistent with 
 your time and convenience, I should be highly gratified to hear 
 from you, stating any knowledge in your possession of results or 
 discoveries in this line of industries. 
 
 With considerations of profound respect, I am, dear sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 J. T. ALDEN. 
 
 I will confer with you touching the area of territory desired 
 hereafter.
 
 38 
 [XXII.] 
 
 [From Dr. John C. Brown, 7 nte Professor of Botany in tfie South 
 African College, Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope, Africa.'] 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, 3405 BARING STRFET, 1 
 16th October, 1873. j 
 
 SIR: I have tried to procure a copy of your valuable treatise 
 on blue light as an organic stimulant, but have failed. May 1 ask 
 you where I can procure a copy? May I ask if you have collected 
 any information on the climatic effects which have followed tho 
 extensive destruction of forests in America, and, if you can inform, 
 me where I may procure information on this pant? 1 have just 
 completed the tour of the foreat districts of central and northern 
 Europe, collecting information for the use of tho Government at 
 the Capo of Good Dope, and having come to tho Conference of tho 
 Evangelical Alliance, I am desirous of such information, and I 
 shall feel greatly obliged if )'ou can supply it. I leave for Pitts- 
 burgh on Monday. Address mo to the care of KEY. 0. EASTMAN, 
 311 West Twenty-Ninth Street, New York. 
 
 My permanent address is, REV. D. BROWN, Bcrwick-on-Twced, 
 England. 
 
 I am, sir, respectfully yours, 
 
 JOHN C. BROWN, LL. D., F. R. G. S., F. L. S., &c. 
 
 Late Professor of Botany in the South African College, Cape 
 Town. 
 
 To GENEBAL PLEASONTOH.
 
 MY. (President and Gentlemen of the 
 
 (Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture : 
 
 IT is now more than three years since I had the honour to 
 read before you my memoir " on the influence of the blue 
 colour of the sky in developing animal and vegetable life, as 
 illustrated by certain experiments I had instituted and 
 continued between the years 1861 and 1871." 
 
 The subject was so entirely novel, and the results of the ex- 
 periments were so surprising, that men were lost in amaze- 
 ment when they contemplated the facts as they were narrated, 
 and began to conjecture the bearing that these facts were 
 destined to have upon the comfort, the health and the 
 prosperity of mankind. 
 
 As a knowledge of the experiments and the conclusions 
 deduced from them became diffused, various criticisms appeared 
 in many journals, some of which were humorous, and intended 
 to be facetious; others treated the subject with grave dignity, 
 not knowing exactly what to make of it ; while others, again, 
 grasping it in its important relations, as by intuition, welcomed 
 it as a long step in advance in the knowledge of the great 
 truths in physics which mankind are so anxious to acquire. 
 All this was perfectly natural. The little knowledge which 
 men have has been acquired by great labour, industry, priva- 
 tion, and perhaps through a long course of arduous study. 
 They are, therefore, loath to abandon preconceived notions 
 upon any subject. It would be a loss of so much mental 
 capital. A new idea, therefore, upon any familiar subject 
 naturally excites doubt, and is met with disapproval until, by 
 a free and full discussion, its merits are understood, when, if it 
 is established by facts and conclusive reasoning upon them, it 
 is accepted as sound, though it may displace all preexisting 
 notions in opposition to it. 
 
 Such has been the history of the publication of my memoir, 
 and of the wonderful discovery that it describes. I proceed 
 now to communicate to you some facts in connection with this 
 subject, which are very curious, instructive and important.
 
 It may be remembered that in the month of May, 1871, a 
 great hailstorm visited this city and neighbourhood, and 
 inflicted immense damage among gardens, green houses, &c. 
 Among the sufferers was Mir, Robert Buist, Sr., in his extensive 
 ;ses, near Darby, in some of which nearly all of the 
 was broken. The damage was promptly repaired, and 
 the houses reglazed as before, with colourless glass. After 
 which, my memoir on the influence of the blue colour of the 
 sky, 5cc., which had been read before your society in the begin- 
 ning of May, of that year, was printed and published. It was 
 tht-n too late for Mr. Buist to introduce blue glass into his 
 forcing houses but fully informed of the results of my experi- 
 ments he adopted an expedient, which differing somewhat 
 from my experiments confirms the conclusions thereon to 
 which I had arrived, and which will prove a valuable addition 
 to our appliances in horticulture. 
 
 Mr. Buist had at this time a very large and valuable 
 collection of geraniums which had become diseased; some of 
 them had died, others were feeble, losing their leaves and 
 flowers, and others again, though blooming, were sensibly 
 e deprived of the brilliant tints of colour which char- 
 acterized their several varieties. 
 
 It occurred to Mr. Buist that if he should paint with a light blue 
 tin- inside surface of each pane of glass in one of his 
 houses, leaving a margin of an inch and a quarter in width of 
 the glass in its uncoloured condition all around the painted 
 surface on each of the panes of glass, and then place his 
 sickly geranium plants in the house under this glass so 
 painted, the vigour of his plants might be restored. 
 
 The experiment was made, and was successful. The plants 
 after they had been placed in this house, 
 r they began to put forth new leaves, and 
 
 at the end i.f ten days their vigour wa- not merely restored, but 
 Mr. Bui-- .tnts he had thus treated were 
 
 althy and vi^onrous than ho had ever seen similar 
 plants of , have been. Their colours were 
 
 not only restored but their tints were intensified. 
 
 During the summer of 1*71, Mr. Dreer, one of our most 
 
 . called my attention to another con- 
 y, which had just comu to his notice. It 
 ;/.. :
 
 3 
 
 A professional gardener in Massachusetts (near Boston) had 
 been trying for several years to protect his young plants, as 
 they were germinating, from various minute insects which fed 
 upon them, sometimes as soon as they were formed. For this 
 purpose he adopted nearly every expedient of which he had 
 any knowledge, and even used the primary rays of sunlight 
 separately. Xothing succeeded, however, in these experiments 
 but the blue ray, which proved itself to be a perfect protec- 
 tion against the attacks of these insects. He made a small 
 triangular frame, similar in form to a soldier's tent, covered it 
 with blue gauze, such as ladies use for their veils. Having 
 prepared a piece of ground, he sowed his seed in it, and, 
 covering a portion of the ground thus prepared with his little 
 blue frame and gauze, he left the other parts exposed to the 
 attacks of the insects. His plants outside of this frame were 
 all eaten by the insects, as soon as they germinated, while 
 those under it escaped entirely from their depredations. This 
 experiment was tried many times, and always with similar 
 results. 
 
 This gardener had written an account of his experiments to 
 Mr. Dreer, and had forwarded to him one of his small blue 
 gauze frames, in order to its introduction here to the attention 
 of our gardeners. This was shown to me by Mr. Dreer, with 
 the gardener's account of his experiments with it. 
 
 The explanation of this phenomenon, I think, is this. 
 The sunlight negatively electrified in passing through the 
 meshes of the blue gauze of the frame, which is positively 
 electrified, excites an electro-magnetic current sufficiently 
 strong to destroy the feeble vitality of the eggs or of the insects 
 themselves, which are in the soil with the seed, leaving the 
 seed to germinate more rapidly under its influence. One 
 remarkable circumstance in these experiments was that the 
 combination of sunlight with blue light, while it destroyed 
 these noxious insects injurious to vegetation, at the same 
 time stimulated the development of the growth of the plants 
 it had preserved. 
 
 Having introduced blue glass into the windows of the sleep- 
 ing apartments of my servants in one of my country houses, it 
 was observed that large numbers of flies, that had previously 
 infested them, were dead soon after its introduction, on the 
 inside sills of the windows. This effect seemed to be pro- 
 duced by a like cause to that on the insects injurious to vege-
 
 tation as described by the gardener of Massachusetts in his 
 experiments. Various experiments have been made in several 
 parts of this country as well as in Europe, with this associated 
 light, in developing vegetable life according to my suggestions 
 and with results corresponding to those that I have obtained. 
 A lady of my acquaintance, residing in this city, informed me 
 that having some very choice and rare flowering plants in pots 
 in her pitting room, which were drooping and manifesting signs 
 of disease, she threw over them a blue gauze veil, such as 
 ladies wear, and exposed them to the sunlight, when she was 
 highly gratified to discover that in a very short time they were 
 fully restored to health and vigour. 
 
 A gentleman in "West Philadelphia having a large lemon 
 tree, which he prized highly, placed it in his hall near to the 
 vestibule door, the side fights of which were of glass of differ- 
 ent colours, blue and violet predominating; the sunlight 
 pas-ing through these side lights fell upon a portion of the 
 branches of this lemon tree ; great vigour was imparted thereby 
 to the vitality of these branches, which were filled with very 
 fine lemons, while the other branches of the tree that, did not 
 receive the light from these blue and violet panes of glass, 
 were small, feeble and apparently unhealthy, and were without 
 fruit. 
 
 It will be remembered that during our late civil war, 
 when commercial intercourse between the Northern and 
 Southern States had ceased, the sale of early fruits and vegeta- 
 bles in the markets of the principal northern cities, was 
 monopolized by their producers in the states of New Jersey 
 and Delaware, and on the eastern shore of Maryland. This 
 valuable trade, and enriched many of those 
 in it. The price of land in these regions became 
 enhanced in value, and the people resident there enjoyed 
 On the restoration of peace all this was 
 
 changed; the people, along the Atlantic slope of Virginia, 
 
 i and South Carolina and of a part of Georgia, at onco 
 
 ;-"d upon the cultivation of fruits and vegetables for tho 
 
 north'-rn ritie-^ and owing to their lower latitudes and earlier 
 
 ;:iid improved modes of cultivation, they have secured 
 
 their lost markets, and are now rapidly recovering from the 
 
 ts of' the w;ir. All this, of course, is a corresponding loss 
 
 to the tanners of New .Jersey, Delaware and the eastern shore 
 
 <>f Maryland, ami lence th" value of farming lands 
 
 in thes- has been sensibly depreciated. A large por-
 
 tion of this trade can be recovered by the application of my 
 discovery to the cultivation of vegetables and fruits, and their 
 maturity can be hastened so as to equal that of those of the 
 Southern States herein referred to. 
 
 The early vegetables used in my family are, for the most 
 part, started in pots under blue and plain glass, then trans- 
 planted into proper soil, and are ready for use several weeks 
 before I could otherwise obtain them. As an illustration, we 
 have been using on my table since July 12th, of this year, 
 Stowell's evergreen sugar corn, grown in this way, while I am 
 informed that it is one of the latest in the season to mature; 
 it will 'be at least two weeks later than now, August 10th, 
 before any of it grown otherwise in the ordinary course of 
 growth will be ready for use.* 
 
 As it is only the very early and very late vegetables and 
 fruits that remunerate the grower, while the abundance of 
 the regular crops reduces the prices oftentimes below cost, 
 it is truly the interest of all persons engaged in furnishing 
 such foods to mankind, to produce them and sell them when 
 the prices are highest, viz., at the beginning and end of their 
 seasons. 
 
 Cotton and tobacco, in the Middle States, can be raised and 
 matured according to this process, so as to avoid entirely the 
 September frosts, and to compete in yield and quality with 
 any of the cottons grown in the Southern States, unless it may 
 be the Sea Island cotton. I have myself raised and matured 
 cotton plants on my lawn in this city, year after year, which 
 produced as fine and large bolls as I have ever seen in Carolina 
 or Georgia, and this without the use of blue glass, and before 
 I had made my discovery of its wonderful influence on vegeta- 
 tion. 
 
 A machine has been invented and patented at Washington 
 City, by which a man, with it and a mule, can set out in a day 
 grooving cotton plants which would cover an immense area of 
 land. !Now if these plants are started according to my direc- 
 tions, under these glasses, and then transplanted into suitable 
 soil after the spring frosts are over, the heat and moisture 
 of the summer in the Middle States, which probably are in 
 excess of those of the Southern States at that season, will 
 rapidly ensure the maturity of the plants ; and crops can be thus 
 raised which will compete favorably with those of any other 
 
 * The above was written in 1874.
 
 section of the country. This same principle of hastening the 
 maturity of plants, applies with still greater force to higher 
 latitudes where the seasons of growth are necessarily short. 
 
 It is estimated that people residing six or eight degrees of 
 latitude farther north than the present latitude of cultivation 
 of various plants, may he enabled to enjoy many plants and 
 fruits of which they are now deprived, by the introduction of 
 the process of development that I have herein sketched. 
 
 What boundless blessings may not be obtained in this man- 
 ner for the populations of Northern Germany, Southern Russia, 
 of Scandinavia, Northern China and even the Steppes of 
 Tartary, and some parts of Siberia which may be brought 
 within the influence of this wonderful power, and thus, by 
 increasing the comforts of life, hasten the progress of their 
 civilization. So much for vegetation and what may be done 
 with it. We will now invite your attention to the stimulating 
 influence exerted by this associated blue and sunlight upon 
 animal life. 
 
 An esteemed friend of mine, of high character, Commodore 
 J. 11. Goldsborough, of the United States Navy, having bean 
 assigned to the command of one of our western naval stations 
 in the latter part of the year 1871, caused some experiments to 
 be made with the associated blue light of the firmament, and 
 sunlight, and subsequently addressed to me a letter, of which 
 the following is a copy, viz : 
 
 MOUND CITY, ILLINOIS, May 31st, 
 To GENERAL A. J. PLEASONTON, Philadelphia, Penn'a. 
 
 N'ERAL : Presuming that it would be agreeable to you to 
 learn the results of some experiments that I caused to be 
 made, after having read the pamphlet you did me the honor 
 to place in my hand, " On the Influence of the Blue Color of the 
 Sky, in Developing Animal and Vegetable Life," I proceed to 
 detail them to you : The first experiment was made here by the 
 Surgeon of this station, who, having had every alternate pane 
 of uncoloured glass removed from each of two windows in his 
 parlour, and having substituted lor them corresponding panes 
 of blue glass, proceeded to place a number of plants and vines 
 of many varieties, in pots, in the room so as to receive the 
 associated light of the sun and the blue light of the firmament 
 upon them.
 
 In a very short time the plants and vines began to manifest 
 the effects of the remarkable influences to which they had 
 been subjected. Their growth was rapid and extraordinary, 
 indicating unusual vigour, and increasing in the length of 
 their branches from an inch and a half to three inches, accord- 
 ing to their species, every twenty-four hours, as by measure- 
 ment. 
 
 The second experiment was made in a comparison of the 
 development of the newly hatched chickens of two broods of 
 the same variety. In each of these two broods were thirteen 
 chickens, all of which were hatched on the same day. 
 
 Comfortable but separate quarters near to each other were 
 assigned to the two broods, with their respective mothers, on 
 the lawn ; one of the coops, containing a hen and her brood, 
 was partly covered with blue and plain glass ; the other coop, 
 also containing a hen and her brood, did not differ from the 
 coops commonly used in this country. 
 
 The chickens of each brood were fed at the same times 
 and with equal quantities of similar food. Those under the blue 
 glass soon began to display the effects of the stimulating 
 influence of the associated blue and sunlight by their daily 
 almost visible growth, increase of strength and activity, far 
 exceeding in all these respects, the developments of the 
 chickens of the other brood which were exposed to the ordi- 
 nary atmospheric influences. 
 
 I will also relate to you what I imagine to be another re- 
 markable circumstance having relation to this subject. 
 
 On the 29th of January, 1872, the wife of one of the gentle- 
 men on the station gave birth prematurely to a very small 
 child, which weighed at the time only three and a half pounds. 
 It was very feeble, possessing apparently but little vitality. 
 It so happened that the windows of the room, in which it was 
 born and reared, were draped with blue curtains, through 
 which and the plain glass of the windows, the sunlight entered 
 the apartment. The lacteal system of the mother was greatly 
 excited, and secreted an excessive quantity of milk, while at 
 the same time the appetite of the child for food was greatly 
 increased, to such an extent indeed, that its mother, notwith- 
 standing the inordinate flow of her milk, at times found it 
 difficult to satisfy its hunger.
 
 8 
 
 The child grew rapidly in health, strength and size; and on 
 the 29th of May, 1872, just four months after its birth, when I 
 saw it, before I left Mound City, it weighed twenty-two 
 pounds. 
 
 Whether this extraordinary result was the effect of the 
 associated blue and sunlight, passing through the curtains 
 and glass of the windows, or not, I do not profess to determine, 
 but I give you the facts of the case, wnich are in complete 
 harmony in their developments with the results of the experi- 
 ments on domestic animals that you yourself have made. With 
 great regard, 
 
 I remain, very truly, yours, 
 
 JOHN R. GOLDSBOROUGH. 
 
 It will be seen from this statement that this child had grown 
 eighteen pounds and a half in Jour months, or four and five- 
 eighth pounds per month, and considering its apparently 
 slight hold upon life, at its birth, we may unite with the 
 Commodore in believing it to be "a remarkable circumstance." 
 
 On the 15th February of this year, 1874, two newly born 
 lambs, one weighing three and a half pounds, the other weigh- 
 ing four pounds, were taken from their mothers and placed in 
 one of the pens on my farm fitted with blue and uncolourcd 
 : they had not received any nourishment from their dams, 
 were fed alike, and without any design to increase largely 
 their Aveight, with skimmed cow's milk. When they were three 
 months old, they were weighed one of them weighed fifty- 
 one pounds, the other fifty-five pounds at two weeks old 
 their teeth were so much developed that they began to eat 
 hay. 
 
 Tin- flesh of lambs is deemed to be a delicacy. From this 
 
 experiment, it would appear that in three months from birth 
 
 iambs ! tied forty-seven and a half and fifty-one 
 
 ly, which, at the market price of forty cents per 
 
 M in one case twenty dollars and forty cents, 
 
 and in the other twenty-two dollars, for the lambs weighing 
 
 vely fifty-one and fifty-five pounds. 
 
 animals for food have here a 
 .Hid inexpensive process by which their gains may 
 y increased.
 
 A gentleman of my acquaintance having a canary bird that 
 had been a very fine singer, was surprised to discover that, 
 without any apparent cause, the bird had ceased to sing, 
 refused to eat, and evidently was in a declining state of health, 
 and it was feared that he would soon die. I recommended 
 the owner to try the effect of blue and sunlight upon the bird. 
 He consented. The cage was removed with the bird to the 
 bathroom of the owner's house, whose windows contained varie- 
 gated glass, blue and violet in excess. The cage, with its 
 occupant, was suspended so that the sunlight passing through 
 these lights might fall upon the cage. The bird began to 
 recover very soon, its appetite returned, and in a little while 
 its song, which its owner assured me, was sweeter, stronger 
 and more spirited then he had previously known it to be. 
 
 At the close of the late civil war in this country, I bought a 
 pair of mules that had been used in the military service of 
 the government. A little while after the purchase it was dis- 
 covered that one of them was completely deaf, having had his 
 hearing destroyed by the noise of heavy firing during the 
 battles in which he had been employed. Thereupon I directed 
 the teamster who had charge of him, to be particularly careful 
 in using him, and to treat him with great gentleness and kind- 
 ness on account of his infirmity. Two or three years after he 
 came into my possession, this mule was seized with acute 
 rheumatism of so violent a character that the poor animal 
 could not walk. Before this time he, with other animals, had 
 been removed to a new stable that I had built, in which he 
 was kept for several months without being used for work. 
 He gradually got better of his rheumatism, but his deafness 
 continued until this spring, when he recovered entirely both 
 from his deafness and rheumatism. Over each of the doors of 
 this stable I had caused to be placed a transom, with panes of 
 blue and colourless glass therein. The stall of this mule was 
 before a door with such a transom over it. When the 
 the sun arose in the morning, he cast his light through this 
 transom on the neck and top of the head of this mule. Before 
 he set in the afternoon he threw his light again upon the head 
 and neck of this mule, through the transom of another door 
 on the northwestern side of the stable; the effect of this light 
 upon the animal has been the cure of his rheumatism, and the 
 removal of his deafness. He is now as healthy and hearty a 
 mule as you will see anywhere. The removal of this deafness 
 was produced by an electro-magnetic current, evolved by the
 
 10 
 
 two lights upon his auditory nerves and exciting them to 
 healthy action. 
 
 Those last two incidents just mentioned, serve to introduce 
 the subject of the Influence of the associated blue and sunlight 
 upon animal health and particularly upon Human Health. 
 
 It is known that silk is one of the most important staple 
 products of Italy. It is also known that much of the high 
 s which tills staple product bears in commerce, is due 
 to the difficulty experienced in hatching and rearing the silk 
 worms which produce the cocoons or balls on which they wind 
 the silk drawn from their bodies. To hatch the eggs of the 
 silk worm, an even temperature of a certain degree of heat is 
 indispensable, and great care in feeding and keeping them 
 clean is required after the worms are hatched. 
 
 An eminent Italian chemist, after the publication of the 
 'is of my experiments; with blue light, instituted some 
 experiments in the rearing of the silk worms. He placed a 
 certain number of the eggs that produce the worms under 
 plain glass, of which, in the hatching and rearing, 50 per cent, 
 died. He then placed the same number of eggs under violet 
 . of which only 10 per cent, perished. Had he used blue 
 in his experiments it is probable that the loss would have 
 nearly nominal. As the rearing of silk worms for the 
 pean factories has become an important industry in Cali- 
 fornia, we may expect great success will follow the efforts to 
 them, when the stimulating influence of blue light shall 
 ; -plied properly. 
 
 AVhile we are considering this subject, it may be as well to 
 
 allude to the vitalizing influence of the associated blue and 
 
 sunlight of this discovery in the cure of human and other 
 
 animal diseases, and I may mention here a most extraordinary 
 
 in which its power was manifested. 
 
 In : r part of August, 1871, I chanced to visit aphysi- 
 
 cian of this city, of my acquaintance, whom I found to be in 
 
 -s, and plunged in the lowest despondency. 
 On inquiring the cause, he t<>ld me. that he feared that he was 
 about to lose his wife, who was suffering from a complication 
 of di fiat wen- most painful and distressing, and which 
 
 had bafili'd the skill of several of the most eminent physicians 
 ilso of others of equal distinction in New York. He 
 then stated that his wife was suffering great pains in the lower
 
 11 
 
 part of her back, and in her head and neck, as also in her 
 lower limbs; that she could not sleep; that she had no appetite 
 for food and was rapidly wasting away in flesh; and that her secre- 
 tions were all abnormal. I said to him, " Why don't you try 
 blue light? " to which he replied, " I have thought of that, but 
 you know how it is with wives; they will frequently reject the 
 advice of a husband, while they would accept it if offered by 
 any one else. This has deterred me from recommending 
 blue light, but I think that if you should recommend it to her 
 she will adopt it, for she has great confidence in your judg- 
 ment." I told him that I would most certainly recommend it 
 to her. Accordingly we went up to her sitting room in the 
 second story of the main building, having a southern expo- 
 sure, the house being on the southern side of the street. We 
 found her seated at an open window, the thermometer up in 
 the nineties ; she was looking very miserable, greatly emaci- 
 ated, sallow in complexion, indicating extreme ill health, and 
 her voice very feeble. On inquiring of her relative to the 
 state of her health, she described it very much as her husband, 
 the doctor, had done. When I had put to her the same ques- 
 tion I had proposed to her husband, viz : " Why don't you try 
 blue light ? " " Oh !" she replied, U I have tried so many things, 
 and have had so many doctors that I am out of conceit of all 
 remedies; none of them have done me any good; I don't 
 believe that anything can relieve me." To which I remarked, 
 4t Nonsense ! you have many years of life yet remaining, and if 
 you will try blue light you will live to enjoy them." To 
 which she answered, " Are you in earnest ? Do you really 
 think that blue light would do me any good ? " " Certainly !" 
 I said, "I do, or I would not recommend it to you ; my expe- 
 rience with it fully justifies my opinion." She then said she 
 would try it, and asked me how it should be applied. I then 
 told her and her husband in what manner the application of 
 blue light in her case should be made, and how often and 
 when it should be repeated, and they both promised that the 
 trial with it should be made the next day. 
 
 Six days after this interview I received a note from the 
 doctor, asking me to send him some copies of my memoir on" 
 blue light, &c., which he wished to forward to some of his 
 distant friends, and at the close of it he had written : " You 
 will be surprised to learn that since my wife has been under 
 the blue glass, her hair on the head has beguh to grow, not 
 merely longer, but in places on her head where there was 
 none new hair is coming out thick." This was certainly an
 
 1-2 
 
 unexpected effect, but it displayed an evident action on the 
 skin, and so tar was encouraging. Two days after the receipt 
 of this note I called to see the doctor, and while he was 
 
 firing me an account of the experiment with the blue light, 
 is wife entered the office, and coming to me, she said, " Oh, 
 general ! I am so much obliged to you for having recommended 
 to me that blue light!" "Ah!" said I, "is it doing you any 
 good ?" " Yes," she said, " the greatest possible good. Do 
 you know that when I put my naked foot under the blue light, 
 all my pains in the limb cease ?" I inquired, " Is that a fact ?" 
 She assured me that it was, and then added, " My maid tells 
 me that rny hair is growing not merely longer on my head, 
 but in places there which were bald new hair is coming out 
 thick." She also said that the pains in her back were less, 
 and that there was a general improvement in the condition of 
 her health. 
 
 Three weeks afterwards, on visiting them, the doctor told 
 me that the arrangement of blue and sunlight had been a 
 complete success with his wife; that her pains had left her; 
 that , she now slept well ; her appetite had returned, and that 
 she had already gained much flesh. His wife, a few moments 
 afterwards, in person, confirmed this statement of her husband, 
 and he added: "From my observation of the effects of this 
 associated blue and sunlight upon my wife, I regard it as the 
 greatest stimulant and most powerful tonic that I know of in 
 medicine. It will be invaluable in typhoid cases, cases of de- 
 bility, nervous depressions, and the like." It was at this time 
 that the, iirst symptoms in the improved condition of the health 
 of the Prince of Wales, who had been dangerously ill in Eng- 
 land, inounced, when the doctor added: "Xow, in this 
 
 case of the IVinec of Wales, could he have been submitted to 
 this treatment with the associated blue and sunlight baths, 
 his rec,, very would bo in one-tenth part of the time that it will 
 take under the usual treatment." 
 
 I introduce IPTC a copy of the letter that I received from 
 this physician, J) r . ,S. W. IJeekwith, oil this subject. It is as 
 follows, viz. : 
 
 " Ei,K<Turr\L INSTITUTE, 1220 Walnut street, 
 " L'liiLAiuaiMiiA, Hi[>tcinl>(r 21, IsTl. 
 
 "To General A. J. Pleasonton. 
 
 IY I)I:AK SIR: -In following on1 the suggestions from you 
 
 at our late conversation concerning the application of the asso-
 
 13 
 
 elated blue light of the sky and sunlight for the cure of debility 
 and nervous exhaustion, I have found some very singular 
 results. 
 
 " The application of your theory to the cultivation of plants 
 and the development of animal life, has been wonderfully suc- 
 cessful; but it will, in certain conditions of human suffering, 
 prove to be a far greater blessing to mankind, if judiciously 
 used. As ail illustration, I offer the following facts, viz : 
 
 " My wife had been suffering from nervous irritation and 
 exhaustion, which resulted in severe neuralgic and rheumatic 
 pains, depriving her of sleep and appetite for food, and pro- 
 ducing in her great debility, accompanied by a wasting away 
 of her body, and changing the normal character of her secre- 
 tions. 
 
 " I had prepared a window sash fitted with blue glass, which 
 was inserted in one half of one of the windows in her sitting- 
 room. The sash of the other half of the same window was 
 fitted with uncoloured glass, the window having a southern ex- 
 posure, and receiving, from ten and a half o'clock A. M. till 
 four o'clock P. M., the full blaze of the sun's light. The shut- 
 ters of the other window (there being two windows in the 
 room) were closed, excluding all light from it, and light was 
 also excluded from the upper sash of the first mentioned 
 window. 
 
 " This arrangement I found to furnish too strong a blue light 
 for my wife's eyes; and, besides, it was not in accordance with 
 your instructions. So I introduced an equal number of panes 
 of clear glass and of blue glass into the sash, and then rny wife 
 exposed to the action of these associated lights those parts of 
 her person which were the subjects of her neuralgia. In three 
 minutes afterwards the pains were greatly subdued ; and in 
 ten minutes after having received the lights upon her person, 
 they almost entirely ceased for the time being, whether they 
 were in the head, limbs, feet, or spine. With each application 
 of the sun and blue light bath, relief was given immediately. 
 There is no doubt in my mind that in cases of exhaustion from 
 long-continued fevers and other debilitating causes, the appli- 
 cation of this principle that you have discovered will restore 
 the patients to health with a rapidity tenfold greater than can 
 be effected by any other treatment within my knowledge.
 
 14 
 
 " Congratulating you upon your grand discovery, as well in 
 science as in animal Hygiene, 
 
 " I remain, very truly yours, 
 
 " 8. W. BECKWITH. 
 
 "P. S. From a close examination of the effects of these 
 associated lights of the sun and the firmament, I am of the 
 opinion that they furnish the greatest stimulant and the most 
 powerful tonic that I am acquainted with in medicine. 
 " Very truly yours, 
 
 " S. W. BECKWITH." 
 
 About this time (September, 1871), one of my sons, about 22 
 years of age, a remarkably vigourous and muscular young man, 
 was afflicted with a severe attack of sciatica, or rheumatism of 
 the sciatic nerve, in his left hip and thigh, from which he had 
 been unable to obtain any relief, though the usual medical as 
 well as galvanic remedies had been applied. He had become 
 lame from it, and he suffered much pain in his attempts to 
 walk. 
 
 I advised him to try the associated sun and blue light, both 
 up>u his naked spine and hip, which he did with such benefit 
 that at the end of three weeks after taking the first of these baths 
 of light, every symptom of the disorder disappeared, and he 
 has had no return of it since a period now of three years. 
 
 Some time since two of my friends, Major Generals S 
 
 and 1) , of the l r nited States regular army, were on duty 
 
 in this city. On making them a visit at their official residence, 
 on fhf window-ledge as I entered the room, apiece of 
 blue glass of about the size of one of the panes of glass in the 
 window. After some conversation, General 1). said to me, "Did 
 you notice that piece of blue glass on our window-ledge?" I 
 aid, "I had observed it." "Do you know what it is there for?'' 
 Mich I replied, that "I did not !" lie then said, "I will tell 
 you S. and 1 have In ring very much from rheumatism 
 
 in our fore-arms, from the elbow-joints to our fingers' ends; 
 sometimes our lingers were so rigid that we could not hold a 
 have tried almost every remedy that was ever heard 
 of for relief, but without avail; at last I said to S., suppose we 
 try 1' .hie glass to which he assented when I sent 
 
 for tl. d it on the window-ledge. When the sun 
 
 began about ten o'clock in the morning to throw its light
 
 15 
 
 through the glass of the window, we took off our coats, rolled 
 up our shirtsleeves to the shoulders, and then held our naked 
 arms under the blue and sunlight ; in three days thereafter, 
 having taken each day one of these sun-baths for 30 minutes 
 on our arms, the pains in them ceased, and we have not had 
 any return of them since we are cured." 
 
 It is now more than two years since the date of my visit to 
 these officers. Two months ago General S. told me that he 
 had not had any return of the rheumatism, nor did he think 
 that General D. had had any General S. in the meantime had 
 been exposed to every vicissitude of climate, from the Atlantic 
 Ocean to Washington Territory, on the Pacific, and from the 
 49th degree of north latitude to the Gulf of Mexico, and General 
 D. was then stationed in the far i^orth. 
 
 In the beginning of March, 1873, I was called upon by Mr. 
 Henry H, Holloway, a very respectable gentleman, doing busi 
 ness in this city as a bookseller, who came to consult me on 
 the subject of his mother's illness, and to ask my opinion in 
 regard to the propriety of using blue and sunlight baths in 
 ber case. He stated that his mother had been confined to her 
 bed for more than two months, and that she was suffering ex- 
 cruciating pains in her head, spine and other parts of her body ; 
 that sbe could not bear to be moved in bed; that she could not 
 sleep, and having no appetite, she was rapidly wasting away 
 in flesh and strength ; that her physician had not been able to 
 make any impression upon her malady, and that the family 
 were in despair lest she should die ; that its members had been 
 summoned to her bedside that afternoon to see her probably 
 for the last time, and if I thought that these blue and sunlight 
 baths would relieve his mother, he wished to have them tried. 
 From his account it was evident that her situation was criti- 
 cal, and that there was a serious disturbance of the electrical 
 equilibrium in ber system ; I told him very frankly that I 
 thought his mother could be greatly benefited by the use of the 
 said baths of light, and I informed him how and how often 
 these baths of light should be administered. He expressed 
 himself much gratified by my explanations and said, that he 
 would urge his mother and her physician to give them a fair 
 trial. I received from him subsequently a letter, of which the 
 following is a copy, viz : 
 
 "PHILADELPHIA, April 14th, 1873. 
 "To General A. J. Pleasonton. 
 
 "DEAR SIR : Knowing that you have been assiduously inves-
 
 16 
 
 tigating the curative properties of blue light (for human 
 diseases) for several years past, a feeling of gratitude prompts 
 me to take the liberty of communicating a few facts that may 
 be of some interest to you. 
 
 "About six weeks since I heard you explaining to an ac- 
 quaintance of yours, the way in which blue light should be 
 arranged in windows, so as to take sun-baths thereby. In 
 enumerating the classes of invalids that would be benefited 
 by such baths, you mentioned those afflicted with spiuous or 
 nervous diseases. 
 
 " I was an interested auditor ; for my mother, Margaret C. 
 Holloway, residing in Chesterfield township, Burlington 
 county, New Jersey, had then been confined to her bed for 
 about two months, her entire nervous system being appar- 
 ently incurably affected. It was probably a regular consump- 
 tion of the nerves. She appeared to be wasting away very 
 rapidly, and we had but little, if any, hope of her recovery. 
 
 "At my request, after first obtaining the full consent of her- 
 self and the attending physician, blue window lights (pur- 
 d from French, Richards & Co., of this city,) were suita- 
 bly arranged in the west windows of her room, the east win- 
 dows being too much shaded by trees to admit the light pro- 
 perly. During the tirst week thereafter, the weather was so 
 unfavorable that only one sun-bath could be taken ; but the 
 next week, three or four were taken on consecutive days. 
 
 "From the commencement of her sickness, she had not been 
 able to sit up more than a few minutes each day, just while 
 the nurse made the bed; but in a few days after the several 
 sun-baths were taken in succession, she surprised the entire 
 family by getting up and dressing herself while they were at 
 breakfast. She probably over-exerted herself as she was not 
 11 for two or three days thereafter. However, she con- 
 tinued to improve very rapidly, and has now almost or entirely 
 regained her usual health. 
 
 " 1 may just here state the most important perceptible effects 
 of the sun-bath. 
 
 " Durii of the time of her illness, mother suffered 
 
 from ;n ; :>ain in the upper part of the spine and in her 
 
 head, and the galvanic battery had been frequently and regu- 
 larly used in the hope of mitigating it. The sun-baths re- 
 lieved this pain very materially; and also induced a profuse
 
 17 
 
 perspiration that relieved the interior organs from their ob- 
 structions, and which relief medicines, as well as the galvanic 
 battory, had failed to produce. 
 
 " These are the important facts in the case. 
 
 "The attending physician would probably maintain that the 
 remedial virtue was mainly or altogether in his medicines, but 
 the circumstances are such as to induce the belief that mother's 
 speedy recovery was in a great degree attributable to the cura- 
 tive properties of the blue glass, lam so fully convinced of 
 this that I shall hereafter use the glass in a similar way, in all 
 cases of protracted sickness in my own family, whenever prac- 
 ticable. 
 
 "Very respectfully yours, &c., 
 
 "HENKY H. IIO.LLOWAY, 
 " No. 5 South Tenth street, Philadelphia, Pa." 
 
 This lady soon afterwards recovered her usual good health, 
 and on its re-establishment, she made several visits to her sons 
 residing here. In two of these visits, I had the pleasure to 
 see her. In one of the interviews that I had with her, she 
 told me that for two years prior to the use of these baths of 
 light she had had no perceptible perspiration, but that after the 
 third of these light baths, a most copious perspiration broke 
 out all over her person, but particularly profuse on her neck 
 and shoulders, and that she had called her daughter to witness 
 it, who scraped it with her hands from her neck and shoulders as 
 a groom does from a horse that has been hard driven or ridden 
 in summer. She dates her recovery from the restoration of 
 her power to perspire, which she attributed to the effect of the 
 associated sun and blue lights. 
 
 I addressed a note to the attending physician in this case, 
 asking from him a statement of the case, with its diagnosis, &c. 
 From his reply I make the following extract, viz : " Mrs. H. 
 had been sick some two or three weeks with excessive spinal 
 iritation amounting to partial paralysis of the right side, with 
 intense neuralgia from the occiput down to the foot, including 
 the right arm. This condition was greatly improved before 
 the blue glass was used. She was almost free from pain, but 
 nervous iritation remaining at this time I made use of the 
 galvanic battery, which she thought done her a great deal of 
 good. .
 
 18 
 
 "I think it was some two or three days after that, the blue 
 light was used. She says that she took it about twelve times 
 altogether, from a quarter to a half hour each time. 
 
 " You can draw your own conclusion, if there was any benefit 
 derived from blue light. 
 
 My dear sir, I would not have you imagine that I do not 
 have any faith in your theory, for I confidently believe that it 
 has a most powerful influence, both on the animal and vegeta- 
 ble kingdoms. 
 
 " I should like, at some future period, to give it a fair trial ; 
 consequently, if it would not be encroaching too much on your 
 time, I should like very much to hear from you in regard to 
 your experience of its application and result, the manner and 
 mode by which it may be used, and should there be any 
 benefit derived by its use, I would most cheerfully transmit 
 that fact to you. 
 
 " Respectfully yours, 
 
 " J. G. L. WHITEHEAD. 
 
 " CROSSWICKS, April 8d, 1873." 
 
 I have introduced here the extract from the letter of Dr. 
 Whitehead merely to show the desperate condition of his 
 patient, her agonizing suffering, and the well founded appre- 
 hensions of the patient's family that the situation of the 
 patient was extremely critical, and fully justified the use even 
 of experiment with a new practice, in the attempt to relieve 
 her. When they saw that the expedients resorted to during 
 her long sickness had failed to produce the desired results, Dr. 
 AVhitehead, himself, is stated by Mr. Ilolloway to have given 
 his full consent to have the experiment with the blue light 
 made in the case of Mrs. Ilolloway, she also desiring it, which 
 is conclusive that she had not been so much benefited by his 
 treatment of her as to wish to continue it longer, and that he 
 vas in doubt as to its efficacy from the adoption of another 
 
 About this time, Mr. II. II. Ilolloway, the gentleman whose 
 moth iveii above, being a great sufferer from rheu- 
 
 matism, from which he had been unable to obtain relief, 
 nirifd to try in his own person the efficacy of the sun 
 ami blue light hath, and at'tT having tested it to his entire 
 n, addressed me a letter, as follows, viz:
 
 " Gen. A. J. Pleasonton. 
 
 19 
 
 " PHILADELPHIA, October 17th, 1873. 
 
 " DEAR SIR: In the spring of 1872, 1 was afflicted with the 
 rheumatism (sciatica,) for nearly two months, and I suffered 
 from a recurrence of the same, at intervals, until last spring. 
 At that time the surprising effect which your blue glass sun- 
 baths produced in restoring my mother to health (an account 
 of which I sent you a few months since,) induced me to try 
 the same for the rheumatism. 
 
 " I took three or four such baths of sun and blue light, in 
 accordance with your directions, and have had no returns of 
 the rheumatism since, although six months have now elapsed; 
 and I have been much exposed in stormy weather. My limbs 
 have been a little stiff, but without pain, two or three times 
 during long continued storms, which was probably owing to 
 the mercury contained in the drugs taken by me, when first 
 attacked in 1872. 
 
 "I have deferred writing to you on the subject for several 
 months, so that sufficient time might elapse to be sure of the 
 permanence of the effect of the blue glass sunbaths. 
 
 " I am fully confident that a fair trial of said sunbaths will 
 seldom if ever fail to cure the rheumatism, and I wish that so 
 simple and inexpensive a curative agent may speedily become 
 popularized. 
 
 "Very respectfully, 
 
 "HENRY H. HOLLOWAY. 
 
 " No. 5 South 10th street, Phila." 
 
 In the further consideration of this subject, I introduce here 
 Borne extracts from a letter received from Dr. Robert Rohland, 
 a distinguished physician residing in New York. 
 
 YORK, July 23th, 1873. 
 " General A. J. Pleasonton. 
 
 " SIR : Dr. McL. told me, three days since, that you had 
 written to him about a new edition of your highly interesting 
 pamphlet on blue light that you were preparing, that would 
 contain additional results that you had obtained in your experi- 
 ments with blue light as a healing power. I can readily 
 believe in its efficacy, and I very much regret that I have been 
 unable to continue my own experiments in the same direction, 
 by which many new facts would have been developed in all
 
 20 
 
 likelihood to the great benefit of suffering humanity. Bo tliat 
 as it may, you deserve the warmest thanks for having extended 
 your experiments so far, making the professional physicians to 
 feel ashamed that none of them thought it worth their while 
 to draw practical consequences from your experiments in the 
 development of animal and vegetable life. As the effect of 
 blue light is identical with t od-force' it might be of interest 
 u to hear of some surprising phenomena produced on 
 sensitive persons in connection with blue light and corrobora- 
 ting the results of'od-force' and ' odified preparations. ' 
 
 " 1. Compare with your results of the blue light on the Alder- 
 ney bull calf the statement of Dr. Henry B. Ileind, page 36 of 
 my pamphlet on ' od- -force,' case No. 17, and you will find the 
 similar surprising growth of babies, by using my ' od-magnetic 
 sugar of milk.' 
 
 _. I exposed, about a year ago, a man suffering with severe 
 rheumatism to the. influence of the blue light through two 
 glass panes. He felt, after fifteen minutes, much relieved, and 
 could move about without pains, but complained of a nasty 
 on his tongue. The same happened to a friend 
 who visited me during odo-magneli/ing sugar of milk, when 
 I placed his hand in the blue and violet rays of the prism. 
 
 "Dr. Hardis, assistant physician of Dr. E. B. Foote, has the 
 same metallic (copper) taste, whenever he takes some of my 
 odo-magnetic sugar of milk, on his tongue; also Dr. Fincke, a 
 highly educated and reliable physician in Brooklyn, who ex- 
 perimented a great deal with od-force produced by the blue 
 and violet rays of the prism, and who placed the hand of a 
 man within these rays, and the latter complained of having a 
 like verdigris on his tongue. 
 
 These examples show that the blue and violet light and the 
 od-force generated in this way are of an electric positive nature ; 
 and it is very much to be regretted that Professor Von Reichcn- 
 bach reversed the poles, and, in his works, calls this pole, 
 which is analogical in its effects to the positive pole of any elec- 
 tric 01 : "-magnetic apparatus, the ' odic-negative one,' 
 by that uselessly an unavoidable confusion." 
 
 In the laiter part !' March, 1874, I received a letter from 
 Meral Charles W. Sanford, late the commander of 
 national < luard of the city of New York, of which the fol- 
 lowing is a copy :
 
 21 
 
 " 462 West Twenty-Second street, \ 
 " NEW YORK, March 29th, 1874. / 
 
 "To Major- General Pleasonton, 
 
 " 918 Spruce street, Phila., Pa. 
 
 " GENERAL : Will you oblige me with a copy of your pam- 
 phlet upon the use of blue glass ? I had some time since an 
 opportunity to read it, and having an invalid daughter, her 
 physician was induced to try the experiment of having blue 
 glass inserted in her windows. She has been materially bene- 
 fited by its use, and I am anxious to investigate the subject. 
 
 " She has also a number of plants in her sitting-room, which 
 have grown and nourished in an extraordinary manner under 
 its influence. I am, General, very respectfully, 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 "CHARLES W. SANFORD." 
 
 Extract from a letter of Dr. Robert Rohland, of New York, 
 received by me in June, 1874. 
 
 YORK, June 28, 1874. 
 "To General A. J. Pleasonton, 
 
 " Philadelphia. 
 
 "SiR: ..... Several gentlemen have made some 
 experiments with blue light under my direction, with very 
 favourable results, especially Dr. L. Fisher, in a case of general 
 debility and exhaustion, and Dr. McLaury, in a case of very 
 troublesome tumor. 
 
 " Very respectfully yours, truly, 
 
 "DR. ROBERT ROHLAND." 
 
 Extract from a letter of Dr. Wm. M. McLaury, of New 
 York, received by me in August, 1874. 
 
 " To General Pleasonton, Phila. 
 
 " DEAR SIR : Understanding through Dr. R. Rohland that 
 you are about to publish a new edition of your article on the 
 blue ray, with some additional matter, I suppose that you 
 would like to hear of my experience therewith. 
 
 " I regret to state that my experience is as yet very limited, 
 but I have great hopes that by extensive experiments, with 
 careful observation, we will yet find it to be an important 
 agent in combating disease.
 
 ..... " In a little girl, one month old, was found a 
 hard resisting tumour about the size of a robin's egg, in the 
 sub-maxillary region of the left side. I had it placed in such 
 a position thai tin 1 rays of light through a blue glass should 
 impinge upon it one hour, at least, each day. This tumefac- 
 tion disappeared entirely within forty days. 
 
 " The child lias developed astonishingly ; is now seven 
 months old ; is exceedingly bright and happy ; has not known 
 an hour's sickness or discomfort. Its peculiar freedom from 
 infantile ills I attribute, at least in some degree, to the influence 
 of the blue light. 
 
 " With great respect, yours, 
 
 WM. M. McL AURY. 
 " NEW YORK CITY, August 20*/t, 1874." 
 
 Some time since, Mrs. C., the wife of Major-General C., a 
 distinguished officer of the United States regular army, told 
 me that one of her grandchildren, a little boy about eighteen 
 months old, had from his birth had so little use of his legs 
 that he could neither crawl nor walk, and was apparently so 
 enfeebled in those limbs that she began to fear that the child 
 was permanently paralyzed in them. 
 
 To obviate such an affliction, she requested the mother of 
 the child to send him, with his two young sisters, to play in 
 the entry of the second story of her house, where she hud 
 fitted up a window with blue and plain glass in equal propor- 
 tions. The children were accordingly brought there and were 
 allowed to play for several bourn in this large entry or hall 
 under the mixed sun and blue light. In a very few days, Mrs. 
 C - told me that the child manifested great improvement 
 in the strength of its limbs, having learned to climb by a 
 chair, to crawl and to walk, and that he was then as promising 
 a child as any one is likely to see. 
 
 In ie of the child, whose premature birth occured 
 
 at the naval station at Mound City, in Illinois, Commodore 
 Gfaldsborough was informed by its mother, a short time since, 
 that it had continued to improve in health, si/e and vigour, 
 iimodore had last seen it, and that it was then a 
 perfect specimen of infantile development. 
 
 f this child, de-cribed b\- Commodore (Jolds- 
 borough, ifi a very remarkable one, for, having been prema- 
 turely bom. it may be presumed that its organization was not
 
 23 
 
 as completely developed us it would have been had it, fulfilled 
 the entire period of its gestation and consequently it would 
 seem that the association of the blue and sun light had re- 
 paired all the deficiencies in its organisms existing at its birth. 
 
 We have, in these instances that I have advanced, mani- 
 festations of the remarkable variety of powers as developed in 
 the several cases, all differing from each other in their various 
 disorders, and all having been restored to their normal condi- 
 tion of health and vigour ; and, in some instances, having had 
 that condition increased and intensified. 
 
 We have had moribund flowering plants, not only arrested 
 in their course of decay, but reinvigourated, and their beauti- 
 ful tints of colour greatly improved. 
 
 We have had branches of a tropical fruit tree, that were 
 exposed to the action of blue light, made highly fruitful, while 
 others of the same tree, not similarly exposed, bore no fruit, 
 and were feeble and apparently unhealthy. 
 
 We have an immature infant child, defective in its develop- 
 ments at its birth, made perfect in its parts, and strengthened 
 so as to become a striking instance of infantile health, vigour 
 and beauty. 
 
 We have had in another infant child, only one month old, 
 an obstinate tumour to be absorbed, and a degree of bodily 
 vigour imparted to it that defied the attacks of all infantile 
 disorders after the tumour had disappeared. 
 
 We have had poultry of the same variety, hatched on the 
 same day, presenting such different stages of advanced 
 development, after the lapse of the same period of time, to 
 those of similar poultry reared in the common way, that 
 incredulity must yield to well established fact, and surprise 
 give way to conviction. 
 
 We have had the vocal powers of a singing bird, that had 
 ceased to sing, again excited, and its musical tones again 
 poured forth with greater force, richness and beauty than it 
 had before ever displayed, to the delight of all who have heard 
 
 it. 
 
 The deaf has been made to hear : in a domestic animal, 
 the mule, which for nearly ten years, and perhaps longer, had 
 heard not at all ; and the stifihess of his limbs with rheuma-
 
 24 
 
 tism has given way to the natural elasticity of his normal 
 condition of health. Under this most potent influence, lambs 
 that may be used for the food and clothing of man, have been 
 so greatly developed in so short a time that we may reasona- 
 bly hope that the rearing of domestic animals for food may be 
 so largely extended and improved, that immense numbers of 
 mankind who, from the costliness of such food heretofore, 
 had never tasted it, may, in the near future, be no longer de- 
 prived of the use of this most stimulating and nourishing 
 article of flesh diet. 
 
 But the greatest value of this application of blue light, will 
 be found to be in its curative power in human and animal dis- 
 
 orders of health. 
 
 In the eases before quoted in the human family, rheumatism, 
 both chronic and acute, neuralgia, with its accompaniment of 
 partial paralysis and various other complications, torpor of the 
 lower extremities of a child, nearly amounting to paralysis, 
 all yielded to the application of these vital forces of light. 
 May we not congratulate mankind on the blessings which this 
 discovery foreshadows ? 
 
 For cerebral disorders, from softening of the brain to con- 
 firmed insanity, I would respectfully suggest to the medical pro- 
 fession full trials of the blue and sunlight baths, to be taken 
 by their patients at least once in every twenty-four hours on the 
 naked spine and back of the head. Should they succeed in 
 ''ing the disorders of the brain, we may, in the near 
 future, be relieved of the cost of building additional lunatic 
 asylums, and insanity may be classed as a curable disease. 
 
 While this edition was being put through the press, I 
 received the following communication and its enclosure from 
 
 rt Kohland, a distinguished scientist, resident in 
 York : 
 
 209 THIRD AVKNCK. Xi:w YORK. ) 
 
 j" 
 
 'J67A, 1874. 
 . A. .1. ' ox. 
 
 '/; Vuth my warmest thanks for your last kind 
 the pleasure to send you enclosed, at last, 
 1'r. Fisher's patient; and am still in hop. 
 nn>nth. 
 
 f my highest respect, and allow me 
 if, your most obedient and irrateful, 
 
 DK. ROBERT KUI1LAXD.
 
 25 
 
 Enclosed in the above, was the following statement of the 
 lady who had been placed under the influence of the associated 
 light of the sun and the blue light of the firmament, and the 
 blue rays eliminated from sun-light transmitted through blue 
 glass : 
 
 "At the request of my attending physician, Dr. Louis 
 Fisher, I will state, as bru-tlv as possible, the effects produced 
 upon me by the transmission of the sun's rays through blue 
 glass : 
 
 " Having been an invalid for nearly three years, and for the 
 last half of that time confined entirely to my rooms on one 
 floor, I became so reduced by the long confinement, and my 
 nervous system seemed so completely broken down, that all 
 tonics lost their effects, sleep at nights could only be obtained 
 by the use of opiates, appetite, of course, there was none, and 
 scarcely a vestige of color remained, either in my lips, face or 
 hands as a last resort I was placed, about the 19th of Janu- 
 ary, 1874, under the influence of blue glass rays. Two large 
 panes of the glass, each 36 inches long by 16 inches wide, were 
 placed in the upper part of a sunny window in my parlour, a 
 window with a south exposure, and as the blue and sunlight 
 streamed into the room, I sat in it continuously I was also 
 advised by Dr. Fisher, to take a regular sun-bath of it; at 
 least to let the blue rays fall directly on the spine for about 20 
 or 30 minutes at a time, morning and afternoon ; but the 
 effects of it were too strong for me to bear; and as I was pro- 
 
 ressing very favorably by merely sitting in it in my ordinary 
 ress, that was considered sufficient. 
 
 "In two or three weeks the change began to be very percep- 
 tible. The colour began returning to my face, lips and hands, 
 my nights became better, my appetite more natural, and my 
 strength and vitality to return, while my whole nervous 
 system, was most decidedly strengthened and soothed. 
 
 " In about six weeks, I was allowed to try going up and down 
 a few stairs at a time, being able to test in that way how the 
 strength was returning into my limbs, and by the middle of 
 April, when the spring was sufficiently advanced to make It 
 prudent for me to try walking out, I was able to do so. 
 
 " The experiment was made a peculiarly fair one by the 
 stoppage of all tonics, &c., as soon as the glass was placed in 
 the window, allowing me to depend solely on the efficacy of 
 the blue light."
 
 26 
 
 A distinguished surgeon of this city, on being made 
 acquainted with the remarkable vivifying effects of this force, 
 in several of the cases mentioned herein, expressed to the 
 author, the opinion that the vitalizing influence of these asso- 
 ciated colours, would probably be found to eradicate scrofula, 
 and the terrible diseases which have produced it, from the 
 human system a result never yet attained by any medical 
 treatment now known. 
 
 If this opinion should prove to be well founded, why may 
 we not anticipate that tubercular consumption of the lungs 
 maybe arrested in its progress, its abscesses absorbed and dis- 
 persed by the purified blood taking up the purulent matter, 
 and either decomposing it, or eliminating it through the 
 various excreting channels of the body?* 
 
 If this last mentioned case had furnished the only example 
 of the restorative influence of blue light upon disordered health, 
 it should awaken in the medical profession, throughout the 
 world, a desire to investigate the causes and sources of that 
 force which had produced such marvelous effects. 
 
 Let us attempt a solution. The juxtaposition of plain 
 tmcoloured glass and blue glass in the passage of sunlight, 
 and the transmitted blue light of the firmament, and the 
 eliminated blue rays of the sun-light through them respectively, 
 evolves an electro-magnetic current, which imparts to vegeta- 
 ble or animal life subjected to it, an extraordinary impulse to 
 the developemcnt of their respective vigour and growth. 
 Thi-ir vitality is strengthened so as to resist disease, and to 
 throw it off in tin >.-,. instances in which it had appeared before 
 having been subjected to its power. 
 
 * A friend of mini- luis sent me the following notice, viz: 
 
 I.; The author of "Life I'mler Class," sends to the 
 
 '. a letter giving some curious results of his experience in the 
 
 coloured 'Medium for the transmission of the sun's rays in the 
 
 of lung di-ea>e. 'I'ln- writer <>f the communication, being himself a 
 
 victim to \\eak : al attention to the subject, from personal as well 
 
 a^ prote iunal interest. His attention was directed to the matter by an accident 
 in his own experience. Durim: the autumn of 1st 1 ,;!, he was borne on "sick 
 from the army, and was in the habit of frequenting the photograph gallery 
 of a friend. Tl, > com of the gallery was lighted by a skylight of litiht 
 
 ated of the same colour, lie. soon' noticed, that 
 
 r after ;m hour or two passed in the gallery, and he was 
 
 firmly convinced that Ilie beneficial effect was largely due to bllle'light. After 
 the war, he II.-IMU a scries of experiments aiiioni: hi- patients by using blue 
 he liylit trom pure blue glass is not entirely agreeable to the eye, he 
 alternated the pane., - lV jth clear glass. This was an Improvement, and he Went 
 on with his experiment until he attained the highest sanitary power in a purple 
 or light violet colour, the red, iu the stain. ng, making the light pleasant to bear.
 
 27 
 
 The velocity of light on the earth's surface has been found 
 by Leon Foucault, by experiments most carefully conducted, 
 to be 298,000 kilometres or 186,000 miles per second of time 
 now of the seven primary rays of light, all of them excepting 
 the blue ray and possibly its compounds, purple, indigo and 
 violet, which perhaps are decomposed, and the blue ray 
 liberated, are suddenly arrested in their marvelously rapid 
 course, on coming in contractwith the blue glass. This sudden 
 impact of the intercepted rays on the outer surface of the blue 
 glass with this inconceivable speed, produces a large amount 
 of friction. Light, though imponderable, yet is material, since 
 according to the book of Genesis, God said, "Let light be made, 
 and it was made" and the movement of matter upon matter, 
 always produces friction. By friction electricity is evolved, and 
 when opposite electricities meet in conjunction, their conflict 
 according to the celebrated Danish philosopher, Oersted, develops 
 magnetism. The electricity produced by this friction is 
 negative, while the electrical condition of the glass is opposite, 
 or positive, and heat is therefore also evolved by their conjunc- 
 tion. This heat sufficiently expands the pores of the glass to 
 pass through it and then you have within the apartment, elec- 
 tricity, magnetism, light and heat all essential elements]of vital 
 force. "Without light and heat, life cannot exist, and electricity 
 and magnetism are indispensable to its active vitality. This 
 current of electro-magnetism, when allowed to fall upon the 
 spinal column of an animal, is conducted by its nerves to the 
 brain, and thence is distributed over its whole nervous system, 
 imparting vigour to all the organs of the body, and stimu- 
 lating them into active exercise : hence follows restoration to 
 health. 
 
 In the early part cf the summer of 1871, having caused to 
 be printed an edition of my memoir which, a short time before, 
 I had read before you, I distributed copies of it among literary 
 and scientific institutions, and to such persons of culture as 
 were likely to be interested in the investigation of the subjects 
 treated of in it. Having sent several copies to Washington 
 city, I received from my friends there suggestions to take out 
 Letters Patent from the Government of the United States for 
 my new discovery, which they deemed to be of the highest 
 importance. Accordingly, I made an application to the Com- 
 missioner of Patents for the issue of Letters Patent thereon. 
 When the application was received at the Patent Office, the 
 novelty of its character, and the wonderful results of the ex- 
 periments on which the application had been based, excited
 
 28 
 
 the greatest surprise and interest among the officers of the 
 Bureau of Patents. The application was referred by the 
 Commissioner to the Examiner-in-chief of the class of Chemis- 
 try, who, utter a full examination of the whole subject, as I was 
 informed, reported favourably upon the application and recom- 
 mended the issue of Letters Patent. At this stage of the 
 proceeding, the Commissioner was visited by the Examiner-in- 
 chicf of the class of Agriculture, Professor I. Brainerd, of 
 Ohio, a very distinguished scientific gentleman, who suggested 
 to the Commissioner that the application had received a wrong 
 reference; that it should have been referred to him as it con- 
 cerned plants and animals, which were intimately associated 
 with the class of Agriculture under his charge. The Commis- 
 sioner replied, that it concerned, also, Chemistry; but if he, 
 Professor Brainerd, desired to investigate the subject, the 
 
 of the Letters Patent should be suspended till that oppor- 
 tunity was afforded him which was done. I was thereupon 
 informed of it, and that the Commissioner, in view of the 
 great importanee of the application, and of the novelty of the 
 principle- involved in it, was desirous, before proceeding 
 further in the issue of the Letters Patent, to send to my farm 
 in this vicinity. Professor Brainerd, who, with my permission, 
 would examine into the manner in which my experiments had 
 
 'ondueted, and particularly investigate the whole subject 
 of the application. On the receipt of this communication, I 
 wrote to the Commissioner of Patents, and informed him that 
 I would be very glad 10 receive Professor Brainerd, and to give 
 him every information and afford him every facility for making 
 hi- investigation in my power. 
 
 A few days thereafter, the Professor arrived at my house in 
 
 Spruce street; and, on presenting himself to me, he said: 
 
 i must receive this visit of mine as a very high 
 
 compliment, sine.; the Commissioner of Patents, in extremely 
 
 -, ever sends any one from the office for information 
 
 in relation to an application fora Patent; for he requires all 
 
 such information to lie brought to him. lie has, however, in 
 
 ted from his usual course, from the great interest 
 
 :r alleged discovery, and has scut me, therefore, 
 
 to make ; j;ition. For myself, I \vill say, 
 
 > prejudice for or against the principles announced 
 
 tartling memoir, and I come to you to make a fair, 
 
 ,d impartial examination of the whole matter. If 
 
 your averment.-. ; .;,il l>e sustained after I shr.ll 
 
 examined the subject, I will report favourably upon your
 
 29 
 
 application, and your Letters Patent will be issued forthwith. 
 Should I, however, have any doubts in the matter I will report 
 against their issue, and you will not get your Patent." To 
 this I replied, "That the facts in the case must furnish their 
 own evidence, and I was perfectly satisfied to abide by his 
 j udgment thereon, whatever it might be." We then proceeded 
 to my farm, where the professor remained three days, devoting 
 himself to a critical examination of the subjects committed to 
 him for investigation. On the afternoon of the third day we 
 visited the grapery, as he had often done before, where we 
 met three professors of colleges, who, attracted by the notices 
 of the experiments which they had seen in the newspapers, 
 had come to the farm to verify for themselves the statements 
 they had read. For purposes of ventilation in the grapery, I 
 had caused to be removed from immediately below the eaves 
 on the southeastern side thereof, for the whole length of the 
 house, two panes of glass in width; and in their places I had in- 
 troduced galvanized iron wire cloth, with meshes of about one 
 quarter of an inch square. The vines planted on the outside 
 border, and trained through terra-cotta pipes into the grapery, 
 along its walls of glass, and up to the ridge on the southeastern 
 side of the grapery had, when they reached this wire cloth, 
 in their growth on the inside, sent lateral branches through 
 its meshes into the outer air, which had grown to varying 
 lengths often, twelve or fourteen feet on the outside of the 
 grapery. These lateral branches were covered with foliage 
 the inside branches from the same stems extending to the 
 ridge were likewise covered with the densest foliage; but the 
 difference between the inside and outside foliage was most 
 distinctly marked. The inside leaves, from the same roots 
 which furnished those on the outside, were fully six or eight 
 inches respectively in diameter, of the deepest green colour, 
 and so perfectly healthy that they seemed more like wax leaves 
 than natural ones, while those on the outside of the grapery, 
 though abundant, were not more than two inches in diameter, 
 of a pale, sickly, yellowish colour, indicating a feeble vitality. 
 I called the attention of Professor Brainerd and of the other 
 professors to this most marked difference in the respective 
 leaves inside and outside, and they all united in the opinion 
 that this example furnished the most conclusive illustration of 
 the influence of blue light on vegetation that could be produced 
 under any circumstances. Here were branches of vines from 
 the same roots, covered with foliage, deriving their nutriment 
 from the same sources, the outside leaves exposed to all the 
 influences of temperature, light, humidity or dryness of the
 
 30 
 
 natural atmosphere, and yet, scarcely one-fourth of the size of 
 their relatives those on the inside ; and indicating an enfeebled 
 and transitory existence. "While the latter, revelling in the 
 stimulating forces of the combined sunlight and blue light of 
 the sky, had attained not merely size, but also an exuberance 
 of vigor which excited the greatest astonishment. Professor 
 Brainerd gathered some of the leaves from the outside and 
 inside branches of the same vines, which he took with him to 
 the Patent Office to be measured and photographed. The 
 other professors did likewise to exhibit to their respective 
 classes. 
 
 When Professor Brainerd had completed his examination, 
 and was prepared to return to Washington, he said to me, 
 " General, everything that you have alleged on this subject of 
 blue light is coniirmed ; I am perfectly convinced of their 
 truth. On my return to Washington, I will make a most 
 favourable report on your application, and your Letters Patent 
 will be issued forthwith. I will now say to you, that before i 
 left Washington, the officers of the Patent Office discussed 
 among ourselves your application, and we came to the conclu- 
 sion, unanimously, that if my investigation should establish 
 the verity of your statements you have made the most import- 
 ant discovery of this century, transcending in importance even 
 that of Morse's Telegraph, which, at best, furnished only a 
 means of communication with distant places, while your dis- 
 covery could be brought home to every living object on the 
 planet. We further thought that your patent would be one 
 of the most valuable that had ever been issued in the United 
 States. I congratulate you upon your great discovery." 
 
 The 1'rofessor accordingly returned to Washington, made 
 hi- report, which, as he said it would be, was most, i'avourable; 
 ami Letten 1'atent for my new process of accelerating the 
 growth of plants ami animals were issued to me on September 
 20th, ]871. 
 
 It is to Moses, the lawgiver, the great leader of the 
 
 ites in their Ivxodus from Egypt, in their passage across 
 
 tli'- K'-d Sea, and in their subsequent residence in the desert, 
 
 that we are indebted for our knowledge of the plan of the 
 
 in the creation of the world. This narrative of 
 
 contained in the book of Genesis, has been received 
 
 .iristiaii and .lc\vi-h p.-op].-s, of all nations, as a faithful 
 
 iption of the revelation- claimed by Moses to have been
 
 31 
 
 made to him by the Almighty himself. It is the foundation 
 of their religions the basis on which their spiritual faiths 
 rest. 
 
 Let us take up this book of Genesis, and endeavour to dis- 
 cover from it, illuminated by the developments of modem 
 science, what the prevailing idea of the creative mind may 
 have been in establishing the physical functions of the planet 
 on which we live. 
 
 In the first chapter of Genesis, we read the first four verses 
 as follows, viz : 
 
 "1. In the beginning God created heaven and earth. 
 
 " 2. And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was 
 upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved on 
 the waters. 
 
 " 3. And God said, Be light made : and light was made. 
 
 "4. And God saw the light that it was good, and he divided 
 the light from the darkness." 
 
 From these verses, it would appear that the materials com- 
 posing this planet were created and assembled in darkness, 
 and that the first physical force made was light not heat, 
 not electricity, not magnetism but light, which we shall 
 endeavour to show is the almost omnipotent force, which 
 produces them all, and gives form and motion to our plane- 
 tary system. In the same chapter, in the 6th verse, we read, 
 
 " 6. And God said ; Let there be a firmament made amidst 
 the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." 
 
 And in the 7th verse, we read as follows, viz: 
 
 " 7. And God made a firmament, and divided the waters 
 that were under the firmament from those that were above 
 the firmament and it was so." 
 
 There is obscurity in this verse, since in the following verse, 
 the 8th, we read, 
 
 " 8. God called the firmament Heaven, and the evening 
 and the morning were the second day." Now in the 1st verse 
 it is stated, " In the beginning God created heaven and 
 earth;" heaven having precedence both as to time and place 
 in the creation. In the 8th verse, it would read as if there 
 were waters above the heaven, which were divided by the
 
 32 
 
 firmament from those that were on the earth. We may 
 suppose, therefore, the word firmament, used in the 7th 
 verse, to mean the atmosphere, which was to hold in sus- 
 pension the waters contained in it as vapours, clouds, &c., 
 thus separating them from the waters on the earth, as well as 
 the infinite spam above the atmosphere, now supposed to 
 contain the orbits of the fixed stars. In the 9th verse, the dry 
 land appears, and the waters under the heaven (probably 
 atmospnere) are gathered together and, in the 10th verse, are 
 called seas, and in the llth verse God said, " 11. Let the 
 earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and 
 the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind which may have 
 seed in itself upon the earth, and it was done. 
 
 " 12. And the earth brought forth the green herb, and 
 such as yicldeth SIMM! according to its kind, and the tree that 
 th fruit having seed, each one according to its kind, and 
 God saw that it was good." 
 
 "We will hen 1 observe, that so far as the order of developing 
 creation had gone, li^ht was, as yet, the only active force 
 which had been brought into existence, or as the verse 
 expressed it, ' and light was made." Of course, it must 
 have been made of the materials which composed it. There 
 were, at that period, no sun, no moon, and perhaps only the 
 fixed stars, which were to illuminate the heaven, that had 
 been created, and yet light, was made, and it was made of its 
 materials, and being made its attributes were at once called 
 into use. " For the earth brought forth the green herb, and 
 8u. -h as yieldeth seed according to its kind, and the tree that 
 beareth fruit having seed, each one according to its kind." 
 No herb could have been green without light, and no tree 
 could have borne its fruit in darkness, nor could seed have 
 matured without light, and yet this light came neither 
 from the sun, nor the moon, modern spectroscopes to the con- 
 trary notwithstanding, for as yet neither the sun nor the moon 
 had been created. 
 
 Hence, we can understand that the Creator, in directing 
 that light first of all should be made, intended to constitute a 
 
 Miperior to all other forces, for it is by light that they 
 1 developed, ;md made auxiliary to the great plan of 
 ion. 
 
 " 14. Ami find said, Let there be lights made in the firma- 
 ment of he;. ven. to divide tli.' day and the night, and let them 
 be for signs and seasons and for days and jrears.
 
 33 
 
 " 15. To shine in the firmament of heaven and to give 
 light upon the earth, and it was so done. 
 
 "1(1. And (Joel made two groat lights, a greater light to 
 rule the day, and a lesser light to rule the night, and the stars. 
 
 " 17. A.nd he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine 
 upon the earth, 
 
 " 18. And to rule the day and the night, and to divide the 
 light and the darkness, and God saw that it was good." 
 
 It will be seen from these verses, that the ruling intent of 
 the Creator was to furnish lif/ht, and not heat, to the world he 
 was bringing into existence to separate the day from the 
 night as signs and for seasons, and for days and years, to 
 shine in the firmament of heaven, and to give light upon the 
 earth. 
 
 These then are the varied functions to be performed by the 
 sun, moon, and stars, by the fiat of the Creator. 
 
 Much speculation has been evoked, in the inquiry for the 
 source of that light that was ordered to be made previous to 
 the making of the two great lights, the sun and moon, which 
 he set in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth. 
 The modern revelations of the telescope in disclosing the 
 character of the more distant fixed stars, the congregations of 
 stars in the " Milky Way," in the nebulae and cloudlets of 
 lights, furnish an answer to all such inquiries. The limited 
 vision of Moses, unassisted by the telescope, which, in his day, 
 had no existence, would not have permitted him to compre- 
 hend any revelation of the glories of the world of astronomy, 
 as known to us now; and hence, no such revelation was made 
 to him. He was only instructed partially on the subject of 
 our solar system, and the myriads of lights, lesser and greater 
 than any that our system contains, which were sendjng their 
 illumination over a boundless world, were entirely unimagiued 
 by him. But we can readily fancy with our increased know- 
 ledge of astronomy, whence this primeval light was drawn. 
 We may suppose that our solar system was the last created of 
 the various systems which stud the heavens with their brilliant 
 effulgence, and that the materials which compose it were 
 easily gathered from the mighty masses that illuminated the 
 firmament. 
 
 Our astronomers tell us of the infinite star depths, in which 
 aro assembled series of worlds without number, all circling
 
 34 
 
 around their respective central orbs, and all moving with 
 inconceivable velocity towards some region of the firmament 
 so remote that our finite intellectual powers fail to conceive 
 of it, and that, in this grand movement of worlds, our diminu- 
 tive solar system has its allotted part and pursues its inevitable 
 destiny. Hence arises the reflection that when our system shall 
 approach the astronomical horizon of this mighty system of 
 worlds, and shall be descending below it, as our sun now does 
 below our own horizon, another solar system, transcending in 
 its glories anything of which the human mind can conceive, 
 shall arise in the western firmament to take the place that had 
 been vacated by our own, and thus system after system shall 
 be circling in the great expanse of space, till time shall be no 
 more. 
 
 We must have a starting point in our discussion, and we 
 will begin with matter, out of which all things are made. 
 
 We define matter to be anything which moves, or is the 
 subject of motion. We prefer this definition before all others, 
 since it is entirely irrespective of human existence, and has no 
 reference to human impressions. Motion was produced long 
 before man, and will continue long after he has passed away. 
 
 When matter is said to be solid, liquid or gaseous, we 
 convey a very inadequate idea of its composition or of its 
 condition. The microscope, as its powers are being developed, 
 reveals to us forms and conditions of matter of which the most 
 fertile imagination could have had no previous conception. 
 So in the series of what is termed created matter, we have but 
 a very faint image of a few of the most obvious links in the 
 chain of its conditions, while we know and can know nothing 
 of its extreme terminations, its greatest density and most 
 minute tenuity. But \ve may conceive that whatever moves, 
 or e;m be, moved, must be matter according to this definition, 
 the imponderables, light, heat, electricity and magnetism, are 
 all material substances, so subtle and attenuated, however, 
 that human ingenuity has never been able to discover their 
 components, or to reduce them to standards of comparison by 
 which their powers might be measured. We might go 
 farther and assert that all human emotions as well as animal 
 instincts are likewise material, since our only cognizance of 
 them is made apparent to us through our senses, concerning 
 whose materiality there can be no question. Let it not be 
 supposed that this idea of material being is at all inconsistent 
 with an a.-pi ration lor a future life, since the resurrection of
 
 35 
 
 the material body is as much a part of the Christian's creed as 
 is the hope of his immortality. Moses has told us for what 
 purposes the sun and moon and stars were created ; " to rule 
 the day and night, and to divide the light and the darkness, 
 and as signs, and for seasons, and for days and years." Now, 
 it is a very remarkable thing, that Moses, who was born in 
 Gos'hen, a province of Egypt, who passed the first forty years 
 of his life in Egypt, which lies between north latitude 32 and 
 22, and 27 and 34 east longitude, the next forty years on 
 the borders of the Desert, and the last forty years thereof in the 
 wilderness with his people, should have omitted to assign to 
 the sun the heating qualities which our scientists declare it to 
 possess, if, in fact, the sun did possess such powers, and the 
 fact had been revealed to him by the Almighty. 
 
 Modern discoveries in science go to show that Moses was 
 right in his description of the functions of those luminaries. 
 
 We may imagine the astonishment, amounting almost to 
 incredulity, with which Moses received the revelation regard- 
 ing the attributes of the sun, moon and stars. Living in the 
 hot climate of Egypt, or of the Desert, whose " soil is fire, and 
 whose wind is flame," and termed " burning sands of the 
 Desert," from their great heat, to what other source could he 
 refer this terrible heat than to the sun. Yet the sun is de- 
 scribed to him as a great light, not a great furnace, not a great 
 source of heat, but simply as an illuminating power. W hen 
 traveling in the Desert, and overtaken by the burning Sirocco, 
 whose blast, like that from a fiery furnace, obscuring the light 
 of the sun by the clouds of burning sand which it had raised, 
 Moses might have, by a course of reasoning, traced a connection 
 between the raging tempest and the sands heated by the sun, 
 and thus have assigned to that luminary the heating power 
 claimed for its radiations. He might even have been familiar 
 with the tenets of the predecessors of Zoroaster, and of the 
 fire worshippers in Persia, who worshipped that great orb of 
 light as the source of earthly heat, but if so, he discarded 
 all such imaginings, and boldly declared " that it is the greater 
 of two lights, intended to separate the day from the night ; as 
 signs, and for seasons, and for days and years ; to shine in the 
 firmament of Heaven, and to give light upon the earth." 
 
 Light is the great source of terrestrial electricity, magnetism 
 and heat. 
 
 Whatever moves, or is the subject of motion, is matter.
 
 36 
 
 "We cannot conceive of motion, without associating with the 
 idea an object to be moved. Ilence light, which moves with 
 a velocity of which we may speak, but which is not con- 
 ceivable by us, is composed of matter. When the Creator, in 
 his beneficence, first displayed the rainbow in the atmosphere, 
 lie taught mankind their first lesson in philosophical analysis. 
 lie thus showed that the white light of the sun was not a simple 
 substance, but that it was composed of seven primary rays, 
 which, by their combinations, produced all the varying tints or 
 Colours that are seen in nature, and yet how many myriads of 
 years have passed since this magnificent spectacle has been 
 exhibited to man before any one ventured to inquire into the 
 simple and beautiful lesson which it taught. Even yet, what 
 profound ignorance prevails everywhere in connection with 
 the influences which these elementary rays develop. 
 
 Light, which thrown upon the photosphere of the sun, from 
 the innumerable orbs that from their starry depths illuminate 
 the expanse of Heaven, is reflected to this planet with a 
 velocity of 186,000 miles per second of time, and requires about 
 8 16-o.3 minutes to reach the earth from the sun, ninety-two 
 millions of miles distant. Whatever maybe the composition 
 of the space intervening between the sun and the earth, out- 
 side of our atmosphere, as we are taught that nature abhors 
 a vacuum, it must be composed of something which is made of 
 matter. Give it its most attenuated form and call it ether, it 
 is still matter, and light, which is also composed of matter, 
 however subtle it may be, passing through it with this 
 marvelous speed, must produce everywhere enormous friction. 
 Now whenever one body moves in, on, under, around, or through 
 another body in contact with it, such motion produces friction. 
 Friction, derived according to Webster, from the Latin/neo, to 
 rub, as \ve know evolves electricity, and it is this electricity and 
 .pi-dative magnetism, discovered by Oersted, the cele- 
 brated Danish naturalist, to be its constant accompaniment 
 when opposite electrical polarities are united, thus derived, 
 which form those tremendous forces of nature that produce 
 \vhere those changes in, on and about our planet, that 
 our observation at every instant. When, therefore, the 
 r, after having assembled in their respective positions 
 the materials which compose the planetary and stellar worlds, 
 uttered the sublime words, ''Let Light be made," he called 
 into being a power which became the generator of all the 
 physical forces which control and regulate the world. Let us 
 for a moment imagine the radiant reflection of luminous matter
 
 37 
 
 from every part of the photosphere of that great luminary, the 
 sun, which in its magnitude was intended to illumine and 
 vitalize all animated matter, as well as to give form and con- 
 sistency to whatever had been created, passing from every 
 point thereof with a velocity of 186,000 miles per second, 
 penetrating through planetary and stellar spaces which, how- 
 ever subtle and attenuated, must have offered some resistance 
 to the passage of this material light, producing everywhere in 
 its passage an enormous amount of friction, and with it elec- 
 tricity and magnetism. Electricity, by the junction of its 
 opposite polarities, evolves heat and also imparts to all sub- 
 stances that are capable of being invested with it, magnetism. 
 The sun, the planets, the stars and all the bodies that stud the 
 expanse of heaven, are doubtless all magnets, to which mag- 
 netism was imparted when the Creator uttered in heaven the 
 words without parallel in sublimity, " Let light be made." 
 This then is the origin of all the physical forces of the universe. 
 Let us consider for a moment the nature of heat, and it will be 
 apparent that terrestrial heat cannot be directly derived from 
 the sun. 
 
 The tendency of heat is always to ascend into the atmos- 
 phere, when it is derived from combustion on the surface of 
 the earth, or from radiation within it. The flame of a candle 
 is vertically upward, on every part of the earth's surface, when 
 the air is still. The effort of heat is to depart from its source 
 with a rapidity proportionate to the intensity of the combus- 
 tion. This is a repellent force at the same time from its 
 being associated with positive electricity, it is attracted to the 
 upper atmosphere by its negative electricity, always associated 
 with cold, which is opposed to positive electricity. The 
 diffusion of heat, laterally or downwards, is very inconsiderable, 
 as is constantly manifested in our rooms, where the fire in the 
 grate emits very little heat below the bottom of the grate, and 
 parts of the room distant from the fire are very imperfectly 
 heated by it. The sun in its daily course being above the 
 earth, if it had any calorific rays, could not send them to the 
 earth below it, through a space of ninety-two millions of miles, 
 which, according to calculations of Pouillet, has a temperature 
 of minus 142 degrees of Centigrade thermometer. We will 
 illustrate this by an example or two. During our late 
 unhappy sectional war, at the siege of Fort Sumter, in South 
 Carolina, General Gilmore's heavy guns threw their enormous 
 shells into the city of Charleston, four and a half miles distant. 
 While the expansion of the powder in the chamber of these
 
 38 
 
 guns, in its combustion into gases, evolved a power which 
 throw those shells so great a distance, it was totally inadequate 
 to drive the heat disengaged in the conversion of the powder 
 into these propelling gases to a greater distance from the 
 muzzles of the guns than thirty feet. It ascended, instantl}* 
 on leaving the guns, into the upper atmosphere, attracted by an 
 opposite electricity. Any one familiar with the fire of artillery, 
 must have observed similar effects regarding the heat from the 
 discharge. 
 
 We will illustrate this by an example. " Mount "Washington, 
 in the White Mountains, in New Hampshire, is in north latitude 
 44 16' 25", and in west longitude from Greenwich 71 16' 
 2(1". Its elevation above tide water is 6,293 feet; and in 
 altitude it is the second highest mountain northward of the 
 Gulf of Mexico, the highest mountain thereof being Clingmans 
 IVak, in the State of North Carolina which is 6,707 feet 
 above tide water. 
 
 " The limit of the growth of trees on the north side of Mount 
 Washington is 4,150 feet above tide water. The climate of 
 Mount Washington corresponds with that of the middle of 
 ;ilaud, about 70 of north latitude or 26 further north 
 than New Hampshire. It is an arctic island (so to speak) in 
 the temperate zone, and, on account of its great elevation, it 
 exhibits also the condition of the atmosphere where the 
 ineivury does not rise above 24 inches in the barometer. For 
 peculiar interest, therefore, the Mount Washington (meteoro- 
 logical) station is not exceeded by any point within the arctic 
 circle." 
 
 It was on this mountain that a party of scientific gentlemen 
 1 the winter of 1870 and 1871, amid great privations and 
 suH'cring, for the purpose of investigating the physieal con- 
 ditions of the atmosphere and mountain at that great elevation. 
 "Observation shows that the climate of any country becomes 
 colder in proportion to the height of the land above the sea. 
 Thus in tropical regions there may be an arctic climate at an 
 altitude of 12,000 or 15,000 feet." 
 
 The room inhabited by these gentlemen was in the south- 
 west corner of the railroad depot, about 20 feet long, 11 feet 
 wide and N fe-t high. It, was well protected from the outer 
 cold, was heated by two stoves, one an ordinary cook stove, 
 the other a Mairee parlor stove, prized for its marvelous heating 
 power. Their Journal reports as follows, viz:
 
 39 
 
 " February 4th, 1871, temperature at 7 o'clock, A. M., 33; 
 at 9 o'clock, P. M., 40. In the room the temperature was 
 -f-35 and sometimes +60. To do this, the stoves were kept 
 at a red heat. The thermometer hangs 5 feet from stoves, the 
 temperature 10 feet from the stoves at the floor was 12, in 
 other parts of the room the temperature was 65 ; midnight, 
 wind fully up to 100 miles per hour and northwest. 
 
 " February 5th, some of the gusts of wind 110 miles per 
 hour; at 3 o'clock, A. M., temperature in the room 59, 
 barometer 22.810 inches, attached thermometer 62. Yester- 
 day, barometer 22.508 inches." 
 
 Now let us see what this means : 5 feet from red hot stoves 
 the thermometer marked 60, 10 feet from the same stoves on 
 the floor the thermometer marked 12, being a loss of 48 in a 
 distance of 5 feet in length and 2 feet below the sources of 
 heat. 1 Now at that rate of radiation of heat, how hot must the 
 sun be to transmit any degree of heat 92 millions of miles 
 through a temperature of 142 of centigrade to this planet, 
 and not merely to this earth in a column of heat of 8,000 miles in 
 diameter to envelope it, but also to diffuse its heat through an 
 ellipsoid of ether, whose circumference would be the orbit of 
 the earth around the sun ? But the actual loss of heat in its 
 descent to the earth (if that could be possible, which it cannot 
 be,) per foot would be immensely more than is stated above,' 
 as the heat would have to pass through space chilled to 142 
 of centigrade instead of in a room heated to -f-65 of Fahrenheit. 
 Again, in this latitude of 40 north, we have in our winters 
 falls of snow which lie upon the ground sometimes for weeks, 
 with the sun being unable to make any impression upon it 
 and when the snow does begin to melt, it commences with the 
 layer of snow in contact with the earth, and not with that on 
 the upper surface exposed to the sun. Our farmers all know 
 that when their fields in winter are covered with snow, their 
 growing crops under it are kept warm, though no ray of the 
 sun could reach them through the snow, and they anticipate 
 therefrom a large yield in the ensuing harvest. If terrestrial 
 heat is derived directly from the sun, how is this fact explained ? 
 A gentleman in the State of Maine, during the early part of 
 the last winter, when the ground at his residence was deeply 
 covered with snow in many places, made some experiments to 
 ascertain the temperature of the earth under the snow. He 
 found that the heat increased at the surface of the earth with 
 the depth of the snow above it. The following is the account, 
 7iz:
 
 Experiments wore made in the winter of 1872-73, with a 
 view to ascertain how far the soil is protected from cold by 
 enow. For four successive days in winter, there being four 
 inches in depth of snow on the ground on a level, the average 
 temperature, immediately above the snow, was found to be 
 fourteen degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer below zero ; 
 immediately beneath the snow in contact with the earth, it 
 was ten degrees above zero; being an increase of twenty-four 
 degrees of temperature, occasioned by a covering of the earth 
 with four inches of snow; and under a drift of snow two feet 
 deep the temperature was twenty-seven degrees above zero ; 
 making an increase of temperature at the earth's surface under 
 two feet of snow, of forty-one degrees of Fahrenheit over the 
 temperature of the air just above the upper surface of the snow. 
 No one can pretend that these variations of temperature were 
 derived from the sun. Let us attempt an explanation of this 
 phenomenon. 
 
 It is this. The radiation of heat from the interior of the 
 earth, positively electrified, meeting at the surface of the earth 
 with the snow in contact with it, negatively electrified, the 
 conjunction of these opposite polarities of electricity evolves 
 heat, melting the under layer of the snow, irrigating the plants 
 r it with water moderately warm, and keeping the earth 
 from being frozen, so that in the spring following, when the 
 snow had disappeared, the plants were ready to receive the 
 stimulating influence of sunlight and the blue light of the sky, 
 of which they had been deprived during the winter. 
 
 Professor Tyndall, writing of what he calls solar radiation, 
 
 r did I suffer so much from solar heat, as when 
 
 rom the corridor to the rjrand , ;' Mont Blanc 
 
 on tin- l^lli of Auirust. lv~>7. Whilst I sank up to the waist in 
 
 now, the sun darted its rays upon me with intolerable 
 
 nteriiig into the shade of the Duinc da << 
 
 in-tantly changed, for the air was as cold as 
 
 not really much colder than the air traversed by 
 
 >lar rays, and 1 1 not from contact with warm air 
 
 the stroke of the sun's rays, which reached me after 
 
 lirough a medium as cold as ice." 
 
 It i- singular that to so learned and astute a scientist as Pro- 
 ;!1, it did not occur that if his sensations, so dis- 
 
 from the heat, of the 
 
 1 not have walked through snow 
 
 t deep, in such heat, without the snow becoming melted
 
 41 
 
 by the same heat which oppressed him, and that he would 
 have been swept away by the torrent of water thus produced 
 by the melting of the snow by this great heat; but it does not 
 appear that the snow was at all affected by it, while the water 
 was drawn out of the Professor in profuse perspiration. 
 
 I venture upon an explanation. The heat from which the 
 Professor suffered came from his own body, and was derived 
 from electrical action of sunlight upon his dark woolen clothes, 
 warmed by the animal heat of his system. He was struggling 
 through deep snow in an atmosphere of icy coldness. The 
 natural heat of his body, ninety-eight degrees of temperature 
 of Fahrenheit, was greatly increased by the muscular efforts 
 he was making in his descent of the glacier. His woolen 
 clothes had become positively electrified by the heat of his 
 body. The strong sunlight or August having passed through 
 the cold, dry ether of planetary space and the upper atmos- 
 phere of the earth, by its friction with them was negatively 
 electrified, and falling upon his warm body and clothes, posi- 
 tively electrified, increased heat was evolved in and around 
 his person, and his sufferings were intensified. As soon as he 
 left the sunlight, his clothes, by induction, became negatively 
 electrified and the temperature of his body was soon lowered, 
 nnd his sufferings from heat ceased. 
 
 Again, there is no heat in the moon, which proves that the 
 moon has not an atmosphere, as it also proves that there is no 
 heat in the sun ; for if there was an atmosphere about the 
 moon the sun's light penetrating it and producing friction by 
 the contact with it would evolve electricity, which uniting 
 with the opposite electricity of the moon's atmosphere would 
 produce heat, but no such effect has been perceptible with the 
 most delicate instruments. Besides, if there was heat in the 
 rays of the sunlight, that heat would be reflected with that 
 lio;ht from the moon's surface to the earth, which we know ia 
 
 O ' 
 
 not the case. 
 
 Now, if the sun possessed heat, and could force it down- 
 wards to the earth, which, according to our knowledge of the 
 laws of heat, is impossible, we could have no clouds in our 
 atmosphere, as from the absorbing power of gases of heat the 
 clouds would be so expanded and attenuated by the absorbed 
 heat that they never could be formed. 
 
 The sun is a great magnet, as are all the planets of the solar 
 system, and it is by their magnetism and not by their weight
 
 42 
 
 or gravitation that their motions in their respective orbits are 
 regulated by the greater magnetism of the sun. Now as mag- 
 netic attraction or repulsion varies inversely as the squares of 
 the distances, which relation has been heretofore attributed to 
 gravitation, it is not difficult to assign to magnetism, in its 
 attraction and repulsion, the forces which have heretofore kept 
 and now keep our solar system in its various motions, nor need 
 we hesitate to conceive that all the motions of infinite systems, of 
 suns and stars, of nebulre, and cometary and meteoric matter, 
 are in like manner regulated. The meteoric matter which 
 lias fallen to the earth, has been found, when examined, to be 
 highly magnetic. 
 
 If the sun is a magnet, there is only sufficient heat generated 
 in its interior by opposite electricities to cause its daily rota- 
 tion on its axis, and it cannot be an incandescent body, since 
 magnetism is destroyed by heat. 
 
 "Wherever there are differences of temperature, there are 
 opposite electricities one electricity being always associated 
 with what is called heat while the opposite electricity 
 accompanies cold. These terms of heat and cold are mere 
 expressions of relative differences in varied temperatures, with- 
 out regard to the intensity of either condition. 
 
 Professor Tyndall, in his book on " The Forms of Water in 
 Clouds and Rivers, Ice and Glaciers," has given what he con- 
 siders explanations of many physical phenomena connected 
 with his subjects, attributing to radiations of solar heat the 
 changes and transformations which lie describes. With great 
 deference to so learned and distinguished an authority, I take 
 -ion to offer other explanations of the causes of the 
 phenomena alluded to, which seem to me as being more in 
 \vith our knowledge of general physics. 
 
 In his article on " Mountain Condensers," he says : "Imagine 
 a southwest wind blowing across the Atlantic towards Ireland. 
 In its passage it charges itself with aqueous vapour. In the 
 south of Ireland it encounters the mountains of Kerry ; the 
 highest of these is Magillicuddy's Ueeks, near Killarney. Now 
 the lowest stratum of this Atlantic wind is that which is most 
 fully charged with vapour. When it encounters the base of the 
 Kerry Mountains, it is tilted up and flows bodily over them. 
 Its load of vapour is therefore carried to a height, it expands 
 on reaching the height, it is chilled in consequence of the 
 expansion, and comes down in copious showers of rain. From
 
 43 
 
 this, in fact, arises the luxuriant vegetation of Killarney; to 
 this indeed, the lakes owe their water supply. The cold 
 crests of the mountain also aid in the work of condensation." 
 
 Let us examine this. The tilting up of the masses of cloud 
 on coming in contact with the face of the mountain is the 
 resultant of the impact of two forces, one being that of the 
 wind from the southwest with any given velocity from twenty 
 miles per hour to that of eighty or one hundred miles per hour ; 
 the other, the static force of the resistance of the mountain 
 itself; the diagonal of these two forces is the tilting up of the 
 cloud after impact. Now these two great masses of cloud and 
 mountain, oppositely electrified, when they come together in 
 contact produce great friction of their molecules, which friction 
 evolves positive electricity from the higher temperature of the 
 southwest wind ; this positive electricity thus evolved rushes 
 into conjunction with the opposite electricity of the atmosphere, 
 producing heat, which heat being absorbed by the air holding 
 the water in suspension communicates to it positive electricity, 
 and the air so electrified is attracted by the negative electricity 
 of the upper atmosphere, carrying it up and by expansion so 
 comminuting the particles of air that they can no longer con- 
 tain the globules of water they before held in suspension, 
 which latter thus released then begin, being attracted by the 
 positive electricity of the earth, to fall as rain oppositely 
 electrified, and it is, therefore, these electricities thus excited 
 with the heat which is evolved by their conjunction and the 
 rain charged with ammonia and carbonic acid gas which furnish 
 the stimulants to the remarkable vegetation of Killarney. 
 During the prevalence of these rain bearing clouds, driven 
 across the Atlantic by the southwest winds upon the above 
 mentioned mountains, the sun must be obscured by them, 
 and hence there can be no radiations of solar heat to expand 
 the air of the clouds after their impact with the mountains, 
 and they have been tilted up in their further progress over the 
 crests of the mountains. 
 
 A similar explanation covers the example the Professor gives 
 of a heavy fall of rain or snow in the Alps, while the sky is 
 clear and blue over the plains of Italy while the wind is blowing 
 over the plains to the Alps. The warm wind, positively electrified 
 and holding water in suspension, coming in contact with the 
 negative electricity of the cold Alps, and producing friction 
 by the impact, evolving more positive electricity to combine 
 with the negative electricity of the atmosphere at that great
 
 44 
 
 elevation, in the heat, and by it expands the air of 
 
 the clouds so much that it can no longer hold the globules of 
 water held by it in suspension. The heated and expanded air, 
 attracted to the still higher atmosphere from its greater nega- 
 tive electricity, separates from the water it before held, while 
 the water having lost its heat by the superior capacity of the 
 air to absorb it, becomes negatively electrified and is attracted 
 to the earth by its positive electricity hence the rain fall. 
 
 Professor Tyndall also states in the same work, " that the 
 unconfined air heated at the earth's surface, and ascending by 
 its lightness, must expand more and more, the higher it rises 
 in the atmosphere," and that the ascending "air is chilled by its 
 expansion. Indeed this chilling is one source of the coldness 
 of the higher atmospheric regions." It strikes me that this 
 explanation is not correct. In the first place the ascent of 
 heated air in the upper atmosphere has a limit boyond which 
 it cannot pass. Secondly, it ascends not by its lightness but 
 by the attraction of the negative electricity of the upper 
 atmosphere for the heated air, which is oppositely clectriiied. 
 In its upward course it loses its heat by radiation and with it 
 its positive electricity and by induction becomes negatively 
 electrified with the air whose altitude it has reached nor is 
 this chilling by expansion, as he terms it, one source of the 
 coldness of the upper atmosphere. That coldness associated 
 with negative electricity is derived from the ether in which 
 the atmosphere as well as the earth is continually revolving; 
 that ether has a temperature, according to Pouillet, cf 142 
 of Centigrade thermometer, and our upper atmosphere in 
 contact with this ether receives from it, by induction, both its 
 cold and its negative electricity, and the atmosphere itself i.s 
 kept in its place as an envelope of the earth by the positive 
 electricity of the earth and the opposite electricity of the upper 
 atmosphere. The snow line from the equator, (15,000 foet 
 above the equator to the 60 of north latitude, where it 
 \vith the earth,) being the dividing line between these 
 > opposing electrieiti 
 
 The Professor gives nnother example of the air being chilled 
 
 ion, art follows, vi/ : " with a condensing syringe 
 
 air into an iron liox furnished with a stop cock, 
 
 to which the svri; rewed. '!><> so till the density of the 
 
 air within the box is doubled or trebled. Immediately after 
 
 ion, both the box and the air within it are warm, 
 
 and can be proved to be .-o by a proper thermometer. Simply
 
 45. 
 
 turn the cock and allow the compressed air to stream into the 
 atmosphere. The current, if allowed to strike a thermometer 
 visibly chills it, even the hands feel the chill of the expanding 
 air." 
 
 IsTow for another explanation different from the Professor's. 
 The air in the iron hox had become heated by the friction of 
 it with the sides of the box ; that friction evolved positive 
 electricity associated with the heat ; on turning the cock and 
 allowing the heated air to escape into the atmosphere, the heat 
 and the positive electricity both left the escaping air with the 
 velocity of lightning, rushing into the oppositely electrified air 
 in the upper atmosphere, and the air that reached the ther- 
 mometer deprived of its heat reduced its temperature. There 
 is also an inconsistency in the explanation of the Professor 
 in producing heat by condensation in his iron box, while he 
 produces rain by the condensation of the clouds by cold in the 
 upper atmosphere. This reminds one of the fable of ^Esop, 
 in which a satyr invited into a husbandman's hut, blew upon 
 his hot broth as he said to cool it before eating it, and again 
 blew his breath upon his fingers to warm them on coming into 
 the house from the cold outside air. The husbandman turned 
 the satyr out of doors, as he could not comprehend how any 
 one could blow hot and cold from the same breath. 
 
 If compression of the atmosphere produces heat, condensa- 
 tion, which is merely another form of expression for the same 
 thing, cannot produce cold. If cold condenses, why does it 
 not condense the air in the upper atmosphere where the 
 greatest cold prevails, and the air is very dry, rarefied and 
 attenuated? According to the theory of condensation by cold, 
 the air should be very much more dense at great elevations 
 above the earth, than it is at the surface of the ocean, but the 
 reverse is known to be the case. The higher in the atmos- 
 phere a balloon, inflated with hydrogen gas, ascends, the more 
 the gas becomes expanded by the rarefaction of the atmos- 
 phere, which shows that the cold of the upper atmoephere 
 cannot condense the gas in opposition to the expansive influ- 
 ence of the rarefied atmosphere at great elevations. Ice water 
 poured into a glass tumbler in the heat of summer, causes a 
 deposit of drops of water on the outside of the tumbler 
 resembling dew, which is the result of a conjunction of 
 opposite electricities, the glass and the air within and around 
 it being warm and positively electrified, while the ice water is 
 negatively electrified. Their conjunction evolves heat, which
 
 46 
 
 is absorbed by the molecules of air, holding in suspension the 
 humidity of the atmosphere ; these molecules, so heated, ascend 
 immediately with inconceivable rapidity into the upper atmos- 
 phere, attracted by its opposite negative electricity, while the 
 globules of water thus released from their suspension in the 
 air on the outside of the glass, being now negatively electrified, 
 are attracted by the vitreous or positive electricity of the glass 
 tumbler and are deposited on it. 
 
 On the thirty-first day of March, A. D., 1872, I visited my 
 farm to give directions to apply heat to start the growth of the 
 vines in my grapery, at the commencement of the season. 
 The weather was very cold, patches of ice and snow lay in 
 places on the fields, which the sun, shining with great brilliancy 
 through a remarkably clear atmosphere, was unable to soften 
 or melt. No semblance of cloud or vapour was anywhere 
 visible. In the open air, protected from sunlight, the ther- 
 mometer (Fahrenheit's) marked 84 degrees, two degrees above 
 the freezing point of water. On entering the grapery, in which 
 then- had been no artificial heat from fuel of any kind for 
 the space of nearly a year, my son. and myself were astonished 
 at the great heat that there was within it. On examining the 
 thermometer which hung on one of the middle posts of the 
 grapery, completely sheltered from the sunlight, about four 
 feet from the floor, we were amazed to find that it marked one 
 hundred and ten degrees of Fahrenheit. Here was an increase 
 of seventy-six degrees of temperature over that of the outside 
 air, and produced by a film of glass not exceeding one-six- 
 teenth of an inch in thickness, but associated as blue and 
 plain glass. This extraordinary increase of temperature, mani- 
 1 the- supreme wisdom of the Creator in kindling this 
 t the surface of the earth, where it was needed, by rays 
 of light passing through a denser medium than air, instead of 
 sending heat from the sun through ninety-two millions of 
 miles Oi ether at a temperature of 14:2 degrees of Centigrade 
 thermometer, in the passage through which so much of the 
 said heat would have been lost by radiation. 
 
 I have had many occasions to observe since that date, that 
 during the passage of strong sunlight through the blue and 
 plain glass of the grapery, the temperature through the day, 
 within ti i y, varied from one hundred degrees to one 
 
 hundred and fifteen degrees, while that without, according to 
 the seasons of t: .at the same times of the day would 
 
 range from thirty-two degrees upward to sixty degrees or 
 sixty-five d<
 
 47 
 
 During the winter of 1871 and 1872, which, in this city, was 
 a very cold and rigourous one, two ladies of ray family 
 residing on the northern side of Spruce streets east of Broad 
 street, in this city, who, at my suggestion, had caused l>lue 
 glass to be placed in one of the windows of their dwelling, 
 associated with plain glass, informed me that they had 
 observed that when the sun shone through those associated 
 glasses in their window, the temperature of the room, though 
 in mid-winter, was so much increased that on many occasions 
 they had been obliged during sunlight to dispense entirely 
 with the fire which, ordinarily, they kept in their room, or 
 when the fire was suffered to remain, they found it necessary 
 to lower the upper sashes of their windows, which were 
 without the blue glass, in order to moderate the oppressive 
 heat. 
 
 These examples go to illustrate the remark of a distinguished 
 German scientist, made to a friend of mine after he had read 
 an account of my experiments with blue light on animal and 
 vegetable life. He said, " that the discovery of this extraordinary 
 influence was destined to produce the most important and 
 beneficial results on the comfort and happiness of mankind, 
 throughout the civilized world. That fuel was everywhere 
 recognized as one of the most indispensable elements of social 
 and domestic economy. That it is, particularly in Europe, 
 very expensive from its scarcity, which is becoming greater 
 every year with its annual consumption, and in the northern 
 parts of Europe, furs, skins of animals and the down of 
 aquatic birds are extensively worn, sometimes with two or 
 three suits at once of clothing, in order to preserve the animal 
 heat of the body, owing to the great costliness of fuel and the 
 severity of the cold. 
 
 " That even in England, apprehensions are being expressed of 
 an exhaustion of their coal mines in the not distant future. 
 iSTow since this wonderful discovery of General Pleasonton, of 
 the influence of the blue light of the sky in developing animal 
 and vegetable life, which is largely due to the heat and elec- 
 tricity developed by the passage of sunlight through these 
 associated blue and plain glasses, I am of the opinion that 
 during sunshine, for many hours in the day, by means of blue 
 and colourless glass arranged together in doors and windows 
 exposed to the sun, sufficient heat can be evolved to enable 
 families, and work people in factories, to dispense with a large 
 proportion of the fuel that they have heretofore been obliged
 
 48 
 
 to use. Let us say that one-half of the fuel heretofore 
 required, can be saved by thus utilizing sunlight, and you will 
 begin to comprehend how vact will be the benefit derived to 
 mankind in the economy of fuel alone, by this discovery of 
 General Pleasonton." 
 
 I have said that while the rays of the sun's light were one 
 of the causes of terrestrial heat, yet there is no heat in them. 
 This can be proved by any one, in the following experiment, 
 viz: During winter, when the ground is covered with enow, 
 and the temperature of the open air is at zero of Fahrenheit's 
 thermometer, it will be found that the sun, however brightly 
 shining, cannot melt the snow or ice on which it may shine. 
 'Pake now a piece of black or brown silken or woolen cloth of 
 any form and of convenient size, and place it on the snow in 
 the shade where the sun does not reach it with his rays. The 
 snow will not be melted under this cloth, which will have the 
 same temperature as the snow; hence it is obvious that there 
 is no heat either in the sunlight which could not melt the 
 snow, nor in the coloured cloth whose temperature was the 
 same as the shaded snow on which it had been placed ; now 
 take up the cloth, and place it on the snow where the sun can, 
 shine upon it. Let us observe the effect of this new position ; 
 the rays of the sun moving with a velocity of 186,000 miles 
 per second are suddenly arrested by this cloth, which they 
 cannot penetrate. This sudden stoppage of velocity produces 
 friction, by the impact of the rays of light upon the cloth; 
 electricity is evolved by the friction, having a polarity opposed 
 to that of the cloth; instantly these opposite electricities rush 
 together, producing heat, warming the cloth and melting the 
 snow immediately under the cloth, by which the cloth begins 
 t<> sink below the level of the snow, and it' it shall be allowed 
 to remain, it will melt the snow under it till the cloth shall 
 ipon the ground beneath, clear of the snow, and the sur- 
 rounding snow shall enclose the cloth, of its exact size and 
 form 
 
 From this experiment, we conclude that the heat which 
 
 melted the snow under the (doth was not derived from the sun 
 
 it, but that the electricity produced by the impact of the 
 
 sun's rays with the cloth oppositely electrified, through friction, 
 
 evolved the heat which melted the snow. 
 
 Now suppose that instead of a single piece of this cloth 
 having been placed upon the snow, you have put a series of pieces
 
 49 
 
 of the same cloth upon the snow. The same principle applies 
 hut a dilt'erent action is observed. The cloth is a bad con- 
 ductor of heat as well as of electricity, consequently the heat 
 evolved by the conjunction of the opposite elect rieities produced 
 by the friction of the rays of sunlight by impact on the cloth 
 with the opposite electricity of the cloth, cannot descend 
 through the cloth to any depth, being contrary to the laws of 
 heat, but it immediately ascends into the atmosphere and 
 escapes, while the edges of the series of pieces of cloth in 
 contact with the snow become warmed by the conjunction of 
 the opposite electricities, produced by the friction of the rays 
 of light with the edges of the cloth and the cloth's electricity, 
 and soon melt the snow in contact with them, till the pieces of 
 cloth are left high and dry above the snow which surrounds 
 them. 
 
 Glaciers their Origin, Position, Duration, Changes and More- 
 ments. Much has been written on these subjects, and many 
 distinguished scientists have been greatly exercised to give a 
 satisfactory explanation of the phenomena they have witnessed 
 in connection with them. 
 
 It seems to me that glaciers are formed in the regions of 
 perpetual snow by the deposition of snow in the valleys of the 
 lofty mountains where they exist; clouds laden with vapour 
 when they reach the neighbourhood of the mountains whose 
 valleys are filled with glaciers, being positively electrified, 
 encounter the negative electricity of the higher atmosphere. 
 These opposite electricities meet in conjunction, heat is 
 evolved the air associated with water as vapour in the clouds 
 being thus heated, is rarefied and expanded to such an extent 
 that it can no longer retain its water, (while it ascends rapidly 
 into the upper atmosphere attracted by its negative electricity,) 
 which on being liberated from the air that held it as vapour is 
 converted by the surrounding low temperature of its great 
 altitude into flakes of snow, which having an opposite 
 magnetism to the earth are attracted downward to it, and are 
 at the same time repelled from the height where they are 
 formed by the opposite magnetism prevailing there. The 
 crystallization of these snow flakes is made in a vacuum, 
 produced by the escape of this heated and rarefied air, and by 
 absorbing the magnetism which is developed by the con- 
 junction of the opposite electricities of the clouds and the 
 atmosphere as they come together in contact, these magnetic 
 snow flakes transfer it to the earth to replace the magnetism,
 
 50 
 
 which is constantly leaving the earth in evaporations to escape 
 into the upper atmosphere. 
 
 This, then, in all probability, is the origin of glaciers. The 
 successive snow falls in the upper valleys of these elevated 
 MS, by their magnetic attraction to the earth, serve to 
 park the snow, and to compress the lower portions of it into 
 ice of greater or less density, according to its elevation in the 
 atmosphere and the depth of the valleys in which the glaciers 
 are formed. The effect, therefore, is that the bottom of the 
 glacier is ice, while the upper part of it is snow, termed nev6. 
 
 Crevasses are fissures of various depths and widths in the 
 glacier, whose formation Professor Tyndall attributes to the 
 effect of the solar radiation of heat upon the glaciers. He says, 
 in his book on "The Forms of Water," &c., page 100, "first, 
 then, you are to know that the air of our atmosphere is hardly 
 heated at all by the rays of the sun, whether visible or invisible ; 
 the air is highly transparent to all kinds of rays, and it is only 
 the scanty fraction to which it is not transparent that expend 
 their force in warming it." 
 
 I have shown that heat ascends in our atmosphere by the 
 attraction of the positive electricity with which it is always 
 
 iated, by the negative electricity of the colder air in the 
 upper regions of the atmosphere, and by its repulsion from 
 the earth by its positive electricity ; it is, therefore, contrary 
 to the laws of heat that the sun should, can or could transmit 
 rays of Jictd downward to this planet, and as these heat rays 
 can not be so transmitted, they are therefore not present to be 
 absorbed by the snow of the glacier or on the mountains. On 
 
 its of the same book, he says: " w- have wrapped up our 
 chain and are turning homewards after a hard day's work 
 upon the Glacier du (ieant, when under our feet, as if coming 
 from the body of the glacier, an explosion is heard. Somewhat 
 
 !"d, we look inquiringly over the ice. The sound is 
 repeated, several shot- being fired in quick succession. They 
 
 i sometimes to our right, sometimes to our left, giving 
 the impression that the glacier is breaking up, still nothing 
 is to 
 
 " We closely scan the ice, and after an hour's strict search 
 we discover the cause of the reports. They announce the 
 
 birth of a crevasse. Through a pool upon the glacier, we 
 notice air bubbles ascending, and find the bottom of the pool
 
 51 
 
 crossed by a narrow crack, from which the bubbles is^ue. 
 Right and left from this pool, we trace the young fissure 
 through long distances. It is sometimes almost too feeble to 
 be seen, and at no place is it wide enough to admit a knife 
 blade. 
 
 " It is difficult to believe that the formidable fissures, among 
 which you and I have so often trodden with awe, should 
 commence in this small way. Such, however, is the case. 
 The great and gaping chasms on and above the icefalls of the 
 Qeant and the Talefre begin as narrow cracks, which open 
 gradually to crevasses. The crevasses are grandest on the 
 higher neves, where they sometimes appear as long yawning 
 fissures, and sometimes as chasms of irregular outline ; delicate 
 blue light shimmers from them, but this is gradually lost in the 
 darkness of their profounder portions. 
 
 " Over the edges of the chasms, and mostly over the southern 
 edges, hang a coping of snow, and from this depend like 
 stalactites, rows of transparent icicles, ten, twenty, thirty feet 
 long. These pendent spears constitute one of the most beau- 
 tiful features of the higher crevasses. How are they produced ? 
 Evidently by the thawing of the snow. But why, when once 
 thawed, should the water freeze again to solid spears ?" Now 
 let us examine this : if the supposed heat of the sun's rays, 
 could melt the snow at the southern edges of the crevasse, 
 why did not similar rays from the sun, conveying the like 
 temperature, melt the general surface of the glacier, and 
 produce thereby large pools of water on the surface of the 
 glacier? Particularly, as the Professor states, " that the snow on 
 which the sunbeams fall, absorbs the solar heat, and on a 
 sunny day, you may see the summits of the high Alps glisten- 
 ing with the water of liquefaction. The air above, and around 
 the mountains may, at the same time, be many degrees below 
 the freezing point in temperature." 
 
 If the surface of the snow on the mountains was melted by 
 the solar heat, as the Professor supposes, what was there to 
 arrest the streams of water thus produced, and to prevent them 
 from flowing into the valleys occupied by the glaciers, and 
 converting the glaciers themselves into mountain torrents, 
 while at the same time the mountains were being denuded of 
 snow? But we know that such results have not been pro- 
 duced. Above the snow line the mountains are perpetually 
 covered with snow, and the glaciers have remained from a 
 remote antiquity to attest that the snow does not absorb
 
 52 
 
 the heat of the sunbeams, for the simple reason that the sun- 
 beams in themselves do not bring any heat from the sun to 
 this planet. 
 
 In my early boyhood, I dwelt on the banks of the Potomac, 
 a river fancifully named by the Indians, before the advent of 
 the white man, "the river of swans," from the abundance of 
 that water fowl that frequented its waters. "Well do I 
 
 mber, lying awake on the eve of our several winter 
 holidays, when the river was deeply frozen, anticipating a day 
 of splendid skating on the morrow, to have been often startled 
 by the noise -of a great explosion of the ice on the river, 
 occasioned by the compression of the air beneath thf ice, as 
 the tide rising rapidly forced it upwards between the water 
 and the ice, till its accumulation and compression would over- 
 come the resistance of the ice, and a fissure would be opened 
 in it extending sometimes for miles, and liberating the pent 
 up air into the atmosphere. If the temperature of the night 
 air was below the freezing point of water, as the tide receded 
 the water which had filled the fissure, when the tide was full, 
 
 frozen into ice, and the track of the fissure could bo 
 marked on the next day by the film of thin ice that had been 
 formed in it, as the tide was receding the night before. 
 
 In this way, air holes, so dangerous to travelers and skaters 
 on the ice, are constantly formed on our rivers and streams, 
 subject to the flow of the tides, and in lakes and mountain 
 stn-ams, they are also formed by the currents of water flowing 
 downwards in a similar manner. In my later youth, I had 
 observed similar effects from similar causes, produced on the 
 ice of the river Hudson, at West Point. In short, fissures on 
 the surface of anything, whether on the surface of the earth by 
 volcanic eruptions in which lava, rocks, scoriae, mud, boiling 
 water, are thrown out from the interior, or by Ge 
 spouting their hot streams into the atmosphere, or the cracks 
 in the ground produced by long continued droughts, evapo- 
 rating the moisture contained in the soil, and even eruptive 
 -cs among mankind or other animals whether wild or 
 domestic, are all the results of interior forces, acting from the 
 rior to their respective surfaces. 
 
 explain the crevasse on the glacier. The snow 
 falls carry to the glacier large quantities of atmospheric 1 air, 
 which are confined between tin: glacier and the snow as it 
 falls; every fall of snow pn predecessors and the air 
 
 they contain closer together against the ice. filling its
 
 I 53 
 
 vacancies with air. This column of air, thus pressed down 
 upon and into the ice, encounters the air which has been 
 enclosed between the bottom of the glacier and the earth on 
 which the glacier rests, this last mentioned air has been 
 warmed by the radiation of heat from the interior of the earth, 
 and has become positively electrified by it the contact of this 
 positively electrified air with the negatively electrified ice of 
 the bottom of the glacier, evolves more heat, which, melting 
 the lower stratum of ice of the glacier, constitutes the source 
 of the stream of water that flows from the glacier. Such is 
 the origin of the river Rhone. 
 
 This warm air, in its effort to rise through the glacier into 
 the upper atmosphere negatively electrified, meets in the 
 crevices everywhere abounding in the ice of the glacier, the 
 air which has been forced down by the snow falls, and which 
 last air is negatively electrified ; the conjunction of these two 
 airs oppositely electrified evolves heat, which expanding the 
 air, displaces the ice of the glacier, forming channels for its 
 escape into the upper atmosphere, and when it reaches the 
 upper surface of the glacier, forces its way through it into the 
 atmosphere in that minute fissure, which Professor Tyndall 
 had such difficulty to discover. Again, this warm air as it 
 escaped into the atmosphere, melted the edges of the ice or 
 snow at the surface through which it passed, and through 
 which it was visible in the air bubbles Professor T. described. 
 
 The melting of the lower stratum of ice of the glacier in 
 contact with the earth produced by the heat evolved by the 
 conjunction of the positive electricity of the earth with the 
 negative electricity of the ice, is the cause of the subsidence of 
 the body of the glacier, and the declivity of the valley itself is 
 the cause of the glacier moving bodily downward in it. The 
 fractures, strains, torsions of certain portions of the glacier 
 are the results of the forces of expansion and contraction in 
 the interior of the glacier, produced by variations of its 
 interior temoerature as mentioned above. 
 
 In this country, the winter of the years 1874 and 1875 has 
 been an exceptional one. The cold has been of long, and 
 almost uninterrupted continuance, and of great severity. 
 The rivers in the Middle and Eastern States have been closed 
 with ice, which has been of great density and depth, extending 
 in some of their courses through the mountains even to the 
 beds of their streams. The frozen condition of the waters has
 
 54 
 
 remained till late in the spring season ; and from the accumu- 
 lation of i mine-use masses of ice in certain portions of these 
 rivers, forming what were called ice-gorges, filling their entire 
 width for the distance of miles in length, the most serious 
 apprehensions were entertained of extraordinary damages to 
 towns and villages, railways and canals, in the valleys of these 
 rivers, that would be sustained by the sudden breaking up of 
 of ice from rain-storms, and the melting of the 
 snows on the mountains, which would produce the most 
 extensive and alarming inundations. These apprehensions 
 justified by the advanced spring season which usually, 
 by its increased temperature, terminates the rigours of winter. 
 
 To obviate, if possible, these threatened dangers and cdami- 
 >y the sudden breaking up of the ice, various expedients 
 resorted to, viz : cutting channels through the ice below 
 the gorges, to liberate the water above, should it assume 
 alarming proportions; attempting to destroy the gorges them- 
 selves by the explosions of gunpowder, or of nitro-glycerine, 
 confined in chambers in the ice itself, and one very liberal 
 gentleman, evidently a believer in the theory that the sun is 
 an incandescent body and sends its heat bodily to our earth, 
 downwards, presented to the authorities of one of the towns 
 endangered by the ice-gorge in its neighbourhood, twenty- 
 eight barrels of Naphtha, to be burnt on the ice-gorge, under 
 the impression that the heat produced by their combustion, 
 would descend through the ice, and liquefy it into water. It 
 is scarcely necessary to add, that, when the experiment of 
 burning the Naphtha upon the ice-gorge was tried, the heat 
 evolved by its combustion immediately ascended into the 
 upper atmosphere, leaving the ice unaffected by the experi- 
 ment. 
 
 n\ a very interesting book entitled, '' Mount 
 
 in Winter; or, the Kxpcr a Scientific Expedition upon 
 
 Mountain in Xe\v Hngland 1870-71," published 
 
 in I5jst')ii in 1*71, we make some extracts that seem to 
 
 ;t connection with the subjects of which we are treating. 
 
 " Moo-ihiuke Mountain, near Mount "Washington, is nearly 
 t high, and lies within the arctic zone of 
 climate. It was on tins mountain that two scientific gentle- 
 men, viz., Me-^r~. A. F. ('lough and II. A. Kimball, deter- 
 - two months, in the winter of the years 18G9 and 
 1870, in order to fit themselves the better for a winter residence
 
 on Mount Washington, at a future day. They attempted the 
 ascent of the mountain on ISTovember 23d, 1860, but wore driven 
 back by the severity of the weather. On the 31st of December, 
 1869, the attempt was renewed under better auspices, and was 
 successful. 
 
 -About two months were spent by them on this summit. 
 So valuable were the experiences acquired, and so unusual 
 were the meteorological phenomena observed, that the Mount 
 "Washington phenomena, subsequently experienced, have not 
 equaled those upon Mount Moosilauke, and among them the 
 possibility of living on a mountain top during the winter, was 
 fully demonstrated. 
 
 " There is scarcely a mountain in Xew England from which 
 the view is more extensive. W r c can see from it, nearly the 
 whole of the State of New Hampshire, with its numerous 
 mountain peaks. Eastward is Mount Washington, in solemn 
 repose, its neighbouring peaks of immaculate whiteness 
 Mount Lafayette and its lines of white extending far down 
 into the evergreen forests. Southward is Lake Winnipiseogee, 
 with its numerous isles, glittering in the sunlight, like a gem 
 of the purest water. Westward is the whole State of Vermont, 
 and Ascutney, the most pointed of its mountains, is conspicu- 
 ous. Moosilauke is so much higher than the immediate 
 neighbouring peaks, that the whole country is spread out as a 
 grand intrusive raised map before the beholder. 
 
 " IS'o scene more grand and beautiful ever greeted the eye 
 of man, than when, beyond the dark band of clouds just below 
 the summits of the Franconia and White mountains, appeared 
 those tints of rose and orange, lying along the horizon just 
 above the snow capped summit of Mount Washington, and 
 against a deep azure sky. From Moosilauke, you command 
 the whole panorama of the White Mountain range, and you 
 may see something of the effect witnessed among the Alps. 
 As the day dies, the lost shadows pass with strange rapidity 
 from peak to peak, vanishing from one height as they appear 
 on the next." 
 
 The following are extracts from their Journal, viz : 
 
 " On the 1st of January, 1870, the sun rose clear. We were 
 above the clouds, and a grander spectacle one does not often 
 behold. The clouds seemed to roll and surge like the billows 
 of the ocean. They were of every dark and of every brilliant hue ;
 
 56 
 
 here they were resplendent with golden light, and there of 
 silvery brightness; here of rosy tints, there of sombre gray, 
 here of snowy whiteness, there of murky darkness, here 
 
 forgeous with the play of colours, and there, the lurid light 
 ashes deep down into the gulfs formed by the eddying mist. 
 l>ut above all these clouds, these flashes of light, this darkness, 
 rise in stately grandeur, the summits of Mount Washington, 
 sublime in its canopy of snow, and of Lafayette, with a few 
 peaks of lesser altitude, glittering in the bright, sunlight. As 
 the sun rises higher, the picture fades away, the whole country 
 is flooded with light. 
 
 " Did this grandeur, this magnificence, this brilliant display 
 of lights, of shadows, and shades of these clouds, so resplen- 
 dent, so beautiful, portend a storm? In the evening the wind 
 changed to the southeast, and increased in velocity. 
 
 "At daylight on the 2d of January, 1370, it was snowing. 
 This soon changed to sleet, and then to rain, and at eight o'clock, 
 A. M.,the velocity of the wind was seventy miles per hour; at 
 twelve o'clock, noon, there was a perfect tempest. Although 
 the wind was so fearful, yet Mr. Clough was determined to know 
 the exact rate at which it was blowing. By clinging to the 
 rock, he succeeded in reaching a place where he could expose 
 the anemometer, and not be blown away himself. He found 
 the velocity of the wind to be ninety-seven and a half miles per 
 hour, the greatest velocity, until that time, ever recorded. 
 "When he reached the house, he was thoroughly saturated with 
 water, the wind having driven the rain through every garment, 
 although they were of the heaviest material, as though they 
 liad been made of the lightest fabric. During the, afternoon, 
 the rain and gale continued with unabated violence. The rain 
 riven through every crack and crevice of the house and 
 the floor of our room was flooded. 80 fierce was the draught 
 o r the stove, that the wind literally took away every spark of 
 fire, leaving only the half charred wood in the stove, and it was 
 with dillieiilty that wo succeeded m re-kindling it. 
 
 During the evening, the wind seemed to increase in fury, and 
 although the window was somewhat protected, yet nearly every 
 glass in it, that was exposed, was broken by the pressure of 
 lie, A- the lights were broken, the tire was again extin- 
 guished, and even my hurricane lantern was Mown out as 
 quickly as if the flame had been unprotected. * * * * 
 nine o'clock. 1*. M., there were occasional lulls in the 
 storm, and by midnight it had considerably abated.
 
 57 
 
 "When it was clear, there was a strong temptation, notwith- 
 standing the cold, to be out of doors to watch the clouds, at 
 first of almost fiery redness, then changing to gray and neutral 
 tints, until almost black, they seemed to gather around some 
 distant peak, or as a dark band, they lay between the Franco- 
 nia and White Mountains, leaving only the snow-clad summits 
 above the dark border; or at sunset, when they lay in narrow 
 bands, or rose tinted clusters around the summit of Mount 
 ~\\ asliington, while elsewhere they were those of leaden hue, 
 such as are seen only in winter. Often when the sky is par- 
 tially overcast,- through the intervening spaces of the clouds, we 
 see that intense blue sky, which is peculiar to high altitudes. 
 
 " On the 19th of February, 1870, there were two currents of 
 air, the upper had its lowest stratum probably two thousand 
 feet below the summit. In the morning the upper current 
 was northwest, with a velocity of fifty miles per hour ; about 
 noon, the wind changed to the north and increased in velocity, 
 and at five o'clock, P. M., it had a velocity of seventy miles 
 per hour. At the foot of the mountain, nearly 5000 feet below 
 there was scarcely a perceptible breeze, yet up, a thousand feet, 
 there was a strong current from the southivest, and the clouds 
 seem to move almost as rapidly as those from the north, higher 
 up the mountain. On account of the velocity of the wind, and 
 the upward pressure of the currents below, the effect was 
 remarkable. The whole country, except the higher summits, 
 was covered with clouds, and these were moving at the rate, 
 probably, of more than sixty miles per hour, and everywhere 
 they were broken into seething, undulating masses, for as they 
 came near the mountains, in an instant, almost, they would be 
 lifted more than a thousand feet, to be carried over the 
 summits. As far as the eye could reach, embracing thousands 
 of square miles, was this rolling tumultuous mass of clouds.'' 
 
 These gentlemen left the Moosilauke mountain on the last 
 day of February, A. D., 1870. It was extremely cold, wind 60 
 to 70 miles per hour, thermometer ranging from degrees to 
 17 degrees. The complete organization of the expedition to 
 pass the winter of the years 1870 and 1871, on Mount Wash- 
 ington, was as follows, viz : 
 
 C. H. Hitchcock, State Geologist, J. H. Huntington, in 
 charge of the Observatory upon the mountain. S. A. Kelson, 
 Observer. 
 
 A. F. Clough and H. A. Kimball, Photographers.
 
 58 
 
 Theodore Smith, Observer and Telegrapher for the United 
 States Signal Service. 
 
 " Mount Washington, in the White Mountains in New 
 Hampshire, is in latitude 44 degrees 16 minutes 25 seconds north 
 and in longitude from Greenwich 71 degrees 16 minut* 
 
 ils west, or 1 degree minutes 43.99 seconds of longitude 
 east from Hanover in New Hampshire. 
 
 "Its elevation above tide water is 6,293 feet, and in altitude 
 
 the second highest mountain northward of the Gulf of 
 
 Mexico, the highest mountain thereof being Cliugman's Peak, 
 
 in the State of North Carolina, which is 6,707 feet above tide 
 
 water. 
 
 " The limit of the growth of trees on the north side of 
 Mount Washington, is 4,150 feet above tide water.- 
 
 " The climate of Mount Washington corresponds with that 
 of the middle of Greenland, about seventy degrees of north 
 latitude, or 26 further north than New Hampshire. 
 
 "It is an arctic island (so to speak) in the Temperate Zone, 
 and on account of its great elevation it exhibits also the con- 
 dition of the atmosphere, where the mercury does not rise 
 above 24 inches in the barometer. For peculiar interest 
 therefore, the Mount Washington Station is not exceeded by 
 any point within the arctic circle." 
 
 Professor Edward Tuckerman, of Amherst, Massachusetts, 
 in his admirable treatise upon "the Vegetation of the White 
 Mountains," marks out four regions: first, (he lower for cut, in 
 which are found the hard wood species of trees, the rock 
 maple, the beech, the white and yellow birches; with these 
 i'tt-n large white pines, firs, white spruces, the aspen, the 
 witch hazel and the mountain ash. 
 
 " In the second region, the upper forest consists mostly of 
 black spruce and fir, with occasional yellow and canoe birches, 
 Fra/er's balsam tir and a mountain ash; at 4,000 feet cf 
 altitude these trees are dwarfed but are very strong, and when 
 close together form a thicket almost impenetrable. 
 
 " Among the plants of the third or *tff>-<ilphie region are the 
 mountain sandwort, the evergreen cowberry, the Labrador tea 
 and the mountain bilberry. This seems not to be well charac- 
 terized.
 
 59 
 
 "The fourth and highest region is called alpine, and con- 
 tains many plants peculiar to Labrador and Greenland. There 
 are some fifty or sixty of these, and among them are as many 
 more lowland species which have emigrated to the summit 
 and manage to live there in favourable seasons, though of) 
 much dwarfed. The lichens are very conspicuous and beauti- 
 ful, one of a sulphur yellow colour is quite noticeable, and is a 
 good indication of the visitor's arrival in the Alpine District. 
 Another is the reindeer moss, a very common article of food 
 for the most useful animal to man in Lapland. The best 
 localities of these arctic plants are in the great gulfs or ravines 
 upon the east side of Mount Washington. 
 
 " As far as the upper limit of trees, boulders that have been 
 transported by the glacial drift from more northern summits 
 are common. They rapidly diminish in number and size upon 
 that point, and have not been seen far above the fourth water- 
 tank, or above an altitude of 5,800 feet. 
 
 " It is winter weather on Mount "Washington in October. 
 Most of the necessary preparations having been made on 
 November 12th, 1870, Mr. Huntiugton promptly climbed 
 Mount Washington and commenced to take and record the 
 meteorological observations. The other members of the 
 party were delayed by various reasons but on the 30th of 
 November, 1870, four gentlemen of the party, viz : Charles B. 
 Cheney, of Oxford, A. F. Clough, of Warren, C. F. Bracy, of 
 Warren, and Howard A. Kimball, of Concord, arrived at the 
 summit, and on the 4th of December, 1870, Sergeant Theodore 
 Smith, of the U. S. Signal Service, detailed as an observer, 
 joined the party. 
 
 " November was making its exit in what might be termed 
 a lovely winter day, and the prospect of so choice a time to 
 make our ascent, toilsome at best at this season, and very 
 hazardous except at special times in good weather, inspired us 
 with enthusiasm more and more increased as we approached 
 the final reach that stood in defiance of any aid that could be 
 rendered by the panting steeds that now bore us forward. 
 
 " At Marshfield we are three miles from the summit, and at 
 present all travel over this distance must depend solely upon 
 human muscle and energy to achieve. At this point we 
 decided to make the ascent at once, though there were serious 
 misgivings on the part of some of us in view of the near 
 approach of night, which at this season, halt-fast two o'clock,
 
 60 
 
 P. M., leaves a small margin of the day, at best for such a task 
 as stood before us. In ascending from this point we followed 
 the railroad track. We were compelled to walk upon the ties 
 for the snow was several feet deep, with a sharp upward grade 
 in some places rising one foot in three, with the ties three feet 
 apart and loaded with ice and snow and built on trestle work 
 over gorges of some 25 or 30 feet in depth; the careless eager 
 stops of unbaffled enthusiasm, are soon compelled to give 
 place to great caution and the constant stress of nerve and 
 muscle. * * * * The end of the first mile carrying us 
 up to within one half mile of the limit of wood growth, found 
 us in tolerable condition, when a halt for breath and ob- 
 servations discovered to us an approaching storm lying on the 
 Green Mountains of Vermont. It would undoubtedly strike 
 us but we still hoped we might press on and reach the summit 
 first. The thought of being overtaken by a furious storm on 
 the wintry, shelterless cliifs of Mount Washington, with the 
 night about to enshroud us, was fearfully impressive, and 
 prompted us to our best endeavours. With all the effort we 
 could well muster, we had only advanced a half mile more, 
 carrying us fairly above the wooded region to the foot of 
 * Jacob's Ladder,' when the storm struck us. There were 
 suddenly wrapped around us dense clouds of frozen vapour, 
 driven so furiously into our faces by the raging winds as to 
 threaten suffocation. The cheering repose of the elements 
 but a moment before, had now given place to what might well 
 be felt as the power and hoarse rage of a thousand furies, and 
 the shroud of darkness that was in a moment thrown over us 
 [ual to that of the moonless night. Compelled to 
 redoubled efforts to keep our feet and make proper advance, 
 we struggled with the tempest, though with such odds against 
 us that we were repeatedly slipping and getting painful 
 brui-es. Mr. Kimball finding himself too much exhausted to 
 continue th's struggle on the track, we all halted in brief con- 
 sultation during which Mr. dough ted that our only 
 hope consisted in pushing upward with all our might. 
 
 " Here nine separated, three of our party left the 
 
 ., and Mr. Kimball willingly left behind his hatririiire in order 
 itinue tin- ascent I'>y thus leaving the track, we escaped 
 liability to falls and bruises, but found ourselves often get (ing 
 buried to our waist, in snow, and forced to exert our utmost 
 strength to drag our- ;t and advance. \Ve repeatedly 
 
 called to Mr. IJraoy, who had kept on the. track as we supposed, 
 but could get no answer. The roar of the tempest overcame
 
 61 
 
 our utmost vocal efforts, and the clouds of frozen vapour that 
 lashed us so furiously as it hugged us in its chilling embrace, 
 was so douse that no object could be seen at a distance of ten 
 paces. Against such remorseless blasts no human being could 
 keep integrity of muscle and remain erect. We could only 
 go on together a little way and then throw ourselves down for 
 a few moments to recover breath and strength. AYe had 
 many times repeated this, when Mr. Kimball became so utterly 
 exhausted as to make it impossible to take another step, lie 
 called to the others to leave and save themselves if possible. 
 The noble and emphatic ' never,' uttered by the manly Clough, 
 whose sturdy muscle was found ample to back his will, aroused 
 him to another effort. 
 
 .. 
 
 The two stronger gentlemen, whose habits of life and 
 superior physical powers gave hope of deliverance for them- 
 selves, were both immovable in the determination that our 
 fate should be one, let that be what it must. 
 
 "The situation was one of most momentous peril, especially 
 as to Mr. Kimball, whose exhaustion was so extreme that he 
 was wholly indifferent to the fate that seem to impend, only 
 begging that he might be left to that sleep, from whose 
 embrace there was felt no power of resistance. Still there was 
 a listless drag onward mostly in the interests of his compan- 
 ions, and in obedience to their potent wills. After this sort 
 we struggled on a few rods at a time, falling together between 
 each effort to rest and gain new strength. At each halt 
 Messrs. Clough and Cheney used their best endeavours by 
 pounding and rubbing Mr. KimbalPs feet and limbs, and in 
 various other ways endeavoured to promote circulation and 
 prevent freezing. The last saving device was supplied by a 
 cord, which we chanced to have, and the end of this was made 
 a noose, which was placed in Mr. Kimball's hand, while the 
 other end was passed over the shoulder of Mr. Clough, who 
 tugged along in advance while Mr. Cheney helped at his side. 
 Most of the last mile was accomplished in this manner. 
 
 " With the wind at 70 miles per hour and the thermometer 
 down to 7, as was found after arriving at the Observatory, 
 we came at length to 'Lizzie Bourne's Monument,' only 
 thirty rods from the Observatory. One of our party shouted 
 an exultant hurrah at the glad sight of this rude pile, which 
 was erected to commemorate the sad fate of one who 
 was overtaken by the darkness and bewildering fogs and 
 chills of a rude October night. * Then,' in the words of the
 
 62 
 
 eloquent Starr King, 'was the time to feel the meaning of that 
 pile of stones, which tells where Miss Bourne, overtaken by 
 night and fog, and exhausted by cold, breathed out her life 
 into the bleak cloud.' 
 
 "It took more than a half hour's time to make this last 
 thirty rods. Even the stronger ones had become wearied by 
 their unusual exertions, and had not this been the case, their 
 progress would have been slow, for it was found absolutely 
 impossible to force on the one who had become unable to 
 regard his own peril more than a few feet at a time. He 
 would then sink down into a deep sleep, while the others 
 would employ the time in chafing his hands and feet, and 
 after a few moments manage to arouse him and make another 
 struggle onward. 
 
 "From Lizzie Bourne's Monument to the summit, Mr. 
 Kimball was mostly insensible to passing events, and only 
 awoke to clear consciousness, as from a dream, to find himself 
 in bed in a comfortable room in the Observatory building, safe 
 from the dreadful tempest, and owing his life to the unyield- 
 ing devotion of these brave men who scorned to save them- 
 selves at the expense of a comrade left to perish. Mr. Bracy, 
 who had got separated from us during our earlier struggles, 
 had got in about 7 o'clock, P. M., our own arrival being at 
 7 o'clock, P. M. He had kept on the track. 
 
 " Thus at least three hours of this ascent were made amid 
 the darkness of a moonless night in the howling tempest, the 
 horrors of which will be more readily appreciated when it is 
 remembered that a wind of 45 miles per hour blew down 
 buildings and uprooted trees in 2s"ew York City. Twenty- 
 five miles per hour added make a most fearful hurricane. We 
 were abundantly supplied with nourishment on our ascent, 
 chiefly in the form of a strong decoction of tea, of which we 
 ionally partook. This is found to be by tar the most 
 potent and effective stimulant that can be used in such con- 
 ditions of extreme exposure. 
 
 " Mr. Huntington, aroused by the arrival of Mr. Bracy, sallied 
 out with a lantern in search of us, but found his best exertions 
 of little avail, the storm being so fierce and thick, he could 
 neither make himself seen nor heard beyond a few paces, and 
 they were regarding us as probably lost, though they were pre- 
 paring for another efi'ort in our behalf, when we arrived.
 
 63 
 
 "A sleepless night gave plaec at length to a day thick and 
 stormy, and for several days the clouds gathered densely 
 around us, and the storm continued to rage, during which we 
 were recovering from ' the wear and tear' of our adventures, 
 and recruiting for the work in store for us." 
 
 The railroad depot, in a part of which this party passed the 
 winter of 1871, was a wooden unfinished building, sixty feet 
 long by twenty-two feet wide and stands nearly north and 
 south. It has eleven feet posts and the elevation of the ridge 
 pole is twenty-five feet, the roof of the usual form in ordinary 
 buildings. The apartment occupied by the party is situated 
 in the southwest corner of this building. It is a room about 
 twenty feet long, eleven feet wide and eight feet high. The 
 large part of the depot forms a sort of vestibule to this room, 
 and is wholly inclosed except at the easterly end of the 
 northern face, where the outer door is situated. 
 
 An extract from Mr. Kimball's diary, reads : " December 
 5th, 1870. The day is beautiful, we are perfectly comfortable 
 outside without overcoats, and on the east side of the Observatory \ 
 the frost is thawing quite rapidly. Thermometer 22 Fahrenheit." 
 
 Tow why, with the thermometer at 22, should the thawing 
 of the frost be confined to the east side of the Observatory, when 
 the sun was shining all around the building on the snow or 
 frost without thawing it elsewhere away from the building? 
 If the thawing was the result of the heat rays of the sun, so 
 improperly termed, why was not the thawing general all over 
 the summit of the mountain, instead of being confined to one 
 locality ? 
 
 The explanation, I think, is this, viz: the early morning 
 rays of sunlight being nearly horizontal, impinged with a 
 velocity of 186,000 miles per second perpendicularly on the 
 vertical wall of the Observatory, partly covered with frost 
 work ; great friction was produced by the impact and positive 
 electricity evolved ; this electricity rushing to the conjunction 
 or embrace of the negative electricity of the frost work, when 
 in contact with it developed heat which thawed the frost work 
 over the other parts of the summit of the mountain; these 
 morning rays of sunlight either passed horizontally or fell 
 upon them with such small angles of incidence, as to be wholly 
 reflected into the upper atmosphere. 
 
 Mr. Kimball continues : " we have succeeded in making some
 
 64 
 
 very good (photographic) views, but not as largo a variety as 
 we intend to have before we complete our winter's work. 
 
 * * * "We have also made three negative* of clouds, which 
 were at least half a mile below us. They resemble the waves 
 on the ocean, only the cloud waves are in some places twenty 
 or thirty miles long. They pass over a range of mountains, 
 and take a long sweep across the valleys and then rise over 
 the mountains on the opposite; and as a general thing, after 
 passing over and coming down on the other side, they break 
 up in small clusters resembling, on a grand scale, the surf from 
 breaking waves. We have made some photographs of this. 
 
 * * * * A\\ these clouds move rapidly from the south- 
 west, probably at a velocity of forty miles an hour, while on 
 this summit, it blows generally from the northwest. We have 
 made a view which shows a small portion of a remarkable 
 cloud effect or phenomenon. It was like a parallel belt on 
 the distant horizon, whose circuit must have been more than 
 a thousand miles. It resembled the tire of an immense cart- 
 wheel, (we occupying the place for the hub,) which was beyond 
 and encircled all the lakes, mountains, &c. It was even 
 beyond Mount Katahdin at the south, its upper edge was 
 parallel with the point farthest north. At noon it appears to 
 be approaching us as a centre, and as it nears us, it breaks up 
 in magnificent great thunderheads, minus the thunder, all 
 this time our view is becoming more limited. * * * All 
 this time it was snowing below, but we knew nothing of it 
 until night. Our view of the surrounding mountains lasts 
 only a short time longer, for we see to the west thick heavy 
 clouds, marching upon us, and by 4 o'clock, we become 
 
 !y shrouded we cannot see Tip Top House from the 
 Observatory not many feet distant. 
 
 "December 12th, 1870. This morning the wind was south, 
 iiangcd to the northwest in the afternoon; at ten, A. M., 
 there was a bow in the clouds, and at noon there were in ad- 
 dition three supernumerary bows which remained for an hour 
 and a half, and some of the time they were remarkably 
 distinct. Late in the afternoon the sky was intensely blue." 
 
 From their journal we make the following extracts, viz : 
 
 * 
 
 "licccmbor 21st, 1870. Messrs. Kimball and Thompson (a 
 visitor,) took an observation from the roof of the Tip-Top 
 House; wind 00 miles per hour. They were out but live 
 minutes, yet their coats, caps and hair were covered with frost
 
 65 
 
 and Mr. Thompson had slightly frozen a finger. Later, the 
 wind hud fallen to 30 miles JKT hoar, an 1 no.v, eleven o'clock, 
 1*. M., it i.s moderate for Mount Washington. 
 
 "1870, December 23d. A cold morning, thermometer zero, 
 but we don't feel the cold as sensibly us in the lower regions. 
 
 ''December 24th. Yesterday afternoon and late at night a 
 4 snow bank' lay along the south; this forenoon, enow was 
 falling with a temperature of 13, at times during the day the 
 wind was as high as 70 miles an hour, consequently, we were 
 confined to the house. It is cold to-night, (now nine o'clock, 
 I'. M.,) the thermometer 15, and only 42 in the room, 
 although we have two fires. 
 
 " December 25th. There were no clouds above or around 
 the summit. Below, and but a little lower than this peak, the 
 clouds were dense and covered an extensive tract of country. 
 Through the less dense portion of the lighter clouds the sun's 
 rays gave a peculiar rose tint, extremely beautiful in effect. 
 * * * * About ten o'clock, A. M., Mr. K. and myself 
 went out for an observation. We had the pleasure of witness- 
 ing the formation of several coronfe, sometimes single, but 
 oftener three; even on one occasion four distinct circles appear- 
 ing and disappearing so rapidly that it was impossible to more 
 than catch a glimpse of form and colour. It was a phenomenon 
 of rare beauty. 
 
 "December 29th, 1870. The wind has been increasing all 
 day. At 7 o'clock, A. M., observations : wind, 46 miles per 
 hour; at 2 o'clock, P. M., 57 miles; at 4 o'clock, P. M., 72 
 miles; at 7 o'clock, P. M., 46 miles; and at 9 o'clock, P. M., 
 nearly calm ; a great change in 14 hours, especially in the 
 last two hours. Barometer has fallen rapidly all day. 
 
 "December 30th, 1870. The morning is calm, clear and 
 beautiful. It is what we have waited a month for. \Ye com- 
 menced work making negatives at sunrise. In the morning 
 we made a few 8 by 10 negatives, but as we were making the 
 last of them the wind freshened up, and we could not make as 
 many as we wished. * * * Before I close to-day's memo- 
 randa I must speak of the splendid view we had after the wind, 
 by blowing so fiercely, obliged us to quit work. We could see 
 distinctly hundreds of mountains, lakes, ponds, &c. Off to the 
 northeast in the distance one hundred and fifty miles distant 
 we see Mount Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine, and
 
 66 
 
 a little to the north we see mountains which apparently arc 
 much farther away than Mount Katahdin, and must be in the 
 upper part of Maine, near Canada. We never before saw the 
 M nearly as plain as to-day; we could sec a great distance 
 -i.' < )lf to the southwest we could seeKearsarge mountain 
 and Monadnock, and over the (Jreen mountains, the .Adiron- 
 dack* and Lake Champlain, in northern New York, were 
 distinctly visible. About 2 o'clock, P. M., I noticed a longhazy 
 line over the ocean ; soon it crew larger and then I could see 
 it was nearing us, and in an hour it was within 40 miles, and 
 we could see it as a vast sea of cumulus clouds. The wind was 
 increasing, and had changed from the east to the south, and it 
 carried the approaching clouds and storm to the north of us. 
 "We were thankful to see it go by without striking us, for it is 
 grand to behold but not desirable for a covering. To-night 
 we have' some of the effects of it in the wind, which, as F write, 
 is blowing a most violent hurricane, making the Observatory 
 creak. A few hours ago the wind was scarcely noticeable; 
 now its velocity is over eighty miles an hour, and for a wonder 
 it comes from the south, instead of northwest as usual, and as 
 a natural consequence it tears off all the loose ice and frost 
 from the Observatory. It seems as if we were at sea in a 
 severe gale, and broken ice and timbers were beating against 
 our ship, and at times our building shakes like, a vessel in a 
 storm. Contrary to what ordinary experience would seem to 
 tc;ich, the north side of the building is less exposed to the fury 
 of the element than any other." This is owing to its having 
 but one electricity. 
 
 Xo\v, why does not the north wind, or the northwest wind, 
 produce, similar effects? The sun shines upon both winds 
 alike, and if it sends down heat to this planet, the northwest 
 wind should be as warm as the south wind, andshould tear off 
 the frost-work from buildings and rocks just as the south wind 
 docs. But no such effects are observed during the prcva- 
 ience of these northern winds ; on the contrary, it is only while 
 northern winds are blowing in winter that this frost- 
 work is formed. 
 
 The explanation I conceive to be this : the southern winds 
 coming from u warm atmosphere are positively electrified, 
 and when they reach the frost, work on the buildings or rocks 
 oppositely electrified, their impact produces friefi.m, which 
 evolving more positive electricity, develops heat, t hat detaches 
 the frost work from its adhesions, breaks it into pieces, and
 
 67 
 
 finally melts into water while other frost work protected 
 from the south wind remains firm and unaffected, the tem- 
 perature of the atmosphere being below the freezing point of 
 water. "A telegraphic wire connected the Observatory with 
 Marshfield, a distance of three miles, where it is joined with 
 the Western Union Company's line, at Littleton, twenty-three 
 miles farther. The wire has frequently been charged with 
 atmospheric electricity, especially in the afternoon of the 7th of 
 January, 1871, when, on account of the high tension of these 
 currents, it became utterly unmanageable. When the key 
 was opened, the flow of the current still continued, exhibiting 
 bright sparks, leaping from one platinum point to the other. 
 After dark, no auroral display could be seen. There is also a 
 wire connecting the summit with the Glen House, which is 
 detached from the poles and laid upon the ground during the 
 winter, to protect it from the violent winds prevailing at this 
 season. We had it attached to an instrument, and, although 
 no battery was used, we discovered that it was sometimes 
 charged with electric currents, which deflected the needle 
 considerably. The Glen wire was broken about a mile and 
 a half from the summit, and the one down the railway had 
 parted at about the same distance, thus making the phenomenon 
 quite remarkable. 
 
 " 1871, January 10th. After ten, A. M., the summit was free 
 from clouds, but below masses of clouds were driven along the 
 valleys and over the lower summits. The clouds about and 
 over gave grand effects of light and shade along the mountain 
 range they were particularly fine on Adams and Jefferson 
 and near the Glen. The snow is nearly all off' the houses and 
 the rocks a great change in three days' time. I cannot let 
 this day pass without a mention of the high temperature; at 
 one o'clock, P. M. it was 37. Like April it seemed, but 
 who knows what it will be to-morrow ? 
 
 "January 14th. Last night we saw a fine aurora, broken 
 arches with streamers , never before was one apparently so 
 near; it certainly did look as though it was within reach. 
 
 " January 16th. Still raining ; at eleven o'clock this fore- 
 noon, Mr. 8. started out on a voyage of discovery, but it rained 
 so hard and the walking was so difficult that he soon came 
 back. * * * Mr. II. went down to the spring to-day and 
 brought up a pail of water. A week ago this waa an arctic 
 region, now it is more like April in the valleys of ]STew 
 Hampshire.
 
 68 
 
 " January 17th. The wind was high during the night, say 
 eighty miles per hour ; at 7 o'clock, A. M., to-day, only 75 miles 
 per hour, strong enough however to compel Mr. II. to sit 
 while he measured the force of the wind that he might not 
 be blown over into Tuckerman's ravine. * * * * Has 
 blown stiffly all day, yet we have taken the air several times; 
 pleasant walks in the face of a fifty mile breeze. Perfectly 
 clear at sunset. Had one of the best views of the shadow of 
 Mount Washington on the sky yet obtained. The mountains 
 far and near look dull and gray now since the rains. 
 
 " 1871, January 19. Mr. H. railed us out, before sunrise, to 
 see the beauty of the morning; in truth it \vas wicked to miss 
 such a glorious view as we had. Perfectly clear, and nearly 
 calm. Never before have E seen the shadow of the mountain 
 so grand on llie western sky, never so charming the purple 
 tints at break of day. Never so impressive have been the 
 shaded outlines, the lights and shadows on the mountains and 
 in the valleys, as on ihis memorable morning. Sunset was 
 but the complement of the morning, and the evening is beau- 
 tiful as ever night can be, the stars shine with a light as soft 
 as June, all, all i? beautiful. 
 
 " January 22, 1871. Having a gale to-day, and not only a high 
 wind but a temperature below any thing I have ever expe- 
 rienced before; now, at nine, P.M., 34 degrees inside the door; 
 at two, I'. M., wind 72 miles per hour. Professor II. measured 
 the velocity, he had to sit with a line around him, myself at 
 the other end indoors as an anchor; even then it was impos- 
 sible for him to keep his position. Temperature 31 degrees. 
 I put up a pendulum, this morning, in our room, it is four feet 
 long, and the rod passes through a sheet of cardboard, on 
 which are marked the points of the compass. The oscillations, 
 when the wind blew in gusts, were in every direction, chang- 
 ing suddenly, and sometimes had a rotary motion. "When the 
 wind was steady, the oscillations were northwest and southeast. 
 "With two fires the room is cold to night. 
 
 "January 23, 1871. The wind raged all night. The house 
 rocked fearfully, towards morning the wind ceased, and all 
 day it h;. nearly calm. The temperature outside 43 
 
 degn-es. J'rofessor II. and myself Hat up all night to keep the 
 tires going The pendulum gave oscillations of an inch and a 
 half at times during the night. Temperature to-night at ten 
 o'clock 40 degrees; a changeable climate this.
 
 GO 
 
 "January 31, 1871. The most glorious sunrise this winter. 
 To the cast was a sea of clouds broken and much lower than 
 usual. The protruding peaks resembled islands, more than 
 ever before ; over northern ISTew Hampshire and Maine, and 
 along the coast, the clouds were very dense, but their upper 
 surface, as the sun shone across them, was of dazzling bright- 
 ness, while singular forms of cirrus clouds overcast the sky. 
 Low in the west it was intensely black, and detached ma-sr-; 
 of clouds floated along the northern horizon. For an hour 
 after sunrise all these cloud forms were constantly changing 
 in colour purple and crimson, leaden hues and rose tints, 
 almost black and dazzling white. 
 
 "February 1,1871. Clouds on the summit till noon, when it 
 suddenly cleared up. Early in the forenoon, the wind was 
 fully 50 miles per hour, at noon it was nearly calm, and till 
 nine, P. M., not above 20 miles per hour. At nine, P. M.,the 
 thermometer indicated 16 degrees. 
 
 "From 3.30, P. M., to sunset, there were the finest cloud dis- 
 plays possible. Eastward, heavy masses of clouds, in color from 
 gray to an intense black. "Westward, detached cirro-stratus, 
 presenting every shade and colour ; along the northern horizon 
 a clear light rested; the west was burning bright in crimson, 
 purple, and gold, while far south, fading out toward the east 
 into gray, the colour was a delicate rose tint. Below, to the 
 west, far as we could see, the whole country was covered with 
 cloud. The icy peaks glow and glisten in the bright sunlight. 
 The transitions of shades and tints, the colours burning into 
 the radiant sunset, surpassing any thing we have seen yet for 
 a sunset scene, mark this as a day never to be forgotten as I 
 write, it seems like a dream. 
 
 "1871, February 2d. All day the wind has been light, and 
 it was nearly calm this evening till half an hour since, when, 
 without any warning, (except the falling in the barometer,) 
 the gale began, not with a rising wind, but with a single blast 
 that shook the house to its foundations. * * * ls"ow, at 
 11 o'clock, P. M., the wind has risen to the dignity of a gale. 
 The temperature 20 out of doors. 
 
 "Friday, February 3d. Well, it did blow last night, making 
 some of the time such a racket out-doors and in-doors too, for 
 that matter, that sleep was out of the question. The wind must 
 have been as high as 90 miles per hour during several of the 
 heaviest gusts. For a change to-day, we get the most severe
 
 70 
 
 snow storm of the winter so far. The wind is northwest, the 
 point from which our storms and hurricanes come. At no 
 time has the temperature been higher than 5; it was 25 this 
 morning at 7 o'clock. 
 
 "Saturday, February 4th, 9 o'clock, P. M. The wind rising 
 toward morning has held its own all day, at no time being 
 below 75 miles, and since 8.30, acts as if it was ambitious to 
 attain the 90 miles per hour standard. At 7 o'clock, A. M., 
 temperature o-'>; from 5 o'clock, P. M., to this last observa- 
 tion it has gradually worked down to 40. We have not 
 suffered from the cold simply because we have not exposed 
 ourselves to it. In the room at no time has tjie temperature 
 been lower than 34, and most of the time we have managed 
 to keep it up to about 60. To do this, we have the stoves at 
 a red heat; the thermometer hangs precisely five feet from 
 the stove; ten feet from the stove at the floor, to-day, the 
 temperature was only 12, at the same time was 65 in other 
 parts of the room. Midnight really there is quite a breeze 
 just now. Some of the gusts, from what we know of the 
 measured force, must be iully up to 100 miles per hour. In 
 fact it is a first-class hurricane. The wind is northwest, and 
 as the house is broadside to it, the full force is felt ; at times 
 it seems as if every thing was going to wreck. We go to the 
 door and look out; it is the most wo can do ; to step beyond, 
 with nothing for a hold fast, one would take passage on the 
 wings of the wind in the direction of Tuckerman's ravine. 
 However unwillingly one might go, such would be the result 
 if he should venture outside, so irresistible is the force of the 
 wind. What varied sound the wind has as it changes, now 
 howling, screeching, roaring as though the building was sur- 
 rounded by demoniac spirits, bent upon our destruction. We 
 shout - the room to be heard. Xow it suddenly lulls, 
 
 and moaning and sighing it dies away; then quickly gathering 
 
 _cth, it blows as if it would hurl the house from the 
 summit. The timbers creak and groan and the windows 
 rattle; the walls bend inward; and as the wind lets go its hold, 
 
 ;nd with a jerk that starts the joints again. The noise is 
 like rifle firing in fifty different directions, at the same moment 
 in the room a moment ago close by me . here, leaning 
 
 against the wall, now in the outer room or up aloft, and out- 
 side as well. Then there, is the trembling and groaning of 
 the whole building, which is constant. Everything movable 
 : the move, books drops from the shelves, we pick them 
 up, reph> only to do it again and again. The tempera- 
 
 ture is now 10.
 
 71 
 
 " Sunday, February 5th. From one to two o'clock, A. M., the 
 wind was higher than during the early part of the niirht. 
 Some of the gusts must have heen above 100, possibly 110 
 miles per hour. The tempest roared and thundc'ivd. It had 
 precisely the sound of the ocean waves In-caking on a rocky 
 shore, and the building had the motion of a ship scudding 
 before a gale. At 3 o'clock, A M., the temperature had 
 fallen to 59, and the barometer stood at 22.810, attached 
 thermometer 62. Barometer was lowest yesterday at 8 A. M ., 
 when it was 22.508, and attached thermometer 32. ]STow, 7 A. 
 M., the thermometer indicates 25, and the wind has fallen to 
 70 miles per hour. By accident, the spirit thermometer has not 
 yet been received. But this has been the only day when the 
 mercurial instrument has not been perfectly reliable. The 
 valleys are full of stratus clouds ; charged with frost as they 
 are, occasionally sweeping over the summit, they completely 
 cover one in a moment, hair, beard and clothing; when the 
 face is exposed it feels like the touch of hot iron. To breathe 
 this frosty air is very unpleasant. A full inhalation induces a 
 severe coughing fit. 
 
 " Monday, February 6th, 9 A. M. Talked over the events of 
 the past night at the breakfast table. * * * Of all the nights 
 since this party came here, the last exceeds every one. 9 P. 
 M. ; it has been a rough day, down in the world people would 
 say a severe one, so should we but for the recollection of last 
 night; our coal bin is under two feet of snow, and anywhere 
 in the room, that snow is six inches deep. The highest tem- 
 perature is to-day 12, and the lowest now, at 9 o'clock, P. M., 
 is 2, a very acceptable change wind 50 miles in the fore- 
 noon, now 20 miles per hour, is good as a calm. It is clear, 
 and the moonlight is that of the mountain, seen only at this or 
 higher elevations. 
 
 " Tuesday, February 7. A glorious sunrise ; a quite warm 
 day, and at sunset almost equal to that of the 1st; tempera- 
 ture at 2 o'clock, P. M., 62 in the sun; change of temperature 
 since Sunday of 121." 
 
 These sudden and great variations of temperature in the 
 same latitude elevation above the sea, and identical locality, 
 in short spaces of time, are strong evidences that the tempera- 
 ture of our atmosphere is exclusively to be attributed to 
 electrical causes within it, and not to any supposed rays of 
 heat emanating from the sun.
 
 72 
 
 "Tuesday, February 7th. I have given some time this after- 
 oon to the study of cloud formations. I >ays like this a' 
 rare that we improve every opportunity for investigation. 
 (iales, storms, hurricanes, all clear off with a north wind a 
 wind gentle and soft as the south wind of the lower regions. 
 How can this be explained? It is S. S. W. to-night and 2 
 miles per hour; a marked contrast to Sunday morning.' 
 
 Let us attempt an explanation of this phenomenon : "When 
 masses of clouds, freighted with moisture, and at different 
 elevations, approach each other, attracted by their opposite 
 electricities, heat is evolved by their conjunction. The watery 
 vapour constituting the clouds undergoes a radical change; 
 the atmospheric air, which holds the water in suspension, 
 absorbing the heat that is evolved by the conjunction of the 
 opposite electricities of the clouds in commixture, is so greatly 
 expanded and rarefied that its molecules can no longer sustain 
 the particles of water with which they had been associated ; 
 this attenuated air, thus heated, leaves the watery particles, 
 and being positively electrified, is attracted by the opposite 
 electricity of the higher atmosphere and ascends instantly into 
 it, while the water being negatively electrified is repelled from 
 the air above, and begins to fall in sheets, which soon separate 
 into drops, repelling each other, and carrying to the earth the 
 electricity in a latent form with which they were associated. 
 When the clouds have thus discharged all their water as hail, 
 snow or rain, to the earth, the atmosphere in which they 
 iloated becomes very dry and electrical. The north wind, 
 warmed by the heated air which has escaped from the clouds 
 when they met, is attracted to the spaces before occupied by 
 the clouds in the direction of the ocean and becomes the 
 gentle, balmy air described by tie rvers, and as dry air 
 
 'ricity always opposed to that of moist air, the 
 north wind at Mount Washington always is attracted to the 
 Atla; .;ii tn the south of the mountain, and storms thus 
 
 terminate in that locality with a north wind. 
 
 " W lay, February 8th. Ten o'clock, P. M. There is 
 
 evidently a snow storm along ti . the imrthern < 
 
 within lifty miles of us. Thi- ild see the storm 
 
 moved ea-tward. It was cloudy and clear by turns on 
 
 the lower current ofcloiid rested at times 
 
 us. The valh-vs i-a>t were full, and the upper stratum 
 
 Mintry as far as eouM be seen. Wind 
 
 W., from -0 to 50 miles per hour. Temperature from
 
 73 
 
 14, jit 7 o dock A. M., to 20 at -2 !'. M. Interesting 
 the progress of the storm and to sec- the lower current of cloud 
 driven by an easterly wind, running under the higher stratum 
 which of course is toward the northeast. 
 
 Let us here stop to admire the infinite wisdom of the 
 Creator, who, using the attractive forces of his electricities to 
 gather and collect the \vatery vapours of the atmosphere into 
 clouds, disperses them by the repellent forces of these same 
 electricities and scatters in this way their manifold watery 
 blessings over greatly increased areas of the surface of the 
 earth. 
 
 " Thursday, February 16th. A storm of snow and rain. It 
 rains here, with the thermometer at 22, as it did to-day, and 
 snows with it at 30, as might be expected. Why it should 
 rain at 22 is hard to explain. Wind steady; southwest 
 through the day; but, at 8.20 P. M., changed suddenly to 
 northwest in gusts, 60 to 80 miles per hour. Forgot to men- 
 tion last night, that at 6.30 P. M. I read from the 'Atlantic' 
 in the open air. Our days are about 46 minutes longer than 
 they are at the sea level." 
 
 The warm southwest wind explains the rain at 22, which 
 was probably the temperature outside of the column of warm 
 air brought up by the southwest wind. 
 
 " Sunday, February 19th. A bright, sunny day, clear and 
 calm, yet the temperature was at no time higher than 8V 
 "Where was the sun's heat ? 
 
 " Tuesday, February 21st. When S. left this morning the 
 thermometer read 4, and wind 20 miles per hour; at the 
 Gulf Tank it was so warm he had to lay aside overcoat and 
 gloves ; no wind there ; the snow was melting and the water 
 running down the centre rail; quite a contrast to the summit, 
 only one mile distant meteorologically speaking, he was 300 
 miles south of his mountain home, though in sight of it. We 
 took a walk. Fine weather for a change. Beautiful cloud 
 views this afternoon. Light fleecy clouds floating over Mount 
 Monroe. Dissolved before reaching Tuckermau's ravine. They 
 passed between us and the sun, showing the prismatic colors ; 
 then as they rolled eastward, gradually faded out and changed 
 to a cold gray. The transitions of light and shade were inex- 
 pressibly beautiful, enough to give sensations of pleasure to 
 the dullest observer, and drive an artist crazy with delight.
 
 74 
 
 The buildings are cased in ice and frost work of most elegant 
 forms, resembling rocks, flowers, leaves, shells and the wings 
 of birds.' 
 
 " February 24th. From 9 o'clock A. M. to 3 P. M. the tem- 
 perature varied but a degree or two from 37 ; the barometer 
 steady. 
 
 "February 27th. This time we are favoured with a rain 
 storm, pouring when it was calm, and in driving sheets after 
 the wind rose to 84 miles per hour. At 9 A. M. it changed 
 to snow, and then, by turns, rain for a moment, then quickly 
 changing to snow, and suddenly rain again; but the snow 
 obtained the mastery. 
 
 "February 28. It cleared off early in the morning. "Wind 
 from 50 to 70 miles per hour. The mean temperature, zero. 
 
 " March 3. A storm seemed to be brewing last night at a 
 late hour, and early it came, a heavy rain storm. Towards 
 noon the wind rose, and at one P. M., it blew 9G miles per 
 hour. How the wind roared in the flue ! How the house 
 shook ! Had to shout across the room to be heard. It was 
 grand, however. From 4 o'clock P. M. the wind abated. 
 
 " March 23. At 9 P. M., snow squalls to the northeast, and 
 the clouds gradually settling in the valleys. * * * * By 
 2 P. M. the mountain was in the clouds. They were at a 
 higher elevation than has generally been the case cirro 
 stratus; color gray; uniform in density nearly over the entire 
 field of view. * * * * Evidently the lower current was 
 from the east, while the wind on the summit was west north- 
 * * * * r p ne C 1 OUC 1 9 passed over Mount Adams, 
 and later over the dividing ridge, between Mounts Washington 
 and Clay. They seemed to curve, as they passed over these 
 mountain top*, us though the upper currents of air conformed 
 to their irregularities of surfaee." [The mountains and the 
 clouds having the same electricities, which repelled each 
 other. The Author. ~] 
 
 " "Whon there are two strata of clouds, they unite before the 
 enow or rain fulls, as a rule, though to-day the snow fell an 
 hour previous to the clouds settling on the mountains. 
 
 "April 1. To-day, G4 degrees in the sun, at 11 A. M. 
 Afterward;; cooler 15 degrees at 9 P. M. * * * * A 
 northeast win! to-night, seldom from that quarter.
 
 "April3. * * * * Sqph is the atmosphere here, that 
 although the thermometer, in the shade, marked 27 degr> 
 wore neither hat nor coat, and yet was warm enough. 
 
 "April 4. All the forenoon, till one P. M., the summit 
 was in a dense cloud. Suddenly it lifted, and then we had 
 the most gorgeous display of cloud-scenes we have yet wit- 
 nessed. Eastward, masses of cumuli rested over the vallrvs 
 and the mountains. Why not call them mountains of clouds ? 
 Certainly. They rose far above our level, six thousand or 
 perhaps eight thousand feet higher than this peak. They con- 
 formed to the heights over which they lay, and eeemed to 
 envelop other mountains, nearly as lofty as their upper limits. 
 The illusion was perfect, and Mount Washington in compari- 
 son, was a diminutive spur, or outlying peak of this great 
 mountain range. * * * * The sun rises high, but we 
 know nothing of Spring. Truly it is more like Winter than 
 some of the time in March. Then there was n,a snow. Now, 
 everywhere there are snow and ice. 
 
 "April 6. A clear sunrise cold thermometer only 3 
 degrees, the wind 20 miles per hour, and the morning view, 
 that of December. Though clear, the sun gave little heat a 
 pale white light; the sky a light blue, and so clear, that it 
 seemed almost as though we could see beyond its bounds, or 
 through it into the regions of space. 
 
 " April 15. The rule holds good ; no two days alike on 
 Mount Washington. Ten hours we had splendid cloud-effects 
 in every direction; cumuli north, in every form beautiful and 
 fantastic, and colors as though some radiant angel had thrown 
 aside his robe of light. 
 
 " April 28. To show the changes in temperature here, in a 
 few feet of altitude, I note my trips down, to-day, and up as 
 well. Left the house at 4.30 P. M.; wind 30 miles an hour ; 
 at the Lizzie Bourne monument, 40 miles; at the Gulf House 
 ruins and below, 60 miles, thus reversing the order of things 
 in regard to wind. Thermometer on the summit 28; frost- 
 work forming some distance below the monument. At the 
 Gulf Tank, when the sun came out, as it did several times, the 
 ice on my cap would thaw completely; then, while the cloud 
 was passing, icicles two inches in length would form on the 
 visor. It was difficult to work or even stand against the wind 
 below the Gulf House ruino. Returning, the wind was not BO 
 violent.
 
 76 
 
 "May 1. May Day, and still it is winter; every aspect is 
 that of mid-winter. The spring near the Observatory remains 
 frozen solid, and so we daily melt ice for use, and yet down 
 the mountain a half mile there is seldom a day when the 
 streams are not running. 
 
 " May 4. Another tough snow-storm ; * * * wind got 
 up to 48 miles per hour and temperature down to 21. 
 
 " May 5. The storm snowing in such a wintry way last 
 night turned to rain toward morning, and has been raining 
 all day. * * * The wind was west here not higher than 
 five miles per hour yet in the valleys it must have been much 
 stronger, judging by the velocity of the clouds; besides, we 
 could hear distinctly its almost roar. 
 
 " Monday, May 6. This morning clear, calm and warm. 
 The thermometer, at 8 o'clock A. M., indicated 85 in the 
 sun ; warmest morning this spring. 
 
 " May 7. The barometer fell 50-100ths from last night at 9 
 o'clock to this morning at 7 o'clock. "Wind rising at 3 o'clock 
 A. M.; readied its highest velocity, 67 miles per hour, at 2 
 o'clock P. M. highest recorded for some time, quite strongly 
 reminding us of the winter months. Snowing all day. * * * 
 At 5 o'clock P. M. the cloud passed off and we could see that 
 not the mountains alone, but the lower country as well was 
 'snow-bound.' At 9.40 P. M. snowing ac:ain. Temperature, 
 2 o'clock P. M., 21 highest for the day and 19 at 9 
 o'clock P. M. 
 
 "May 8. "We did have a rough night; called tne wind 80 
 miles per hour at midnight. Temperature at 7 A. M.. 15. 
 
 " May 9. Mountain peaks while as winter, but the valleys 
 
 are hare. The frost work has seldom been more beautiful. 
 
 Measured some leathers to-day, on a Tall pole, at the Tip-Top 
 
 !'>und them ;;r> inches in length, and on a rock south 
 
 of the house 49 incho in length and 15 iin-hes broad. 
 
 " May llth. A wintry sky and winter scenery this morning. 
 The skva pale blue and the sunshine that of December. * * 
 
 * * Temperature 20 at 7 o'clock A. M, 
 
 "May 14th. The wind was high as ftO miles per hour, if not 
 higher, durinir theni<rht. All da y, as usual, it lias been cloudy 
 and frost work forming. Temperature at 7 A. M. was 11, 
 and highest for the dayat 9 P. M., 21; at no time the wind
 
 77 
 
 lower than 46 miles per h<>ur. Mr. II. left at !" A. M. in the 
 face of a 48-mile gale and the temperature only 14 . I am 
 
 anxious for his safety, and shall ho till S. returns. 
 
 "The winter's work is done. Storms of unparalleled severity, 
 
 when, for days in succession, the summit \vas enveloped in 
 clouds, and the hurricanes lasted longer and were more vio- 
 lent than any yet recorded in the I'nitcd States, together with 
 very low temperatures, have heen a part of our experiences. 
 Just such an experience has seldom hefore hem the lot of 
 human beings. * * * And ours has heen the good for- 
 tune to witness some of the most magnificent winter scenery 
 upon which mortal eyes ever rested, scenerj 7 of transcendent 
 grandeur and views surpassingly beautiful. 
 
 "There were days when the shifting views of each hour fur- 
 nished new r wonders and new beauties, in the play of sunlight 
 and changing cloud-forms, every hour a picture in itself and 
 perfect in details. Sunsets, too, when an ocean of cloud sur- 
 rounded this island-like summit, the only one of all the many 
 high peaks visible above the cloud billows, all else of earth 
 hidden from sight; there were times when this aerial sea was 
 burnished silver, smooth and calm, and times when its tossing 
 waves were tipped with crimson and golden fire. * * * * 
 Gone are the long days and longer nights, when the stoves 
 failed to comfortably warm the little room, though we kept 
 them at a red heat, and when the thermometer indicated 65 
 near the stove and 4 at the floor ten feet distant." 
 
 "We have presented these extracts from the published obseiv- 
 ations of the gentlemen who passed the winter of the years 
 1870-1871 on Mount Washington, to show the sudden and 
 great variations of temperature that occurred on the mountain 
 by day as well as by night, and that these variations could 
 not have resulted from solar radiations of heat, as sometimes 
 when the atmosphere was the clearest and freest from vapour, 
 and when the sun was shining with the greatest brilliancy, 
 the temperature on the mountain was lower than when these 
 conditions of the sun and atmosphere did not exist, and 
 further, when the sun had passed the vernal equinox, and 
 was approaching the summer solstice, the temperature on the 
 mountain, and the condition of its atmosphere, continued still 
 to be wintry, unaffected by the change in the position of the 
 sun, relatively to the angles of incidence of its rays. 
 
 "When we consider the altitude of Mount "Washington,
 
 78 
 
 which is only 6,293 feet above the sea level, or not much 
 more than one mile, we find that its projection above the 
 periphery of the earth would be about 1-8000 part of the 
 earth's diameter, a protuberance so slight as to be wholly 
 inappreciable at the sun's distance of 92,000,000 of miles from 
 it. What proportion of solar radiation of heat (if there is 
 such a thing,) could fall upon so microscopical a spot as 
 Mount Washington, cannot therefore readily be imagined. 
 .But when we contemplate the electrical forces of our planet 
 developed by sunlight, the radiation of interior terrestrial 
 heat into the atmosphere the movements of oppositely elec- 
 trified currents of air, and the commingling of tumultuous 
 musses of cumuli clouds, all evolving heat and changing with 
 great suddenness the temperature of various localities, we 
 begin to comprehend the plan of the Creator in furnishing 
 each planet with its own sources of heat, instead of attempting 
 to supply them with heat through almost interminable spaces, 
 from so distant an orb as the sun. To an observer outside of 
 our atmosphere, looking down upon our planet, he would see 
 sometimes masses of dense clouds, which, intercepting the 
 sunlight would cast dark shadows of various forms and sizes 
 proportional to the clouds which would form them on the 
 surface of the earth. The darkness of the shadow would be 
 in proportion to the depth and density of the clouds floating 
 between the sunlight and the earth. These shadows would 
 flit across our earth as rapidly as the clouds which had pro- 
 duced them, in great storms or hurricanes of perhaps 100 
 or more miles per hour. Now may not the sun spots which 
 have so much exercised our astronomers be produced in a 
 Rinilar way? Clouds or vapours of various luminosity being 
 interposed between the most luminous part of the sun's 
 envelope; and the gray atmosphere of the sun, would 
 upon the latter shadows so dark and so flitting as to resemble 
 : hadows of clouds on our own planet, and the dispersion 
 of the clouds so making the shadows would account for the 
 rapid disappearance of the sun spots. The forms of the sun 
 spots would vary with the sinuosities and unevenness of the 
 surface of the gray envelope of the sun upon which these 
 shadows fell, and the continual interference of intense Jight 
 derived from other luminaries of the stellar world, with the 
 fainter light received from our planetary system, would greatly 
 increase the darkness of the shadows so produced. 
 
 Let us now consider the case of a total eclipse of the sun 
 by the moon. In the reports of observers, the following
 
 79 
 
 appearances have been described : Solar prominences during 
 eclipses, red protuberances, red clouds, red flames, &c. 
 
 One observer says : " They form around the solar globe a 
 denticulated and continuous series of projections of very 
 curious appearance." Another observer says: "The promi- 
 nences were seen very distinctly, their colour was that of red 
 coral, slightly tinted with violet. They all appeared to be 
 adherent by their bases, and none of them floated detached at 
 a certain distance from the moon as was observed in the years 
 1851 and 1861. 
 
 " The following facts may be considered tolerably certain : 
 
 " 1. The prominences (or protuberances) belong decidedly to 
 the sun. 
 
 " 2. The prominences are of a gaseous nature, that is, they 
 are composed of an incandescent gas, principally hydrogen gas, 
 but they contain doubtless other substances, perhaps sub- 
 stances that are unknown on the surface of our earth, at least 
 such would appear to be proved by the existence of a brilliant 
 line in the spectrum, near to the yellow line of sodium, but 
 not coinciding with the latter, and, moreover, most curious to 
 relate, it does not coincide with any dark ray of the solar 
 spectrum. 
 
 "3. The matter which forms the prominences is of very 
 great extent, w r hether it spreads over the entire photosphere 
 or not ; it forms a continuous layer, the thickness of which is 
 estimated by Mr. Loeyer, at some 5,000 miles on an average, 
 and the prominences appear to be only portions of this layer 
 projected to a certain distance from it, sometimes detached 
 from it and floating above it. One of the great prominences 
 represented upwards of 100,000 miles in vertical height above 
 the photosphere. 
 
 "4. These stupendous accumulations of incandescent gas 
 undergo, in very short intervals of time, very great changes 
 in their form and size, which indicate that the layers of 
 gaseous matter of which they form part are in a state of con- 
 stant agitation, the cause of which is unknown, perhaps it is 
 the same that gives rise to the spots and faculae. 
 
 " It is extremely probable that the the entire globe of the 
 sun has a very high temperature throughout its mass a tem- 
 perature whicb surpasses the melting (or boiling) points ot
 
 80 
 
 most of the elementary substances of which spectral analysis 
 has revealed the existence in its atmosphere. At the sumo 
 time, it is evident that the various concentric layers of which 
 the solar globe may be supposed to be formed, exert one upon 
 the other considerable pressure, since we find that at the sur- 
 face itself, the intensity of gravitation is twenty-eight times as 
 fivut as it is upon the earth's surface. This pressure may 
 iuder fusion to a certain extent, but not incandescence. But 
 we believe that the hypothesis of a liquid incandescence or 
 even a gaseous nucleus is more probable." 
 
 All such hypotheses are put at rest by the recognition of the 
 sun as a great magnet, since magnetism is destroyed by heat. 
 
 " The prominences on the right, (western edge) appear like 
 a mass of snow-capped mountains, the bases of which rest on 
 the limb of the moon, and are lighted up by the rays of a 
 setting sun." (From M. Jausen's observations on the eclipse 
 of the sun from Aden to Malacca, August 18, 1868.) 
 
 "In 1858, M. Liais found that the light of the sun's corona, 
 is really polarized, and at once concluded that the sun has an 
 atmosphere extending far beyond the Dhotosphere. 
 
 "During the short phase of total darkness, a luminous 
 corona makes its appearance, being generally of a silver 
 whiteness, but is sometimes coloured and surrounds com- 
 pletely the dark lirnb. Its apparent breadth is from one-fifth 
 to one-twelfth of the diameter of the moon, and from it, light 
 decreases gradually." 
 
 "We have here in the aspect of the clouds in sunshine, from 
 the summit of Mount Washington as they gather from the sea 
 or from the land, advancing, stationary, or retiring, the most 
 vivid descriptions of the varying brilliant tints arid gorgeous 
 groupings of colours, as the changing angles of incidence and 
 reflection met their sight, that it is possible to conceive. A\V, 
 who are familiar with the magnificent autumnal sunsets of 
 many parts of our country, may begin to imagine the 
 exquisite beauty of the scenes which these gentlemen have 
 witnessed. But the particular object we have in view in 
 calling your attention to it, is to trace the analogy of these 
 displays of colour, light and shade, with those described by 
 i gating the physical condition of the sun. 
 
 We have the same tints, brilliant colours, neutral colours, 
 shades and shadows, in our planet as are described to be seen 
 in the sun similar disturbances in the vapour of both orbs.
 
 81 
 
 Is it too much to imagine, tlioreforc, that if an observe/ could 
 be placed within telescopic range beyond our atmosphere, 
 he might see in our atmosphere an exact imitation, upon a 
 reduced scale however, of whatever has been exhibited by the 
 sun, as the disc of our planet would then display a rcfle 
 of the illumination of the whole stellar world? And what 
 more does the sun do ? He receives the light of the whole 
 stellar and planetary world, and reflects it again through 
 space, thus presenting to one orb, or set of orbs, the light he 
 has received from others, until throughout the great expanse, 
 light is diffused everywhere to shine in the firmament of heaven, 
 and give light upon the earth. 
 
 We have had exhibited in this city, (Philadelphia,) a few 
 weeks since, by a distinguished artist, an oil painting of 
 " Pike's Peak," one of the grandest mountains of the Rocky 
 Mountain range. Its height is 14,216 feet above the sea level, 
 and on its very summit is a signal station and observatory of 
 the United States, erected in the year 1873. Its summit is 
 covered with snow to a descent of perhaps a thousand fec-t. 
 The painting, which represents a sunset scene, portrays the 
 snow-covered summit, illuminated all over by a brilliant red 
 tint, resembling red coral, and creating at first sight the im- 
 pression of a mountain on fire. The resemblance to the red 
 protuberances around the sun, during eclipses, as depicted in 
 photographs taken by the observers, is most striking. This 
 brilliant red coral colour pervades the whole surface of the 
 summit of the mountain that is covered with snow, and which 
 is seen through the red colour. Here we have an exact resem- 
 blance of one of the appearances of the sun, as displayed 
 during an eclipse, and yet there is no incandescent gas 
 covering "Pike's Peak" to produce this colour. On the con- 
 trary, the atmosphere around and above the mountain is 
 wintry, with a temperature below freezing point " Ex pede 
 Herculem!" May we not infer from this illustration that there 
 is no incandescent gas about the sun, and that the varied tints 
 and colours, however brilliant, and however resembling what 
 we suppose to be incandescent metallic vapours, are really only 
 manifestations of light in its protean displays, as fitful and 
 evanescent as we see it in our autumnal sunsets. 
 
 ISTow let us for a moment imagine that by the interposition 
 of the moon between the sun and the earth, each suffers an 
 eclipse from the other. Let us suppose that the snow-clad 
 mountains of our planet are bathed in sunlight, and that the
 
 82 
 
 brilliant colours derived from that source, changing with the 
 angles of incidence and reflection, with which they encompass 
 these snow-clad peaks, become displayed beyond the periphery 
 of the moon, which has concealed a large part of the body of 
 the earth. J^ow, if an observer could be placed between the 
 moon and the sun, at the period of such an eclipse of the earth, 
 would he not witness displays of light and colour, greatly re- 
 sembling, if not identical, with those which would be seen by 
 another observer placed between the moon and the earth, as 
 he regarded the appearances about the sun ? AYhat then 
 would become of the terrific heat of the sun and its incandes- 
 cent gases ? 
 
 " In the hypothesis of undulations, instead of supposing the 
 transport of a material agent to great distances, it is held that 
 the vibrations of luminous bodies are communicated to the 
 atoms of an all-pervading ethereal fluid. These vibrations, 
 propagated through this fluid, reach the organ of vision, which 
 in time transmits them to the optic nerve. In this bpothe- 
 I ic nature and transmission of light would be analagous 
 to the nature and transmission of sound, light being produced 
 by atomic, and sound by molecular vibrations." This idea 
 confines the action of light to animal vision. 
 
 In these cases there is no analogy, for sound has a very 
 limited range of action, with comparatively small velocity, and 
 is only of value to living beings. While light has scarcely a 
 limit as to distance in penetration, and a velocity inconceivably 
 great, and is indispensable to planetary existence. 
 
 Two persons hold a table-cloth, twenty-five feet long, by its 
 
 two ends, loosely in their hands the actual distance 
 
 these persons in a straight line is twenty feet one of these 
 
 persons raises his arms, and, by a strong impulse, shakes the 
 
 cloth, while the other end is held by the other person firmly, 
 
 a wave of the cloth is formed, and runs through its entire 
 
 length, at the extremity of which it is lost. This is called 
 
 . lation, or wave-making. The cloth rises and tails in the 
 
 . which runs through twenty-five feet, its whole length. 
 
 traveled by the wave is twenty-live feet, being 
 
 five feet more than the distance between the two persons 
 
 holding the table-cloth. Should the table-cloth be stretched 
 
 to its full length, no wave could be produced. 
 
 Xo\v, let us apply this example to the sun and the earth. 
 The luminous ether, as the intervening space between these
 
 83 
 
 two orbs is called, is ninety-two millions of miles in length ; 
 and, to admit of its undulation, must be very loose in its con- 
 sistency. We may safely infer that such undulations as would 
 be required for the transmission of light from the sun to the 
 earth, would increase the actual distance traveled by the light 
 in its undulations fully ten millions of miles, making the 
 traveled space between the sun and earth to be one hundred 
 and two millions of miles instead of ninety-two millions of 
 miles, the measured distance. Now, the greatest velocity 
 known is that of light* which is 186,000 miles per second. 
 "We do no injustice to Divine Wisdom when we suppose that 
 this extreme velocity has been imparted to light, in order that 
 it should pass through space without interruption, and that it 
 should reach its destination in the shortest possible space of 
 time in other words, that it should go directly to its object in 
 right lines, without any deviation, up or down, or laterally, 
 which would only retard its progress. Hence we reject entirely 
 the undulatory theory of light, as enunciated at the present 
 time. If the laws of light are not comprehended by scientists, 
 it furnishes no excuse for resort to absurdities in the effort to 
 explain them. While light, in traversing inter-stellar and 
 inter-planetary spaces, is thought to be confined to rectilinear 
 directions, there is nothing incompatible with this idea when 
 it is brought within the influences of our atmosphere, by which 
 its refrangibility, its reflection, its polarization, and its power 
 to develop electricity, magnetism, and heat are manifested, 
 and its more speedy diffusion through our atmosphere, by 
 these disturbing influences, may furnish a reason for its attri- 
 butes here, which would have no application in its passage 
 through inter-stellar or inter-planetary spaces. 
 
 "Light diminishes in force or intensity in proportion as it 
 recedes from its source. This diminution is in direct ratio to 
 the square of the distance. Thus, the quantities of light at dis- 
 tances 2, 3, 4, etc., will be 4, 9, 16, etc., times less than at dis- 
 tance 1. Light requires eight minutes thirteen seconds to 
 arrive from the sun to the earth. It travels 11J miles in L 4> of 
 a second, or 186,000 miles per second. It travels always ia a 
 straight line. 
 
 " Light added to light, by interference, produces darkness. 
 The movement of such rays neutralize each other, and the 
 light ceases to cast any lustre. 
 
 " Of the thousand rays of variegated shade and refrangibility 
 * Excepting that of electricity, which is 288.000 miles per second.
 
 84 
 
 which compose colourless (or white) light, those only neutralize 
 each other which possess co-ordinate colour and refrangibility. 
 Thus a red ray cannot obliterate a green ray. Two white 
 lights cross each other at a given point, and one time the red 
 alone will disappear, and the point of intersection will 
 hecome green green being white minus red." 
 
 Let us see what can be made of the fragmentary knowledge 
 of liht that we have so far attained. The white liht of the 
 
 is composed of seven primary rays, all differing in colour 
 from each other. The first analysis of this white sunlight was 
 displayed to mankind in the rainbow, whose magnificent 
 beauty was admired with stupid wonder, without the faintest 
 conception on the part of the beholder of what it meant. 
 After a lapse of ages of time, Sir Isaac Newton, with a glass 
 prism, separated the rays of a sunbeam, and developed the 
 primary colours which, in their association, had formed the 
 white light of the sun. He reunited these primary rays, and 
 thus, by synthesis as well as analysis, he proved the composite 
 character of sunlight. 
 
 Now, astronomers have shown that the planets and asteroids 
 of our planetary system each emit a colour peculiar to itself: 
 Mercury, a pale rosy light; Mars, a reddish tint; Venus, a silvery- 
 white colour, with occasional streaks of pale blue light; Jupiter 
 gives out a pale yellow light; Saturn, a pale bluish tint, while 
 its rings are gorgeous with a white, silvery colour; the Moon 
 gives out a yellowish hue ; Pallas shines with a yellowish light ; 
 Juno is a reddish star ; Vesta has a ruddy tinge, sometimes of 
 a pale yellowish hue ; the Earth emits a red colour. 
 " Another remarkable feature of these star systems, and per- 
 haps the most brilliant and intrinsically beautiful phenomenon 
 of astronomy, is the resplendent and gemlike variety of colours 
 by which the binary, ternary and other multiple systems are 
 cnaracterized. Here all the colours and intermediate tints of 
 the spectrum are to be met with, manifested with the richest 
 intensity and the most vivid and distinctive strength and 
 fulness ef hue. Thus in 7-, Andromeda, we have a ternary 
 combination, the brighter star being a rich and full orange, 
 and the two fainter stars green. In a, Cassiopeia?, we havr a, 
 bright blue and a sea given star, ,9, Cyirni, is ;i pair of stars, 
 y.'llow and sapphire. , Ceti, is a very fine orange star wiih a 
 blue companion. * * * 
 
 "In a celebrated d uster of stars, near x of the Southern Cross, 
 there are about one hundred small stars of different colours, 
 from the various reds to all the tints of green, blue and bluish-
 
 85 
 
 so crowded together, that they appear in the 1 . 
 telescopes like a piece of magnificent celcsrial jewelry, studi-d 
 and Hashing in the most superb splendour with the richest and 
 most brilliant gem-light." * These colours are primary. 
 "What becomes of all these primary rays of light unless th.-v 
 are used to compose the white light of our sun, and of all the 
 fixed stars or suns that illuminate the firmament? Whatever 
 sunlight, therefore, has fallen upon these planets has been de- 
 composed; six out of the seven primary rays thereof have been 
 absorbed for the use of the planet, and the remaining primary 
 has been emitted by the planet, and sent to the sun to 
 associate in his photosphere with the different primary rays 
 sent to him from other planets, to form anew the white sun- 
 light, which by him is to be diffused throughout the planetarv 
 and stellar world. 
 
 Now we must not suppose that the orbs composing our 
 diminutive solar system have furnished, or can furnish, to the 
 sun a sufficient quantity of their respective primary rays of 
 light to supply that luminary with the amount of elementary 
 light which it is his function to combine and to furnish to the 
 universe. We must remember that, from the great depths of 
 the infinite expanse, elementary light comes up from every 
 star, nebula, or meteor, seeking its complementary element in 
 the photosphere of the sun, there to be associated as white 
 light, and thence to be reflected from the gray covering of the 
 sun, as a mirror, to all the orbs of creation. This circulation 
 of light, this absorption by the stars and planets of such of the 
 primary rays of light as they need for their own support, and 
 the emission, severally, of their own peculiar rays, to be reas- 
 sembled again in the various photospheres of the infinite 
 number of suns that stud the firmament, and to be again dif- 
 fused, according to the plan of creation, in endless succession, 
 present an image of the wisdom, the beneficence and power of 
 the Creator, that fills the mind with awe, and teaches man the 
 utter insignificance of his being. 
 
 Our sun is simply a huge reflector of light. The gray 
 covering of his nucleus or body is represented in our mirrors 
 by the metallic covering which we place on the backs of our 
 glasses. These transparent glasses are typified by the trans- 
 lucent photosphere of the sun, and the associated primary 
 rays of light from every luminous object in the universe, 
 mingling together, and reflected from this gray covering of 
 the sun, furnish the white sunlight that illuminates the world. 
 
 *J. A. S. Rollwyn's Astronomy.
 
 86 
 
 Heat destroys gravitation. Even our astronomers, in assert- 
 ing that the luminous matter in the photosphere of the sun is 
 shown by the spectroscope to be composed largely of incan- 
 descent metallic the bases of which are among the 
 
 heaviest matter in the crust of our earth, commit the incon- 
 sistency of supposing that these heavy incandescent metallic 
 vapours or gases are supported by a photosphere of much 
 greater specific gravity, as well ; :y, than these heavy 
 
 3 themselves; otherwise these metallic gases could not 
 flat in the photosphere. Some of these astronomers go so for 
 as to suppose that the body or nucleus of the sun itself is 
 gaseus, and that the density of the sun is much less than 
 the densities of the incandescent metallic vapours which they 
 suppose to float in its photosphere. Now, if these incande- 
 metallic re heavier than the material composing the 
 
 sun itself, it is clear that the gravitation, according to Xewtou, 
 of these heavy metallic incandescent vapours is not towards the 
 centre of the sun ; and if not to him, where do they gravitate? 
 We know what the specific gravities or densities of many of 
 the metals on the surface of' the earth are, w r hose incandescent 
 vapours, as revealed by the spectoscope, are supposed to exist 
 in the photosphere of the sun, and astronomers have calculated 
 that the attraction of gravitation to the sun in its photosphere 
 would be twenty-eight times as great as the gravitation in the 
 earth's atmosphere to the earth of bodies of similar weight. 
 
 If, therefore, we suppose that these metallic incandescent 
 vapours in the sun's photosphere to lie twenty-eight times 
 ier than they would be in the earth's atmosphere; and if 
 they never fall to the body of the sun. it must follow that 
 what is called gravitation in the photosphere df the sun can- 
 not exist, and the whole theory of Xewton, of centripetal and 
 centrifugal f.>r-es, l.as no substantial existence. We know 
 that in our own planet heat destroys gravitation, as the vol- 
 canic action in the interior of the earth, upheaving inlands, 
 mountain ranges, and even continents, abundantly Droves 
 
 The mean density of the earth is about five times greater 
 than that of water actually 5.44 times. Water, therefore, 
 on the surface of tin.; earth penetrates its crust till it 
 encounters the heat radiated from the interior of the earth, 
 where its further descent helmv the surfa--- 1, then it 
 
 is converted into steam by the heat it has absorbed, and it is 
 driven upwards into the atmosphere, heaving up the most 
 solid and heavy materials of the crust of the earth, that lie
 
 87 
 
 above the direction it may take. This expansion of water 
 into steam by heat in the crust of the earth, produced by the 
 repellent affinity of the homogeneous electricity associated 
 with it, is one of the forces of volcanic action, which arc con- 
 tinually changing the forms of the outer surface of the earth's 
 crust. The density or specific gravity of the sun is O.L ; ~> !:'.<> 
 (or nearly one-fourth of that of the earth). In other words, 
 taken in equal volumes, the weight of the matter Which, com- 
 poses the sun is scarcely more than one-fourth of the weight 
 which composes our globe. Compared to water, the density 
 of the sun is 1.367; that of water being 1. 
 
 Now, if what our astronomers tell us of the inconceivably 
 high temperature of the sun be true, there can be no gravita- 
 tion towards its centre from its photosphere, its chromosphere, 
 or any of its possible envelopes, the heat expanding, rarefying 
 and driving off all such material substances. Heat disinteg- 
 rates solids, separates their molecules, destroys their densities, 
 and consequently is opposed to gravitation, which is the 
 attraction of densities. Alas ! for poor Sir Isaac Newton and 
 his grand theory of centripetal and centrifugal forces! A ray 
 of light passing through a narrow chiuli, and through a glass 
 prism, has done the business. The incandescent metallic 
 gases and the transcendent intense heat of the sun which has 
 vapourized these metals (the supposed discovery by the narrow 
 chink and the prism), have demolished Newton and his erratic 
 fancies. Sic transit gloria mundi! 
 
 According to Professor Tyndall, " gravitation consists of an 
 attraction of every particle of matter for every other particle 
 planets and moons are supposed to be held in their orbits by 
 this attraction." 
 
 " The earth is supposed to attract to its centre all the bodies 
 upon its surface by what Newton termed centripetal force, and 
 when one of them falls, it is always towards the earth's centre. 
 This force is said to be resident in all the bodies of nature. 
 It exerts its influence upon the largest masses as well as upon 
 the most minute particles of matter. This it is which gives 
 harmony to the universe, and explains the formation of bodies 
 of all kinds." 
 
 Newton held that " Bodies exercise attraction in direct ratio 
 to their mass, and that this law was of universal application." 
 
 Let us examine this.
 
 88 
 
 The circulation of the blood in animals is not affected by 
 gravitation, nor are any of the secretions of the animal body. 
 The development in growth of animals is upwards, opposed to 
 gravitation, and totally unaffected by gravitation. The move- 
 ments of animals in the performance of their varied functions 
 have no reference to gravitation. So also in the vegetable 
 world; the sap of plants rises from the roots, is distributed 
 through the branches, and enlarges their size irrespective of 
 gravitation ; the trunk of the tree ascends into the atmosphere 
 and extends its huge limbs laterally, as if gravitation had no 
 existence. The smoke from combustion, the exhalations from 
 the earth, and the evaporation of water, all of them material 
 substances, are in opposition to gravitation. 
 
 Light, electricity, magnetism and heat, the vital forces of 
 the universe, all treat gravitation with great contempt. The 
 atmosphere surrounds mid envelopes the earth. It has what 
 is called gravity or weight, but it is not subject to what is 
 called the law of gravitation, since when its lower strata. 
 become warmed, they ascend into the upper part of the atmos- 
 phere, and do not descend or fall to the earth, as having weight 
 they should do; thus a difference in the relative weights of the 
 same substance, in one condition or another, removes that 
 substance from the influence of gravitation. The vapours or 
 clouds in the atmosphere, which aiv heavier than air, float in 
 many directions, and do not fall to the earth. A piece of iron 
 will float upon a fused mass of iron, instead of passing through 
 it to the bottom. The inertia of matter is opposed to gravita- 
 tion. Form, which is a force, and is the resultant of the force* 
 that have produced it, is antagonistic, to gravitation, which we 
 illustrate with this example: suppose we have a cube of soft 
 iron, weighing live pounds; let it be held by the hand over a, 
 pool of water; release it, from the hand, the iron falls directly 
 to the bottom of the pool; our philosophers would say it fell 
 ruvitation. 
 
 Xow, take that cube of iron, roll it out into a sheet of iron 
 
 nth of an inch in thickness, and again place it 
 the water horizontally; release your hold upon it; it .-inks 
 iiniii' io the bottom of the pool. Philosophy says, by 
 
 gravitation. \^-<-\ .-r it, and holding its edge vertically over 
 the water, again withdraw your hand; it descends at on 
 
 bottom. Still by gravitation. Xow, again take it from 
 the pool, bejid r up some six inches around it, in the 
 
 form of a dish ; then place its bottom on the surface of the
 
 80 
 
 water, release your liohl, and lo ! it does not sink to the bottom 
 of the pool, but it floats upon the surface of it ! It is no lo 
 drawn to the bottom of the pool by gravitation, although what 
 we call its weight is unchanged. It still weighs five pounds. 
 "Why does it not sink as before? It is arrested by its form, 
 which is antagonistic to what is called gravitation. Gravita- 
 tion, therefore, is not universal. It does not always attract 
 matter to matter, in proportion to its mass. "What then is 
 the repellent force which prevents this iron dish from sinking? 
 It is magnetism. The water is magnetic, a condition produced 
 by the electricity, whose opposite polarities in the oxygen and 
 hydrogen meeting in conjunction, converted those gases, by 
 the combustion of the hydrogen gas in the oxygen gas, into the 
 liquid state of water, and rendering the water at the same 
 time magnetic. The iron dish, in contact with the water by 
 its horizontal bottom, and having vertical sides, became mag- 
 netic by induction from the water the water and the iron 
 presenting the same magnetic poles to each other, mutually 
 repelled each other, and the flotation of the iron dish was the 
 result. 
 
 Flotation, heretofore attributed to the lightness of the 
 floating body compared with the weight of the liquid in 
 which it floated, is due to magnetic repulsion, and not to 
 gravitation. Now let us look at the condition of this water 
 when it has changed its character by crystalizing into flakes 
 of snow, of whatever diversity of form, or of hail, or of sur- 
 face or dense ice. These forms of water at temperatures below 
 32 of Fahrenheit, are all magnets, and their minutest atoms 
 are all magnets, also; each endowed with its two poles, one 
 at either extremity of the atom, and each with opposite attri- 
 butes. 
 
 The commerce of the world, therefore, is sustained on its 
 oceans by the repellent force of magnetism; while the mari- 
 ner directs his course over their trackless wastes, in darkness 
 and in storm, guided by that opposite quality of the magnet 
 which attracts it to the poles of the earth. 
 
 Now, when water, owing its form, whether liquid or frozen, 
 to magnetism, is exposed to heat, and converted into steam, 
 its magnetic qualities are driven off by the heat, and are re- 
 placed by electricity, which is the force that rends the strongest 
 fabrics of human skill to pieces, and scatters death and deso- 
 lation in every direction. The electricity of steam is of one
 
 90 
 
 kind, and is repellent of itself; and its effort to escape from 
 itself and to unite with the opposite electricity of the atmos- 
 phere is so violent and so powerful that it furnishes to man 
 one of the greatest forces with which he is acquainted. 
 
 The forked flashes of lightning, seen above volcanoes in 
 eruption, are merely the results of the conjunction of the 
 positive electricity of the heated air, steam and lava thrown 
 out of the volcano by violent interior forces, with the negative 
 electricity of the atmosphere above and around the volcano. 
 
 Rotary motion of an object is antagonistic to magnetism, 
 by the production of friction with the atmosphere by the re- 
 volving object. This friction evolves electricity, which, uniting 
 with the opposite electricity of the revolving object, produces 
 heat. that expands and disintegrates its molecules, separating 
 them, and removing the magnetism. 
 
 As the heat of the sun (if it has any) cannot pass down- 
 wards through ninety-two millions of miles of ether with a 
 temperature of 14i> of centigrade thermometer, so the heat 
 radiated from the interior of the earth, or produced on its 
 surface, or, in its lower strata of atmosphere, cannot penetrate 
 up wards through the canopy of cold which surrounds the earth 
 at various altitudes from the snow line of 15.000 feet above the 
 equator, 6000 feet at 45 of north or south latitude, and at the 
 level of the earth at 60 of north latitude. 
 
 Let us admire the ineffable wisdom of the Creator who, by 
 a barrier of ice in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, confines 
 the internal heat between them and the equator, and the 
 superficial heat of the earth below the region of perpetual 
 snow in the atmosphere, for the uses intended by Him of the 
 planet and its productions 
 
 lieory of centripetal and centrifugal attractions 
 and repulsions is fallacious. There can be no rotation on the 
 centi- here or spheroid, though there, may be at the ex- 
 
 tremities of any of its diameters or axes. What is called cen- 
 trifugal f Micrely the repulsion from the axis of rotation 
 and not from the centre. So centripetal foivo is merely axial 
 attraction. Any force is the resultant of the forces which 
 produce it. If there was, therefore, sueha force as centripetal 
 m a sphere or spheroid, the opposing forces acting from the 
 ends of the diameters would neutralize each other, and an im- 
 at would result at the centre, which heat would
 
 91 
 
 destroy the very forces which had produced it, and would 
 prevent their continuance. 
 
 "When we consider the repellent forces of the interior of the 
 earth, such as heat and electricity, upheaving by volcanic 
 action immense masses of islands and continents, changing in 
 many places the configuration of the land and the sea, we 
 cannot for a moment accept the theory of centripetal attraction 
 or gravitation. 
 
 The mean density of the earth is said to be about five times 
 greater than that of water. If this be so, why does not this 
 great density or mass of matter bring down the clouds by 
 centripetal attraction or gravitation instantly to the earth ? 
 "Why does the atmosphere, still less dense than the clouds, re- 
 main above the earth, when according to the laws of gravita- 
 tion it should be precipitated upon it ? and why should the 
 upper strata of the atmosphere be more attenuated and thin 
 than the lower strata, which besides their own weight have the 
 additional weight of the upper strata upon them ? 
 
 There are no centripetal or centrifugal forces, as Newton 
 supposed. In the rapid rotation of a sphere or cylinder on its 
 axis, the outer surface, by its friction with the atmosphere, 
 evolves electricity, which, in conjunction with the electricity 
 of the atmosphere, produces heat, which insinuating itself 
 among the molecules of the rotating body, expands them and, 
 if the velocity of the rotation is sufficient, this heat loosens 
 th.eir mutual cohesion, and electricity being at the same time 
 imparted to these molecules associated with the heat, they are 
 attracted thereby to the opposite electricity of the atmosphere, 
 and the rotating body is separated into fragments with great 
 violence, as the molecules of the mass, having the same 
 electricity, repel each other while they are attracted to the 
 opposite electricity of the outer atmosphere. 
 
 This is the explanation of the bursting of millstones, grind- 
 stones and other revolving bodies at great speed, as well as of 
 meteors, shooting stars and comets, heretofore attributed to 
 centrifugal force. Now, what is there to attract at the centre 
 of anything or to repel therefrom. The centre is an imaginary 
 point, having neither length, breadth nor thickness, absolutely 
 without dimensions, and consequently without matter how 
 therefore can it be invested with force of any kind ? 
 
 There can be no rotation on the centre of any sphere,
 
 92 
 
 cylinder, or cone, or other solid or hollow body, as the forces 
 requisite to produce the motion, would be antagonistic, and 
 would destroy it, as the attempt might be made conceive for 
 a moment, that while the earth is revolving on its axis from 
 west to east, you should apply an equal force to make it 
 revolve also from north to south, the rotation would then be 
 from northwest to southeast now apply equal intermediate 
 forces between northwest and west, and northwest and north, 
 and so on till you have equal forces for every degree of the 
 hemisphere, and equal opposite forces from the other hemi- 
 sphere. This would be equivalent to centripetal force or 
 attraction, and as these opposing forces would be equal, rota- 
 tion would cease, the body would remain at rest, and 
 centripetal force or attraction would not exist, consequently 
 there is neither centripetal nor centrifugal force, and we must 
 look therefore to other forces to explain the motions of the 
 planetary and stellar worlds. 
 
 It is to Oersted, the celebrated chemist and physicist of 
 Denmark, that we owe the discovery that cui rents of electricity 
 passing over a conjunctive wire, from one pole of the Voltaic 
 pile to the opposite pole, produce magnetism. The meeting 
 of these opposite electricities, he has termed an "electrical con- 
 jl'"-'" I should prefer to call it an electrical embrace, as it 
 more resembles the ardour of lovers, in its attraction, than an 
 attack by force or violence. From his experiments he con- 
 cluded that the electric conflict is not inclosed in the conducting 
 wire, but that it has around it quite an extensive sphere of 
 activity, and that it, acts by a vortical or whirling movement. 
 
 A few weeks alter the announcement of Oersted's disco 1 
 
 Ampere, by his experiments, discovered that two parallel con- 
 junctive wires, from opposite poles of a Voltaic pile, attract 
 other, when electricity traverses them in the same direction ; 
 and that they repel ea<-h other it' the electric currents move in 
 oppo-ite dir> jiiel of Ampt-re's lahours showed 
 
 ;>rocal action of the elements of two currents is 
 d in conformity with the line which unites their cei 
 
 "ii the mutual inclination of these elements, 
 and that it vane- in intensity in the Inverse ratio of the squares 
 
 of tli- , Am|H-re final! d^-d in establishing 
 
 a conjunctive wire wound into a helix or spiral curved 
 
 y dose spin i-itive to the magnetic action 
 
 of the earth. For many weeks there was to be seen in his 
 
 cabinet a conjunctive wire of platina, whose position was
 
 93 
 
 determined by the action of the terrestrial globe. Ampere, 
 by constructing a galvanic compass, bad shown that tin.- forces 
 which act in the magnetic needle are electric current <, and by 
 his learned calculations on the the reciprocal action of these 
 currents, he accounted for all the actions which the conjunctive 
 wire of the pile exerts, in the experiment of Oersted, on the 
 magnetic needle. 
 
 M. Arago. the eminent French astronomer, associated wit n 
 Ampere in some of his experiments, says: "I coiled coppe r 
 wire for a length of two inches, from right to left, into a helix '> 
 then an equal length of wire in the same manner, from left 
 to right ; and lastly, a similar quantity again from right to left. 
 These three helices were separated from each other by recti- 
 linear portions of the same wire. 
 
 " One and the same steel cylinder of a suitable length and of 
 rather more than .04 of an inch diameter, and enclosed in a 
 glass tube, was inserted in the three helices at once. The gal- 
 vanic current, in passing along the coils of these different 
 helices, magnetized the corresponding portions of the steel 
 cylinder, as if they had been detached and separate from each 
 other ; for I remarked that at one of the extremities there 
 was a north pole, at two inches distance a south pole, farther 
 on a second south pole followed by a north pole ; lastly, a 
 third north pole, and two inches farther on,' or at the other 
 extremity of the cylinder, a south pole." Thus, by this 
 method, the number of these intermediate poles, which physi- 
 cists have denominated consecutive points, could be multiplied 
 at pleasure. M. Arago also observed, that "if the intervals 
 comprised between the consecutive helices are small, the parts 
 of the steel wire or cylinder, corresponding to those intervals, 
 will themselves be magnetized as if the movement of rotation 
 impressed on the magnetic fluid, according to Ampere's idea, 
 by the influence of a helix, was continued beyond the extreme 
 spires of the coil.'' 
 
 As the conjunction of opposite electricities, according to 
 these authorities, develops magnetism; and as tornadoes, 
 hurricanes, cyclones, and other atmospheric disturbances move 
 in spiral curves from their respective points of departure till 
 their terminations, and as, according to Ampere and Arago, 
 currents of electricity passed through spiral cylindrical coils 
 of wire develop magnetism, we see here the sources of the 
 .supply of magnetism to our planet, its atmosphere, and the
 
 94 
 
 objects upon oi in them. This magnetism, so developed, is 
 absorbed by every object in nature. Being an imponderable, 
 its p: cannot always be discerned or detected; but it 
 
 resides in a latent form everywhere, till it is evolved. by the 
 opposite attraction or repulsion of some object approached to 
 it which is also magnetic. 
 
 In many parts of the world springs of water exist, in which 
 a great degree of magnetic power is manifested. In the state 
 of Michigan there are such springs, in which, if penknives, or 
 small pieces of iron, or steel, should be immersed for a few 
 minutes, they would become highly magnetic. These springs 
 are visited and bathed in every year by thousands of per 
 for the highly curative influences over diseases that they exert. 
 
 There is no magnetism in the earth under the equatorial 
 regions, owing to the heat of the interior of the central parts 
 of the planet, which destroys magnetism. This is proved by 
 the magnetic needle losing its dip under the equator. I think, 
 also, it will be shown that the magnetic needle has no dip over 
 the Gulf stream, as under that stream the interior heat of the 
 earth has a Hue extending far into the Arctic regions, through 
 which the (Jiilf stream is warmed, and magnetism in the 
 earth about the flue destroyed; the same will be found to he 
 true, also, of the Japanese current that runs through Behring's 
 strait to the Arctic regions; and of all other warm 'currents 
 of water in the oceans. The evaporation of the warm waters 
 of the Gulf stream and of the Japanese current develops 
 electricity, which, being positive as the waters thereof them- 
 selves also are, they are both attracted by the negative 
 tricity of the waters of the Arctic ocean ; and those currents flow 
 in that direction. It will be found that terrestrial magnetism 
 is irregularly distributed in the crust of the earth, and the 
 magnetism of the. Northern Hemisphere being attracted to 
 the S.>uth Pole, while that in the Southern Hemisphere being 
 attracted to the North Pole, these opposite attractions have 
 increased the equatorial diameter of the earth twenty-six 
 miles more than the polar diameter; and the earth's 
 under the equator having been thickened by the addition of 
 so much material taken from other parts of the sphere, it fol- 
 lows as highly probable that basins filled with seas have 
 ;e poles of the earth, and that oceanic currents 
 from the North and South Poles, respectively, are produced 
 by the rotation of the earth on its axis, throwing oif the sur- 
 plus of accumulated water at the poles, and thus the circula-
 
 95 
 
 tion of water in oceans and seas is produced, in spiral curves 
 from the polar basins. 
 
 Ihave^in the former editions of this work, sui^ostr.l that 
 the rotation of the earth on its axis is the result of electrical 
 forces within it, excited by the juxtaposition of the materials 
 of various kinds forming its composition, and having opposite 
 electrical polarities. 
 
 I have an illustration at hand to prove 
 this. A neighbour of mine recently 
 erected in the rear of his house a one"- 
 storied dining-room, in which was a 
 chimney which projected some three feet 
 above the roof of the building which 
 was 12 feet above the ground on the top 
 of the chimney he placed a sheet-iron 
 cowl in the form of a truncated hollow 
 ellipsoid with spiral flanges from top to 
 bottom of the cowl. When there is no 
 fire in the chimney the cowl is at rest, 
 when a fire is kindled, as the air in the 
 chimney becomes heated and, accompanied by its positive 
 electricity, rises to the top, it meets with resistance in the 
 flanges of the cowl, which only begin to turn when the gather- 
 ing positive electricity of the warm air attracted by the greater 
 negative electricity of the outer atmosphere forces its way 
 through the openings and along the surface of the metalic 
 cowl and sets it in motion, and according as the combustion 
 is more active so is the rotation of the cowl on its axis the 
 more rapid, and the draught of the chimney is so increased 
 that finally the flanges of the cowl can no longer be distin- 
 guished in their rotation. 
 
 So in the interior of the earth the intense positive electricity 
 evolved there, in conjunction with the negative electricity 
 also there in great quantities, produces enormous heat, which 
 fusing metals and disengaging gases of great volume and 
 expansive power, forces them against the irregular surfaces of 
 the interior of the crust of the earth, and sets the ball in its 
 rotary motion on its axis. 
 
 Similar causes produce like effects in the interior of the sun 
 and of all the planets, giving them all the rotation on their 
 respective axes that we know they have. AYith the electricity 
 thus evolved and escaping as it is formed at their respective
 
 96 
 
 poles, currents of magnetism are evolved at right angles to the 
 currents of electricity and cause the revolutions on their axes 
 to be from west to east. 
 
 There is no necessity, therefore, for our astronomers to 
 suppose that the Almighty has created the sun to be an 
 incandescent body, whose combustion is to be fed by half a 
 world to illuminate the remainder. The sun, in fact, is proba- 
 bly only a huge reflector or mirror, receiving the rays of light 
 from every orb, which rays themselves are of various tints, as 
 every planet and star has a colour -peculiar to itself, and the 
 groupings of these primary colours in the sun, and their re- 
 flections from him constitute the white light that we call sun- 
 light. This explanation is in harmony with our ideas of the 
 Divine economy, which never wastes any of its material. The 
 sun is a great magnet, and regulates and controls by magnet- 
 ism and not by gravitation all the planets of his system, which, 
 consequently, arc severally all magnets. The system is held 
 in its place and conforms in its movements by its magnetism 
 to the movements of all the orbs which exist in space. 
 
 As these planets are all magnets, they can have no other 
 heat than their own internal heat, which is simply sufficient 
 to produce their respective rotations on their several axes, as 
 heat in intensity destroys magnetism. 
 
 The reversal of the tails of comets in their approach to the 
 sun and departure from him, is due to the attraction and 
 repulsion respectively of their magnetic poles by induction 
 from the greater magnetism of the sun itself. 
 
 Winds are simply currents of electrified air, repelled from 
 their points of departure by air similarly electrified, and 
 attracted in their various directions by air at rest or in motion, 
 as it may be, with opposite electricities. These repellent and 
 attractive electricities acting on a strong current of air, cause 
 it to be deflected from its rectilinear direction, and to assume 
 a spiral curve in its course, continually contracting towards 
 its centre, till the opposing olectrk-ities equalize each other, 
 when the electrical equilibrium is restored, and a calm ensues. 
 During the continuance of the movements of the oppositely 
 electrified currents of air in these spiral curves, magnetism is 
 developed, and this is the source ol' magnetism in the atmos- 
 phere. 
 
 Magnetism in the crust of the earth is likewise developed
 
 97 
 
 there by the conj auction of opposite electrical currents cir- 
 culating continually through it. This magnetism permeates 
 through its various molecules, supplying them with magnetic 
 attraction and repulsion, and thus matter, from its suscepti- 
 bility of becoming magnetized, assumes the power of attrac- 
 tion attributed to gravitation. 
 
 Having thus shown the source from which atmospheric as 
 well as terrestrial magnetism is derived, we proceed to men- 
 tion some of its attributes. 
 
 The term magnetism, which is applied to the science that 
 describes the modes and properties of a remarkable force pos- 
 sessing attractive and repellent qualities, is derived from a 
 magnetic iron ore, that was first noticed near Magnesia, and 
 hence was named by the ancient Greeks, Magnes. It had the 
 peculiar property of attracting iron. This force is not con- 
 fined to the mineral, but seems to pervade all nature. It is, 
 produced by the meeting of currents of opposite electricities 
 in the crust of the earth and in our atmosphere. Its existence 
 in the fixed stars, in the infinite number of orbs, in the firma- 
 ment, in the nebulae, comets, meteors, &c., may be attributed 
 to a similar origin. The primary rays of light from these 
 illuminated orbs, of greatly diversified colours, passing with 
 almost incredible velocity from them to our sun, through 
 interstellar and interplanetary spaces whose temperature is 
 inconceivably low, and consequently associated with negative 
 electricity, developing as they pass through this attenuated 
 ether, which fills these spaces, by friction therewith, negative 
 electricity, may be supposed to enter the photosphere of the 
 sun charged with negative electricity. This negative 
 electricity being homogeneous, of immense volume, and great 
 intensity, repels these commingled primary rays of light, by 
 reflection from the body of the sun on their impact with it, 
 with the enormous velocity which belongs to light. The 
 .mixture of these primary rays of various colours produces the 
 white light of the sun, or, as we call it, sunlight. This sun- 
 light, negatively electrified, driven with this immense speed 
 to the most distant orbs of creation, encounters in their atmos- 
 phere, when such exist, and by impact with the bodies of 
 these orbs themselves, which have each a greater density than 
 has the ether through which it had passed, great resistance. 
 This impact produces friction, and friction electricity. 
 
 The friction of matter having a temperature above 32 of
 
 98 
 
 Fahrenheit evolves positive electricity, while that of matter 
 whose temperature is below 32 of Fahrenheit evolves neira- 
 tive electricity. When two blocks of ice are rubbed tog' 
 they adhere by their contiguous surfaces with a force greater 
 than that by which the molecules of either block of ice are 
 held together, and a fracture of the ice will occur anywhere 
 in the blocks before it will at their junction. A notable 
 illustration of the friction of matter, below 32 of Fahrenheit, 
 producing cold and its associate negative electricity, is 
 furnished every day in the manufacture of iced creams and 
 juices of fruits. The cylinder containing the material to be 
 frozen is placed in another vessel, surrounded by a freezing 
 mixture of broken ice and common salt; by turning this 
 cylinder rapidly in this mixture friction is produced, which, 
 in abstracting the heat from the cream or juices of fruits to 
 be frozen, reduces their temperature, and the cold of the 
 freezing mixture, with its negative electricity, is transferred 
 to the cream or juices of fruits. 
 
 We may infer an analogy between the composition of these 
 distant orbs of the firmament and that of our own planet, nud 
 that an opposite electricity to that of sunlight exists in them. 
 The conjunction of these opposing electricities develops magnet- 
 ism, which at once seizes upon the matter of which such orbs are 
 composed and imparts to it the attractive and repellent qualities 
 that it possesses. The orb assumes the form of an oblate sj >heroid 
 or an ellipsoid, with its equatorial diameter longer than its polar 
 diameter, thickened at its equator and flattened at its poles. 
 This form imposes on it an elliptical orbit in which it revolves 
 around its local attraction. This form in the planets and pro- 
 bably the fixed stars, as in the earth, is derived from the 
 opposite attractions and repulsions of matter in their different 
 hemispheres that in their northern hemisphere being attracted 
 to the south pole, and that in the southern hemisphere being 
 oppositely attracted to the north pole and thus meeting at 
 their respective equators, where these opposite attractions 
 neutralize each other, they become thickened there at the 
 use of the matter at their poles respectively. The force 
 which drives the sunlight from our sun, after its reflection 
 from its body, is probably negative electricity, for we cannot 
 conceive of any other force adequate to produce such an effect. 
 
 It is this force of magnetism of which Newton in his day 
 had some slight knowledge, but not comprehending it as it 
 exists, he assigned such of its qualities as he had discovered
 
 99 
 
 erroneously to matter, and gave it the name of gravitation, as 
 if a planet, if such could be made, of cotton, rice, tol. 
 butter, cheese and molasses, would revolve upon its axis from 
 its own weight and travel in an orbit around the sun. 
 
 This force magnetises all things, imparting to them its at- 
 tractions and repulsions, and thus regulates and controls the 
 movements throughout the universe. 
 
 Let us notice some of the pecularities of this force. " Some 
 iron ores are natural magnets ; steel rods, straight, or curved 
 like horseshoes, to which magnetism has been imparted, 
 as also steel needles similarly treated, are artificial magnets. 
 The magnetic force is greatest at the ends of the rods or 
 needles, attracting there steel or iron filings, but diminishing 
 in power as the distance from the extremities is increased, and 
 ceasing altogether midway between their ends. The ex- 
 tremities of the rods or needles are called its poles ; midway 
 between them, where the force ceases, is called their magnetic 
 equator. A light needle magnetised, such as is used in the 
 mariner's compass, properly balanced and suspended by its 
 centre is called a magnetic needle. When not restrained it 
 ranges itself nearly parallel to a line joining the north and 
 south poles of the earth, one end of the needle pointing to the 
 north, the other end directed to the south pole. Turned from 
 its direction and then released, it resumes again its natural posi- 
 tion of pointing north and south. These ends or poles of a 
 magnet are respectively attached to the poles of the earth to 
 which they point, and are repelled from the opposite poles 
 reciprocally. In two magnets the corresponding poles, if ap- 
 proached to each other, would each repel the other and attract 
 the opposite pole of the other magnet." It is to this attribute 
 of the magnet that the earth owes its form of an oblate 
 spheroid. The earth being a magnet, the materials composing 
 its crust in the northern hemisphere have been attracted to- 
 wards the sonth pole, and the matter in the earth's crust in 
 the southern hemisphere, being also magnetic, have been at- 
 tracted towards the north pole. These forces being equal 
 and having ceased at the equator, the matters brought by them 
 respectively from their several hemispheres have been 
 accumulated and deposited in the equatorial regions of the 
 earth, which mass of matters has so much increased the 
 equatorial diameter of the earth that it exceeds the polar 
 diameter in length 26 miles. It is probable that the material 
 thus removed from the Doles of the earth to its equator, have
 
 100 
 
 BO hollowed out the crust of the earth at the poles into basins 
 that seas have been formed in them, which have been filled 
 with water from the Pacific ocean through Behring's straits, and 
 Atlantic ocean by the Gulf Stream. As the planets are all 
 doubtless formed upon the same principle as those on which 
 the earth is established, and as we know that similar differ- 
 ences exist between the equatorial and polar diameters of 
 these orbs to the extent of 25 miles in Mars, 6000 miles in 
 Jupiter, and 7500 miles in Saturn, we may reasonably infer 
 that magnetic attraction and repulsion have increased their 
 equatorial diameters at the expense of their polar diameters 
 in the proportions mentioned, and that like the earth they are 
 all magnets, and owe their axial and orbitual rotations to 
 magnetism, and not to gravitation. In this increase of matter 
 in the equatorial regions of these planets of our system, we 
 have the most conclusive evidence that the attraction of mat- 
 ter in these orbs is to their respective equators, and not to their 
 respective centres as Newton supposed. 
 
 ~W~hen we regard these immense differences in the equatorial 
 and polar diameters of the planets, Jupiter and Saturn that of 
 Jupiter being 6000 miles, and that of Saturn 7500 miles, 
 we begin to comprehend, in a slight degree, the idea of the 
 Creator in placing these planets at such immensely great 
 distances from the sun, while lie invests them with a magnet- 
 ism so transcendantly powerful in its attractions and repulsions, 
 that their revolutions around the sun are performed with a 
 marvelous certainty and exactitude. The law of magnetic 
 attraction and repulsion between objects being inversely as 
 the square of the distance, those distant orbs must have a 
 propelling or repellent power at their greatest distances from 
 the sun of almost infinite magnitude, to bring them within 
 the attractive power of the sun, so as to pass over such 
 immense spaces in their allotted times. It is the repellent 
 power of magnetism that returns them towards the sun. 
 
 " Similiar polea of a magnet repel, and contrary poles 
 attract one another; magnetic poles always occur in pairs. If 
 a magnet be broken into many pieces, each fragment is found 
 to have its north and south poles. 
 
 "Magnetic attraction and repulsion vary inversely as the 
 square of the distance between the magnet and the body 
 attracted or repelled. 
 
 " If in two magnets of equal strength, the north pole of one
 
 101 
 
 
 
 of them be placed in contact with the south pole of the other 
 magnet, all attractive force will disappear. Remove the 
 contact, and the magnetic force is restored in each of the 
 magnets. 
 
 " If a pole of a permanent magnet is placed near to the end 
 of a bar of soft iron, this bar will be magnetized by induction, 
 the end of the soft bar next to the pole of the magnet having 
 there an opposite pole to that of the magnets, while at the 
 other end of the iron bar will be found a contrary magnetic 
 pole. Magnetization by induction, may be effected through a 
 plate of glass, wood, metal, &c., without detriment. This 
 condition vanishes as soon as the magnet is withdrawn. 
 
 "Besides iron and steel, nickel, cobalt, manganese, chro- 
 mium, platinum, oxygen gas and many other substances, suffer 
 attraction by a magnet. Heat powerfully influences magnet- 
 ism. A magnet if heated to redness, loses all its magnetism, 
 and a red hot ball is not atttracted by a magnet. 
 
 " Every magnetic substance has its limit of temperature ; 
 thus cobalt does not cease to be attracted at a white heat; iron 
 ceases to be attracted at a red heat; chromium just below a 
 red heat; nickel at 350 Fahrenheit; and manganese is not 
 attracted on a warm summer day. Hence it is probable that 
 certain substances which do not appear, under ordinary cir- 
 cumstances, to be attracted by a magnet would be attracted if 
 their temperature was reduced to a sufficiently low degree. 
 
 "A magnetic needle tends to set itself in a line with the 
 poles of the earth, and if moved from this position returns to 
 it, as if it was in the presence of another magnet. This is due 
 to the magnetism of the earth in fact, the earth is a huge 
 magnet, the poles and equator of which do not coincide with 
 the geographical poles and equator. 
 
 " The magnetic meridian of a place is a vertical plane which 
 passes through the two poles of a horizontally suspended 
 magnetic needle at this place, and which being continued in 
 both directions will, of course, pass through the magnetic 
 poles of the earth. The magnetic meridian of a place will 
 not coincide with its geographical meridian, and the angle 
 formed by the two meridians is called the magnetic deviation, 
 variation or declination, at this place. 
 
 " The variation of the needle does not always remain the 
 same. In the year 1580 (the first year in which accurate
 
 102 
 
 
 
 observations were made) the north end of the needle deviated 
 11 15' to the east of the true north in London. In 1(322 the 
 deviation was 6 cast of the north, and in 1GGO the magnetic 
 north pole coincided with the geographical north pole. In 
 1UH2 it hud passed to 6 west of north. In 17(>5 it was 20 
 west; and in 1818 it attained its maximum westerly deviation 
 24 41'. It is now returning to the north. In 1850 the 
 rly deviation was 22 30'; and in October, 1871, the de- 
 viation observed at the Kerr Observatory was 20 18' 7". 
 This is the secular variation of the magnetic needle. A deli- 
 cately suspended magnet may be observed to undergo an 
 annual, daily, and even hourly variation. 
 
 "If a steel needle be accurately balanced about a horizontal* 
 centre, and be there magnetized, it will no longer be in hori- 
 zontal equilibrium. In London the north end of the needle 
 will dip down, forming an angle of more than 60, with a 
 horizontal plane. The angle which a magnetic needle, 
 capable of vertical movement, (dipping needle,} makes with a 
 horizontal plane is called the angle of inclination or dip. The 
 vertical plane in which the needle moves must coincide with 
 the magnetic meridian of the place. 
 
 " The dip varies in different parts of the world. If we 
 convey a dipping needle north of London the dip incre: 
 if, on the other hand, we go south of London the dip 
 diminishes; at the magnetic equator there is no dip, the 
 needle is perfectly horizontal; and south of the equator the 
 south pole of the needle begins to dip, and the dip incr 
 as we go further south. Thus the dip at Tern is 0, at Lima 
 10 30', at the Cape of Good Hope 34% and at Hudson's Bay 
 between 89 and 
 
 " The magnetic poles of the earth are those points on the 
 earth's surface at which a dipping needle assumes a vertical 
 
 Son. The north magnetic pole was discovered by Sir 
 ames Ko<s, in 1830. It is situated in longitude 96 43' west, 
 latitude 79 north. The south magnetic pole, is as yet, 
 unknown. 
 
 "The magnetic equator of the earth is a line connecting all 
 "ii the earth's surface, at which t here is no dip. 
 It is an irregular closed circular line cutting the terrestrial 
 equator at four points. The dip of a magnetic needle in 
 subject to both secular and periodic changes. Thus in 1~>76 
 it was 71 C 51' in London; a hundred years later, it was 73
 
 103 
 
 30', and in 172-3, it reached a maximum of 74 1-'. In 1800, 
 it had decreased to 70 -').V, and in October 1871, the dip 
 ;ored at the Kew Observatory was 67 50' 3". The dip 
 also undergoes annual and daily diang> 
 
 " If a horizontally suspended magnetic needle be moved 
 
 from its position of rest, it returns to it, passes it, and oscil- 
 luickwards and forwards across the final position of n-st 
 in the magnetic meridian of the place; in fact, it becoi, 
 horizontal pendulum oscillating under the influence of the 
 earth's magnetism. It haa been proved that the intensi 
 the earth's magnetism, at any two places, is proportional to 
 the square of the number of oscillations made by the same 
 magnetic needle at these places. 
 
 " Various determinations of the intensity of the earth's 
 magnetism prove that the force increases as we pass from the 
 equator to the poles, as in an ordinary magnet. Thus if the 
 intensity at Peru be taken as unity, the intensity in London 
 will be represented by 1.369, and at Baffin's Bay by 1.707. 
 
 " All matter is affected by a powerful magnet, but while 
 many substances (iron, nickel, manganese, oxygen gas, &c.,) 
 are attracted, other substances (bismuth, copper, hydrogen, 
 &c.,) are repelled by both poles of the magnet. 
 
 " If a small bar of iron or other attracted substance, be sus- 
 pended between the poles of a magnet, the bar will set itself 
 axially, that is with its length in a line joining the two poles. 
 If on the other band a bar of bismuth or other repelled sub- 
 stance be suspended in a like position, it will set itself equatori- 
 ally, that is at right angles to a line joining the poles of the 
 magnet, because as it is repelled by both poles, it will 
 endeavor to keep as far away from them as possible. Such 
 bodies are called dia-magnetic. 
 
 In Professor Tyndall's introduction to his " Researches on 
 Dia-Magnetism," writing of Professor Faraday, he states, 
 " That having laid hold of the fact of repulsion, he immedi- 
 ately expanded and multiplied it. He subjected bodies of the 
 most various qualities to the action of his magnet ; mineral 
 salts, acids, alkalies, ethers, alcohols, aqueous solutions, glass, 
 phosphorus, resins, oils, essences, vegetable and animal 
 tissues, and found them all amenable to magnetic influence. 
 Ko known solid or liquid proved insensible to the magnetic 
 power. When developed in sufficient strength, all the tissues
 
 104 
 
 of the human body, the blood though it contains iron 
 included, were proved to be dia-magnetic, so that if you oould 
 suspend a man between the poles of a magnet, his extremities 
 would retreat from the poles, until his length became equato- 
 rial," that is to say, horizontally peroeudicular to the magnetic 
 meridian. 
 
 From the dip or inclination of the magnetic needle on 
 various parts of the earth's surface as magnetism is a dual 
 force we infer that one of its poles is attracted by the 
 magnetism existing in the upper atmosphere, while the other 
 is attracted to the magnetism in the crust of the earth 
 beneath. At Peru the dip is 0, owing probably to the 
 heat in the interior of the earth under Peru, which is 
 frequently manifested in the most violent earthquakes and 
 volcanic action, and heat we know destroys magnetism. As 
 the dip of the needle in either hemisphere increases from the 
 magnetic equator toward the poles, it is obvious that the 
 magnetism in the upper atmosphere, as well as in the crust of 
 the earth, also increases in a like proportion, attributable 
 doubtless to the increased cold, both of the upper atmosphere 
 and the crust of the earth in high latitude, and as negative 
 electricity and magnetism are both associated with extreme 
 cold, we find herein an explanation of the dip of the magnetic 
 needle. 
 
 In the attraction and repulsion of the magnetic needle, 
 horizontally, at the magnetic equator towards the north and 
 south poles of the earth, we have a dual horizontal force. In 
 the deviation of the needle east or west of north or south, we 
 another dual force acting horizontally. In the class of 
 subjects called dia-rnagnetic, which arrange themselves at right 
 angles to the magnetic meridian, or e<|uatorialiy as it is 
 terni"d, we have another dual force acting horizontally. In 
 tin- dip of the needle, which is nothing at the magnetic 
 equator, but whose angle with the horizon increasing there- 
 from as we advance towards either pole till it readies 90 or 
 a quadrant of a circle, we find another dual force with one 
 les in the frozen crust of the earth, while an opposite 
 ies is in the equally frozen regions of the arctic and 
 antarctic upper atmosphere of our pi; 
 
 These fop^s with electricity and heat, all developed by 
 light and controlled by the omniscient wisdom of the 
 Almighty, arc the powers which regulate the motions of our 
 planet and preserve it in its integrity.
 
 105 
 
 We may well dispense, therefore, with the whole theory of 
 centripetal and centrifugal forces, aud of the attraction of matter 
 by weight, which continually is being changed with the forms 
 and positions it assumes, the same substance being at one time 
 solid and fixed to the earth, then liquid and movable on ita 
 surface and again gaseous and floating in its atmosphere 
 above it. 
 
 In connection with this subject of magnetism, it is curious 
 to observe that in the animal and vegetable kingdoms the 
 forms of their productions all conform, in a greater or lesser 
 degree, to the typical forms of ellipsoids, or oblate spheroids, 
 as manifested in the planets. Examine the forms of our trees. 
 Vertical or horizontal sections, when they are in full leaf, 
 would disclose curved lines, which, if tangential to the ex- 
 tremities of their leafy branches, would represent the elements 
 of an ellipse in some cases elongated, in others approaching 
 nearly to the form of a circle. So with their leaves, however 
 long and narrow they may be, the elemental character of the 
 ellipse is apparent in them. The fruits they bear have all 
 similar characteristics. The apple, the peach, the pear, the 
 apricot, the nectarine, and indeed all the stone fruits, have 
 shapes corresponding nearly to the ellipsoid. The nut-bearing 
 trees, 'from the cocoa-nut through the walnuts, hickories, 
 pecan nuts, chestnuts and beeches, all produce fruits which, 
 in their outer forms, partake of the character of ellipsoids, or 
 oblate spheroids. The coffee berry, the olive, the fig, the date, 
 all correspond in their general forms to the same type. Among 
 what are called vegetables, from the enormous melon, in all 
 its varieties, through the pod-bearing plants, the cabbage, &c., 
 the same type is visible. So in the roots and tubers; the 
 turnip is an oblate spheroid, the potato commonly an ellip- 
 soid, as are also the carrot and the parsnip. In the seeds of 
 the family of grapes, as well as in their leaves, the same forms 
 are found. The bunches of grapes, as well as their berries, 
 are all of the same characteristic form. Take even the grasses 
 in which may be included the cereals. Their long and nar- 
 row leaves are all elliptical in form, though they may, in some 
 cases, be pointed at their outer extremities. These long leaves 
 assume the form of a semi-ellipse, in their curvature from the 
 stem or branches, from which they grow, towards the ground. 
 So it is with the long blades of maize or Indian corn, the sugar 
 cane, and sorghum. The leaves, fruits and branches of trees, 
 for the most part, have an inclination towards the earth, and 
 are commonly pendant. Their tops are attracted upwards,
 
 106 
 
 and are frequently vertical. Why do their branches extend 
 laterally and downwards, while their trunks and summits 
 ascend vertically in the atmosphere? And why do their 
 s and fruits hang downwards? Is it not because of their 
 magnetic condition 't Now, the leaves, fruits and branel 
 trees, which pursue horizontal, or slightly inclined directions, 
 uutv be supposed to be dia-magnetic, aud under the influence 
 of the horizontal currents of magnetism that set equatorially 
 to the magnetic meridian; while the trunks and summits, re- 
 pelled by the magnetism of the earth, are attracted by the op- 
 posite magnetism of the upper atmosphere, and rise vertically. 
 These two forces, varying in intensity, produce all the resultant 
 directions which their branches assume in their development. 
 Fruits of trees, being ellipsoidal in form, (which is the com- 
 mon form of simple magnets,) and generally pendant vertically, 
 when they fall to the ground are attracted there by the supe- 
 rior magnetism of the earth, and remain on it by the same 
 attraction, unless removed from it by a superior force. 
 
 If there is any truth in the story of Sir Isaac Newton hav- 
 ing been led to the adoption of his theory of gravitation, and 
 of centripetal and centrifugal forces, by tue sight of an apple 
 falling from its tree to the ground, it is to be lamented that he 
 did not investigate the force which expanded the seed, caused 
 its germination, pushed it from the soil, (where l.y gravitation 
 it should have remained,) and directed its development up- 
 wards and laterally, forming its fruit-bud, blossom and fruit, 
 and holding the latter suspended in the air, unail'ected by rain, 
 hail or wind, till in its maturity, its growth completed, it fell 
 to the earth, by the attractive power of the same force which 
 had repelled its parent tree from the soil. I Fad he done so, 
 we might not now be compelled to begin anew the study of 
 terrestrial physics, after having abandoned the learned specu 
 lations of this celebrated philosopher 
 
 Now, in the animal kingdom, we will begin with man, who, 
 we flatter ourselves, is the highest development of animal life. 
 As he stands erect upon his feet, if we suppose a vertical plane 
 to be passed through his person laterally, the curved line so 
 produced, tangential to his prominences, would be an ellipse. 
 The revolution of that ellipse, on its longer axis, would pro- 
 duce an ellipsoid. Now, that ellipsoid ie, during the life of 
 the man, a magnet, witli opposite .poles at its head and feet, 
 and various parts of his body are also separate magnets, but 
 in harmony with the chief magnet. His legs are a horse shoe
 
 10T 
 
 magnet, with the poles in the feet, and the five toes on each 
 of his feet constitute, for each foot, four horse shoe mag- 
 nets. "When, from disordered health, the magnetism in either 
 
 leg is no longer produced, paralysis of that limb results, and 
 the contractile and expansive power of the muscles is no 
 longer acted upon by the electricity of the system. The anus 
 furnish another horse shoe magnet, and the five fingers of each 
 hand constitute, each, four horse shoe magnets, with the poles 
 at the extremities. The optic, nasal and auditory nerves, in 
 each pair respectively, constitute a horse shoe magnet. The 
 genital organs are each a separate, but very powerful magnet, 
 and are ellipsoids in form. 
 
 In quadrupeds, the fore legs are a horse shoe magnet, as also 
 are the hind legs. The split hoofs of the ruminants are also 
 horse shoe magnets ; so are the round hoofs of the horse, the 
 ass, the mule and the zebra, with their poles pointing to the 
 rear, instead of to the front. A lateral horizontal section of a 
 quadruped through his head, neck and body, would develop 
 an elliptical curve. The jaws of animals are separate horse 
 shoe magnets. A serpent, which is also an ellipsoid, is a mag- 
 net, and when it is coiled, each of its coils preserves the ellip- 
 soidal form. The same type runs through the feathered tribes, 
 and the forms of the fishes everywhere partake, more or less, 
 of the elementary character of the ellipsoid. 
 
 In the investigation of this subject it will be found that the 
 attachment of animals to the earth, and their locomotion upon 
 it. are due to magnetism, and not to gravitation. It will be 
 observed, that in all animals, their bodies, which are their 
 heaviest parts, are the farthest removed from the surface of 
 the earth, which could not be the case if they were held to the 
 earth by the attraction of their weight or gravity. As New- 
 ton's rule is that the attraction of gravitation is proportional to 
 the mass or weight, and, as the head, neck, body and thighs 
 are the heaviest parts of the animal, they should be nearest to 
 the earth, which it is known, they are not. 
 
 Now, why is this type so universal as well in planets as in 
 whatever that has life upon them ? Is it not because of mag- 
 netism, that has developed this form and its modifications? 
 Does not the magnetism of the atmosphere control the move- 
 ments of birds by its attractions and repulsions; of the sea, 
 which is highly magnetic, those of the fishes and marine 
 animals which inhabit it; and of both the air and the land, 
 those of the animals who live upon the land, and of the plants
 
 108 
 
 which are developed in its soil ? Magnetism, therefore, is an 
 element of life, in plants and animals, and is one of the motive 
 powers of planetary and stellar movements in the universe. 
 
 Let us now return to Moses and his book of Genesis. In 
 the 2d chapter and 7th verse, he says : " And the Lord God 
 formed man of the slime of the earth, and breathed into his 
 face the breath of life; and man became a living soul." And 
 in the 21st verse, " Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon 
 Adam, and when he was fast asleep, ho took one of his ribs 
 and lillcd up flesh for it." And in the 22d verse, "And the 
 Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a 
 woman, and brought her to Adam." When we remember the 
 history of Moses, his birth of Israelitish parents, in the pro- 
 vince of Goshen, bordering on the Delta of the river Nile ; 
 the attempt of his mother to save him from the destruction 
 decreed by Pharaoh against all the male children of the Hebrews, 
 by placing him on the river Nile, in a water tight cradle made 
 of papyrus, among the water plants of that stream ; his dis- 
 covery by Pharaoh's daughter as she was proceeding to bathe 
 in the river near by; his delivery to his mother to be nursed 
 and reared, till he should be old enough to be educated as the 
 adopted son of the Princess, who had discovered him in the 
 river ; his education by the priests, who at that period, as a 
 class, were the most learned persons in Egypt; his subsequent 
 abandonment of the court of Pharaoh, and flight into the 
 desert, where he passed forty years of his life ; his selection as 
 leader of his people in their flight from Egypt, and his resi- 
 dence among them for the last forty years of his life ; we are 
 not surprised that so learned a man, of such varied experi- 
 ences, should have been chosen to conduct such a people as 
 raclitc-s out of bondage, to a land flowing with milk and 
 honey. 
 
 In the temples of Egypt, he had doubtless seen the priests 
 oftentimes engaged in making. tlioir idols out of the slime of 
 the river Nile. IVrhaps he himself may have assisted in llieir 
 manufacture. He must have had the history of his life im- 
 parted to him, and the oo/.e of the river on which his cradle 
 had rested mu-t have hem to him a familiar ohject. lie knew 
 the plastic, character of its slime, ho\v easily it could he made 
 'ime, any form. And he \vas probably acquainted with 
 the qualities of the various materials composing it, viz: the 
 carbonate of lime, from the bed of the river, the remains of 
 fish and reptiles, replete with phosphates, and the vegetable
 
 109 
 
 matter, in almost every stage of decomposition. When, thcr<V 
 fore, it was revealed to him by the Almighty that he had 
 formed man out of the slime of the earth, he could readily 
 understand tint Divine power could fashion a man out of such 
 materials, but the investing this man of flesh made of clay 
 with life, by simply breathing into his face, was such a mani- 
 festation of power as must have confounded all his reasoning 
 faculties. 
 
 Let us see if we can form any idea of how this vitalization 
 of the first man was effected. Remember that this is a reve- 
 lation of a physical fact, and in communicating it to mankind 
 through the medium of Moses, the Creator did not mean to 
 make any secret of it, but has left it to us to discover, if we 
 can, without discrediting the act, or disbelieving the revela- 
 tion. Let us suppose the first man to have been made out of 
 the materials mentioned. He is complete in all his organisms; 
 they are all prepared and ready to work as soon as vitality 
 shall be imparted to them. This is done by " breathing in his 
 face the breath of life," and "the man becomes a living soul." 
 Now, the first inquiry is, what r is the breath of life ? Accord- 
 ing to Moses, light had been created, the earth had received 
 its form, the three kingdoms, animal, vegetable and mineral, 
 were defined, and their functions were being performed, an 
 atmosphere existed, and we may suppose that 'it was consti- 
 tuted to fulfil all the conditions which appertain to it at the 
 present day. Its elements were the same then as now. Light, 
 which from the beginning had been passing through interstel- 
 lar and interplanetary spaces, with its inconceivable velocity, 
 had, on entering the denser medium of the atmosphere, pro- 
 duced enormous friction, by which electricity, and subse- 
 quently magnetism, had been evolved to perform the parts 
 assigned to them in the Divine economy. When Adam, there- 
 fore, was finished in his structural condition, and the blood 
 lay in his heart and lungs, arteries and veins, without motion, 
 but ready for use, all that was necessary was to fill his lungs 
 with atmospheric air, negatively electrified, and life at once 
 became established in his system. This was done by breath- 
 ing in his face the breath of life, that is to say atmospheric air, 
 which, conducted by the nostrils and the mouth through the 
 windpipe to the lungs, and through the eyes and ears to the 
 brain, and meeting there the blood oppositely electrified, the 
 conjunction of these opposite electricities produced heat, which, 
 consuming the carbon of the blood in the oxygen gas of the 
 Atmospheric air, formed carbonic acid gas, thus purifying the
 
 110 
 
 blood of its carbon, imparting to it a boat of 100 of temperature, 
 positively electrified, and expelling from the lungs, through the 
 mouth and nostrils, the carbonic acid gas which has boon thus 
 formed. The blood, after having been thus purified, rushed 
 into the heart, driven by the positive electricity of the lungs, 
 and from the heart forced into the arteries, from which it was 
 distributed to all parts of the system for its renovation and 
 support. This arterial blood, starting from the heart with a 
 temperature of 100 F., rolls in the arteries, producing friction 
 and evolving electricity, supplying all the organs of the body 
 with various materials for their renovation and nutrition, and 
 developing magnetism, but losing more heat than it generates, 
 so that by the time this arterial blood has passed through the 
 capillaries, and has entered the veins to return to the heart, it has 
 lost two degrees of temperature, And it returns to the heart as 
 venous blood, with a temperature of 98 F. This loss of two 
 degrees of heat in traversing the body, changing the elec- 
 tricity of the blood, by induction, from being positive to being 
 :ive; in the heart it becomes again positive, and rushes 
 into the lungs to meet the negative electricity of the atmos- 
 pheric air, where the same process of burning the carbon of 
 the blood in the oxygen gas of the atmospheric air, purifying 
 the blood, driving it back again into the heart and thence 
 
 O O 
 
 through the arteries throughout the system as before, and so 
 on while life exists in its normal condition. This is, probably, 
 the physical life of man, as described in the 2d chapter and 7th 
 of the book of Genesis ; and we find that electricity, 
 heat, and magnetism, are essential elements of it, and that 
 without them it cannot exist 
 
 Dr. Ure, in his celebrated experiment of conveying currents 
 of electricity along tbe spinal nerves of the recently executed 
 
 malefactor, (Mydcsdale, \vhile the body was still warm, though 
 
 life was extinct, prodm-cd a horrible caricature of the operations 
 
 of life,, by calling into violent contractions the muscles of the 
 
 All the expressions of rage, hatred, despair and horror 
 
 1 upon the features, producing so revolting a 
 
 scene that many spectators fainted at the sight. In like 
 
 manner muscular contractions and expansions of the limbs, 
 
 imitating the movements of actual life, were exhibited, to the 
 
 astonishment of beholders. 
 
 The ingenious physicist, Txittcr, of Munich, in "Bavaria, cele- 
 brated tor his experiments in galvanism, has, through them, 
 among other things, established the fact, that a constant de-
 
 Ill 
 
 velopment of electricity accompanies all the phenomena of 
 life. Now, as magnetism is developed by currents of electri- 
 city, it follows, that in moving the legs of animals the expan- 
 sion and contraction of their muscles produce friction and 
 evolve an electricity opposed to that which has set them in 
 motion, and, at the same time, the conjunction of these oppo- 
 site electricities also develops magnetism, which at once is 
 acted upon by the superior magnetism of the earth, and hence 
 you have a leg lifted from the earth and another placed upon 
 it, in locomotion, by the force of magnetism, and this is re- 
 peated and continued at the will of the animal. 
 
 The celebrated naturalist, Prof. Louis Agassi/, in his lectures 
 on Embryology, stated, that the beginning of animal life was in 
 an egg. Let us see if we can comprehend its transmutation into 
 life. The sexes are oppositely electrified. In the human race 
 the females, from the positive and persistent character of their 
 demands, may be termed positively electrified. The males, 
 from their habit of negation or denial of the wants of the 
 females, which is of too common occurrence, may be termed 
 negatively electrified. These opposing conditions create 
 sexual attraction; when a conjunction of these opposite elec- 
 tricities occurs in the act of coition, a certain degree of heat is 
 developed, and magnetism is also evolved the egg disengaged 
 from the ovarium is magnetized and positively electrified, and 
 through the Fallopian tubes, enlarged by the heat of the 
 coition, is carried into the uterus, prepared to receive it. 
 Thus, vitalized by the electricity and magnetism that have 
 been imparted to it, its own heat, and that of the uterus, in 
 which it is deposited, continue to preserve the life which has 
 thus been called into being. Such, also, is the commence- 
 ment of animal magnetism. 
 
 Du Bois Reymond states "that the electrical current mani- 
 fests itself in different directions, in the limbs of different 
 animals, and with greater intensity in some animals than in 
 others. The electro-motive forces thus operating in the mus- 
 cles depend upon the opposite electrical [? magnetic] condi- 
 tions existing between their longitudinal and transverse sec- 
 tions." So, also, with, respect to the nervous system, he states 
 that the nerves are subject, in their sectional arrangements, to 
 the same law as the muscles. This must be understood, how 
 ever, with reference only to the exercise of their inherent elec- 
 tro-motive forces. In transmitting the muscular current the 
 nerves perform the part of inactive conductors. It is not in 
 the whole, or a large part of a muscle, that an electrical cur- 
 rent can alone be shown to exist, but that every particle, the
 
 112 
 
 merest shred or fragment, even what may be considered 
 microscopic, is equally obedient to electrical influence. * * 
 * * Every movement, look or gesture, every sensation of 
 pain or pleasure, every emotion however transient, and per- 
 haps every thought unexpressed, or word uttered, is most assur- 
 edly accompanied by the disturbance of electro-motive forces. 
 These, however, are so much more feeble than any with which 
 we have hitherto become acquainted, that in the healthiest and 
 most active, during a week, or perhaps a month, their cumu- 
 lative effects may not bo equal to those evolved by one smart 
 blow of the hand upon a table." 
 
 speculation has been evoked and various experiments 
 at different times instituted, to discover and explain the cause 
 of the uniform normal heat of the body of a healthy adult per- 
 son, but heretofore with unsatisfactory results. Now, it seems 
 to me that the explanation is not a difficult one. It will be 
 admitted that the relative capacity of the lungs to furnish at- 
 mospheric air to oxidate the blood, and of the heart to supply 
 the proper quantity of blood to be so oxidated in the lungs, is 
 constant in a healthy adult. When, therefore, the lungs are 
 filled to their greatest capacity, with blood and atmospheric 
 air in diffusion through it, the meeting of the negative elec- 
 tricity of the air with the positive electricity of the blood in 
 the lungs, develops heat and magnetism, and the oxidated 
 blood becomes positively electrified ; the carbon of the blood 
 unites with a portion of the oxygen of the air in the lungs, 
 and becomes carbonic acid gas, also positively electrified. 
 This change also develops heat and magnetism, having been 
 produced by the meeting of opposite electricities; a portion of 
 the water of the blood, separated from it during these changes, 
 is taken up by the carbonic acid gas; and the carbonic acid 
 gas and the oxidated blood, both being positively electrified, 
 n-]M-l each other the blood back to the heart, to be thence 
 distributed by the arteries through the system, while the car- 
 bonic acid gas, and the watery vapor it contains, are expired 
 from the lung.s through the mouth and nostrils into the atmos- 
 phere. This repulsion of the carbonic acid gas and watery 
 vapor from the lungs is obvious to every one. For who is 
 there that can hold his breath even for a single moment? A 
 greater power than man's will forces them from the lungs, and 
 that is the repellent power of positive electricity. The oxi- 
 dated blood is driven into the heart by this same repellent 
 force. 
 
 It is the electrical action, therefore, in the lungs of the at- 
 mospheric air and the blood intermingled in constant relative
 
 113 
 
 quantities, that produces the uniform temperature, in all lati- 
 tudes, of 98 Fahrenheit in a healthy adult person. 
 
 Electricity is the cause of the fluidity of the Mood in the 
 veins and arteries. Venous blood taken from the veins, and 
 left to itself becomes solid, and separates into t\vo distinct 
 parts; the serum, or watery, being over and upon the clot or 
 coagulum. The serum is chiefly water, holding albumen in 
 solution and the salts of the blood. The clot contains fibrin 
 coloring matter, a little serum and a small quantity of salts. 
 Prick a finger with a needle, a small drop of blood exudes. 
 It is negatively electrified ; on being exposed to the air its nega- 
 tive electricity instantly unites with the positively electrified 
 air in contact with the warm surface of the finger, heat is 
 produced by their conjunction, the watery part of the serum 
 is evaporated by the heat and the distributing electricities; 
 and the clot remains to cover the puncture made by the 
 needle, and to protect the blood in the vein from further 
 injury by the action of the air upon it. How many lives have 
 been saved after unconsciousness, from the loss of blood in 
 wounds, has seized upon the sufferer, by the escape of the 
 serum of the blood through evaporation from electricity, and 
 the deposit of the clot upon the lips of the wounds, closing 
 them and preventing the further flow of the blood through 
 them, and thus allowing nature to gather up its remaining 
 strength, and to restore the patient. How thankful we should 
 be to the Creator for this simple, wise and benevolent provi- 
 sion for our safety in the occurrence of blood-letting injuries ! 
 
 An eminent surgeon of my acquaintance has informed me, 
 that, in cases of death produced by lightning, the blood re- 
 mains fluid in the veins for several days afterwards ; whereas, 
 in cases of death from disease, the blood coagulates soon after- 
 wards. He has known a case in which the blood remained 
 fluid in the veins four days and several hours subsequent to 
 the death of the man by lightning. This goes to show that in 
 the absence of electricity from the blood, its flow in the arte- 
 ries and veins becomes retarded, and its coagulation, or even 
 thickening, would suddenly terminate the life of an animal in 
 which it had occurred. This, no doubt, is the cause of paralysis 
 and apoplexy. The treatment in such cases, therefore, should 
 be the introduction of the opposite electricity in the veins and 
 arteries to restore the electrical equilibrium and consequent 
 fluidity of the blood. 
 
 I have somewhere met with the following anecdote of the 
 late Emperor Nicholas I, of Russia, which, as it is pertinent to 
 the present discussion, may be introduced here. It is as follows :
 
 114 
 
 Some roars since a very distinguished, French actress, having 
 an engagement at the Imperial Theatre at St. Petersburg]!, 
 arrived there at the beginning of winter. Soon after her ar- 
 rival, in company with a gentleman of her party, she proceeded 
 to the grounds of the Winter Palace tor walking exercise. 
 "Winter had arrived and the ground was covered with snow, 
 some of which had recently fallen. The air was calm and the 
 weather very cold. 
 
 In the course of their walk, their attention was attracted by 
 the appearance of a gentleman of very distinguished mien, 
 who was also walking, lie was very tall and remarkably 
 handsome, and was approaching them rapidly: very much im- 
 pressed by his appearance and manner, they were regarding 
 him very fixedly, when as he came near to them they saw him 
 take off from his hand a glove, and stooping low he grasped a 
 handful of the light and newly fallen enow. This strange 
 movement so fully occupied their attention, that they were 
 almost unaware of his having reached them, when, stopping 
 before the lady, he very abruptly clapped his hand filled with 
 snow upon her nose, and began to rub it vigorously, at the 
 same time saying to her in French; "Madame, your nose is 
 frozen!" Her attendant, astounded by what at first he thought 
 was intended as a great indignity to the lady, was about to re- 
 pent it, when he heard the explanation which accompanied it. 
 The Emperor Nicholas, for it was he, began to rub briskly the 
 nose and face of the lady with his hand filled with snow, to re- 
 store, by friction, the proper circulation of the blood, and thus 
 prevent the great injury to the lady's face which the loss of 
 her nose would occasion. He spoke encouragingly to her, and 
 calling an attendant he sent for his surgeon, and alter the cir- 
 culation of the blood in her face was re-established, she was re- 
 turned to her apartments, where she received every attention, 
 by the Kmperor's orders, and in a little while she was entirely 
 d. Now, why did the Emperor rub her nose and face 
 with snow; and why did he take off his glove from his hand 
 to perform that oflice ? 
 
 It has been long known, that frozen limbs can be restored 
 
 to their normal condition of healthy vigour by the application 
 of snow or pounded ice to the part ufi'ect.-d, when quickly 
 rubbed with the human band ; but it is not so well known why 
 such an effect is thus produced. Let us essay an explanation 
 of it. When a limb or member is frozen, the circulation of 
 the blood in it C nd the ble of the limb or member is 
 
 suspended; and unless its healthy action is speedily restored,
 
 115 
 
 the part affected loses its vitality, gangrene sets in, and ampu- 
 tation becomes necessary. The animal electricity that it con- 
 tained has disappeared. Xmv, the human hand has one kind 
 of electricity ; snow or ice 1ms tin 4 opposite kind of electricity. 
 "When these opposing elect ricities are brought together in con 
 tact by friction, as they were in this instance, heat and mair- 
 netism were evolved, which heat warmed and expanded the 
 frozen nose, and associated with the magnetism that had been 
 developed, excited an electrical current in the coagulated 
 blood in the veins of the nose and face, which then began to 
 flow in its natural course. When this friction is thus con- 
 tinued for a sufficient time, the health of the limb or member 
 is restored. Now if heat from combustion had been applied 
 in this case, instead of heat from electricity evolved by fric- 
 tion, as above described, it would have resulted in the morti- 
 fication and loss of the lady's nose. 
 
 It has been abundantly shown, by experiments made by 
 distinguished scientists, that, under the influence of weak cur- 
 rents of electricity, salts can be resolved into their component 
 elements. In this way a compound can be separated into its 
 constituent acid and base. It has also been shown, by Becquerel, 
 that if an acid and alkaline solution be so placed that their 
 union is effected through the parietes of an animal membrane, 
 or, indeed, of any other porous diaphragm, a current of elec- 
 tricity is evolved. This has been found to be true with all 
 acids and soluble bases. Now, Dr. Golding Bird asserts, that 
 " with the exception of the stomach and coscum, the whole 
 extent of the mucous membrane, is bathed with an alkaline 
 mucous fluid, and the external covering of the body is as con- 
 stantly exhaling an acid fluid, except in the axillary and 
 pubic regions. The mass of the animal frame is thus placed 
 between two great envelopes, the one alkaline and the other 
 acid, meeting only at the mouth, nostrils and anus. Donne, 
 has shown that this arrangement is quite competent to the 
 evolution of electricity. 
 
 " The blood in a healthy state, exerts a well marked alkaline 
 action on test paper but a piece of muscular flesh containing 
 a large proportion of alkaline blood, when it is cut into 
 Bmall pieces and digested in water, the infusion thus ob- 
 tained is actually acid to litmus paper. This curious circum- 
 stance is explained by the fact announced by Liebig, that, 
 although the blood in the vessels of the muscle is alkaline 
 from the tribnsic phosphate of soda, yet the proper fluids or 
 secretions of the tissues exterior to the capillaries are acid
 
 116 
 
 from the presence of free phosphoric and lactic acids. Thus 
 in every mass of muscle, we have myriads of electric currents, 
 arising from the mutual reaction of an acid fluid exterior to 
 the vessels or their alkaline contents. It is thus very remark- 
 able, that a muscle should be an electrogenic apparatus, and 
 that we should have two sources of the electricity of the 
 muscles the effects of metamorphoses of effete fibres on the 
 one hand, and on the other the mutual reaction of two fluids 
 in different chemical conditions. The agency of a muscle 
 ingenerating electricity can no longer be denied. 
 
 " In the course of twenty-four hours a considerable propor- 
 tion of watery vapour exhales from the surface of the body. 
 This has been differently estimated, and is liable to great va- 
 riations but from 30 to 48 ounces of water may thus be got 
 rid of from the system. The evaporation of this amount of 
 fluid is sufficient to disturb the electric equilibrium of the 
 body, and to evolve electricity of much higher tension than 
 that set free by chemical action. This evaporation may proba- 
 bly account for the traces of free electricity generally to be de- 
 tected in the body, by merely insulating a person and placing 
 him in contact with a condensing electrometer. Pfaff and 
 Ahrens generally found the electricity of the body thus ex- 
 amined to be positive, especially when the circulation had 
 been excited by partaking of alcoholic stimulants. Ilcmmer, 
 another observer, found that in 2422 experiments on himself, 
 his body was positively electric in 1252, negative in 771, and 
 neutral in 399. The causes of the variations in the character 
 of the electric conditions of the body, admit of ready ex- 
 planations in the varying composition of the perspired fluid. 
 For it' it contains, as it generally does, some free acid, it, by 
 its evaporation, would leave the body positively electric; 
 whilst it' it merely contains neutral salt, it would induce an 
 opposite condition. The accuracy of these statements can bo 
 easily verified by means of the electrometer." 
 
 " It is an established fact that, independently of combustion, 
 chemical action or evaporation, the mero contact of heteroge- 
 neous organic matters ia competent to disturb electric equi- 
 librium." 
 
 " Whatever may be the influence of electricity as an agent 
 in exciting the function of digestion, it is now pretty distinctly 
 made out that the function of digestion in the stomach is an 
 action allied to simple solution, of which water a proper 
 temperature, [always associated with electricity] and a free 
 acid, the hydrochloric, phosphoric, or both, are the active
 
 117 
 
 agents. "We possess sufficient evidence to induce us to regard 
 a current of electricity as the means by which the saline con- 
 stituents of the food are decomposed, and their constituent 
 acids, the real agents in digestion, set free in the stomach, the 
 soda of the decomposed salts being conveyed to the liver to 
 aid the metamorphosis and depuration of the portal blood, and 
 cause the separation of matter rich in carbon in the form of a 
 saline combination in the bile. It also appears, from various 
 experiments, that in all cases the secreted matters are always 
 in an opposite electric condition from that of the blood from 
 which they were generated." 
 
 Chemical action is merely a synonym for electrical action, 
 hence in all the functions of the animal body from its birth 
 till its dissolution, we may observe the influence of electrical 
 currents, the development of magnetism by the conjunction of 
 them, oppositely electrified, and the production of heat. In 
 the first inspiration of atmospheric air into the lungs where 
 it encounters the blood oppositely electrified, heat and 
 magnetism are evolved, and the purified blood has one elec- 
 tricity which repels itself into the heart, and thence by the 
 arteries through the system. When it reaches the capillaries 
 it has lost more than two degrees of its temperature, and being 
 forced through the capillaries into the veins as well by the 
 repulsion of the electricity of the arterial blood, as attracted by 
 the opposite electricity of the veins and the blood they contain, 
 the temperature is increased till it reaches 98 of Fahrenheit, 
 which it carries with it to the heart. 
 
 Muscular exercise actively employed by the contraction and 
 expansion of the muscles, and by their friction among them- 
 selves, develops large quantities of electricity, which requires 
 a corresponding quantity of the opposite electricity of the air 
 to neutralize it, hence the inspiration of atmospheric air into 
 the lungs becomes more rapid in proportion to the activity of 
 the exercise, great heat is developed in the body by the con- 
 junction of these opposite electricities, which expanding all 
 the tissues of the body, liberates the water contained in them 
 and in the viscera by exos mosis, which then exudes through 
 the pores of the skin, as perspiration, carrying off the surplus 
 electricity that has heen produced by the violence of the exer- 
 cise, and relieving the body from the further inconvenience of 
 its increased heat. This perspiration is acid in some parts of 
 the body and alkaline in other parts, and furnishes the most 
 immediate means of getting rid of the excessive free currents 
 of electricity of the body at all times.
 
 118 
 
 During an attack of fever, while the patient is suffering 
 from the great interior heat of his body from disturbed elec- 
 trical action, why does ho continually ask for cold water? It 
 is because the cold water, oppositely electrified to the over- 
 heated organs and viscera of his body, is demanded by the 
 instinct of his nature, which requires it, so that the incr< 
 heat developed by the conjunction of these opposite electrici- 
 ties may still more expand the tissues and viscera and liberate 
 the water therefrom which, mixed with the water drank, 
 would carry off in perspiration the excess of electricity and 
 re the body to its normal condition. For this reason, 
 cold water in large quantities should always be prescribed in 
 cases of fever, to carry oil' the surplus electricity, by the 
 perspiration it induces, as well as to supply the material for 
 the very perspiration that it is intended it should produce. 
 Warm saline or acid baths, by expanding the pores of the 
 skin, and thus promoting perspiration, are natural remedies 
 in cases of fever or of violent inflammation. Perspiration, 
 therefore, alkaline or acid, is the remedy for excessive elec- 
 trization and just as the perspiration is either alkaline or 
 acid, in those places of the body where in its natural state it 
 should be the reverse, ought the physician to be able to diag- 
 nose the causes of this abnormal condition, and to restore the 
 electrical equilibrium in the system. 
 
 The sexes are oppositely electrified hence their mutual at- 
 traction for each other. Now give them the same electricities, 
 and mutual repulsion immediately results. Let us ponder 
 awhile on this subject. Every one must have observed in the 
 press of this country, almost daily, and in every part of it, 
 accounts of the most outrageous, cruel, and in some cases of 
 diabolical attacks of men upon women, and occasionally of 
 women upon men, generally when they bore toward each 
 other the relation of husband and wile. When they have been 
 iirst acquainted with each other, their electricities being oppo- 
 site, they were mutually attracted to each other, their acqiiaint- 
 grew into esteem, and ripened into affection and love, 
 and they became man and wife,. The animal system develops 
 electricity, magnetism and heat in its functional actions the 
 kind of electricity and magnetism art; dependent upon the 
 habits of life, the diet, the occupation and association oft he indi 
 vidual. When these are similar similar electric and magnetic 
 conditions of the body will result. It has been shown that the 
 ;ive or masculine electricity of the man H reversed, and 
 p< sitive like that of the woman under the excitement 
 of alcoholic stimulants in other words, for the time being,
 
 119 
 
 the man becomes a woman, and is converted into the only 
 thing which the British Parliament, in all its great potentiality, 
 could not do, viz: make a man a woman, or a woman a man. 
 This, alcoholic stimulants have always done, and are now doing 
 every day. 'When this change in the condition of his electricity 
 had occurred, his attributes become feminine; he is irritable, 
 irrational, excitable by trivialities, and when opposed in his 
 opinions or conduct, becomes violent and outrageous, and if, 
 in this mood, he meets his wife, whose normal condition of 
 electricity is like his present condition, positive, they repel 
 each other, become mutually abusive, engage in conflict and 
 deadly strife, and the newspaper of the next day announces the 
 verdict of the coroner's jury on the case How many such in- 
 cidents are occurring daily in almost every part of our extended 
 country ; and who would expect to find the discovery of the 
 moving cause of all these terrible crimes in the perspiration of 
 the criminal? and yet science has shown that the metamor- 
 phosis of a man into a woman by changing the negative con- 
 dition of his electricity into the positive electricity of the 
 woman, with all its attributes, is disclosed by the character of 
 his perspiration, superinduced by the use of alcoholic stimu- 
 lants ! It is a very curious thing to note, that among the Per- 
 sians, one of the most ancient of peoples, the ordinary saluta- 
 tion on the meeting of friends, is, not as among the English, 
 " How do you do ? " as if your life was one of incessant labor, 
 or as among the French, " Comment vous portez-vous ?" " How 
 do you carry yourself ? " as if it w r as a great exertion to move 
 at all but " How do you perspire ? " In the lapse of ages, a 
 vast deal of knowledge useful to a people, is necessarily ac- 
 quired by their experience, personal as well as national. In 
 the hot and arid climate of Persia, the people suffer, and have 
 always suffered, greatly from fevers, eruptive diseases of the 
 skin,* as well as from those of a dysenteric and choleraic char- 
 acter. Their experience has taught them, in their diseases, 
 that the first relief from suffering that they felt, was ii^ the re- 
 turn of their perspiration to their skin, and as lop^ as that 
 perspiration could be maintained, just so long was tneir relief 
 continued hence they came to regard it as synonymous with 
 a state of good health, and the salutation among friends on 
 meeting was introduced and became common among the 
 people. - 
 
 Let no woman, hereafter, delude herself with the idea that 
 she can reform a man addicted to the use of alcoholic stimu- 
 lants by marriage. Should she attempt it, she will fall a 
 victim to the delusion, as many of her sex have done before
 
 120 
 
 her, as she will find that her will is controlled by her normal 
 positive electricity, which is of the same character as that of the 
 man, her husband, and that, in spite of herself, the two will be 
 mutually repellent, and their association as man and wife will 
 be unhappy in the extreme. 
 
 Observe a drunken man with a male companion who is 
 sober; their electricities are opposite ; how loving the drunken 
 man is to his friend; he caresses him; locks his arm in that 
 of his companion ; hugs him ; in France he would kiss him ; 
 prattle to him with the simplicity of a child ; talks nonsense 
 with the incoherence of delirium ; and is as good humored 
 and amiable as possible. His wife appears on the scene ; his 
 manner changes instantly; she tells him he is wanted at home, 
 and asks him to accompany her there ; he replies, "you go to 
 . don't you see I am with George," naming his companion. 
 The wife urges him to go home, and not expose himself in the 
 public streets in his condition. He is exasperated; their re- 
 pellent electricities are in action; they become angry; vio- 
 lence probably ensues, and the police interfere. Let no woman 
 ever venture to remonstrate with a drunken man ; her own 
 electrical condition forbids it ; such remonstrance irritates the 
 man, develops his anger, and leads to violence ; and when it 
 is remembered that women are particularly the objects of brutal 
 attack by drunken men, as is made manifest by the publication 
 in the daily press of the country, of crimes that have been 
 committed, it is obvious that their safety will be promoted by 
 their silence. 
 
 The remarkable variations in his own electrical condition, 
 reported by the observer, Ilemmer, as deduced from his experi- 
 ments upon his own body, go to show that every incident in 
 human life might be traced to its electrical condition; all the 
 >ns are excited by it, and are subdued by its reversal ; all 
 the emotions are necessary consequences of it, and it is not 
 probahly going too far to say that the intellectuality of man is 
 sly due to his electricity and magnetism. 
 
 \Yc have thus shown that from the impregnation of the ovum 
 of the warm-blooded animal, through its whole, existence, elec- 
 tricity, inagneiism, and heat, are the essential elements of its 
 vitality: and that starting from the first man, Adam, it was 
 not until the Creator had "breathed into his face tin- Im-atli 
 of life," or, as we interpret it, had hrought together the atmos- 
 pheric air and the blood in his lungs, oppositely electrified, 
 by breathing that atmospheric air into his face, t rough hia 
 mouth, nostrils, and eyes, and thus bringing it into contact
 
 121 
 
 with the oppositely electrified blood, that life in Adam was 
 established, and the law of life made universal for all his 
 descendants. 
 
 It is curious to observe the marvelous provisions made by 
 the Creator to relieve the human animal from the excess of 
 electrical action in his system from whatever cause. The brain 
 being the most important of the organs, and contained in a 
 bony structure called the cranium, or skull, composed of several 
 parts united by serrated edges, and subject to a certain degree 
 of mobility at those edges, to protect the skull from fracture 
 by trivial, accidental blows, or pressure, is the first organ to be 
 relieved from increased heat in the blood which circulates 
 there. Perspiration first breaks out on the forehead, near the 
 temples; then at the uppermost suture, or serrated edge, on 
 the top of the skull ; then along the temples ; then behind the 
 ears, to relieve the cerebellum and the organs of hearing; then 
 above and below the eyes, for the relief of those organs; then 
 along the nose and corners of the mouth ; then under the jaws, 
 to relieve the glands of the mouth and throat ; the thorax, or 
 chest, where the greatest activity of the circulation of the 
 blood occurs, is relieved by the perspiration in the armpits, 
 under the shoulders ; while the abdominal region is protected 
 by its exudation in the loins and groins, and the pelvis and 
 hips have their guardian in the pubic region ; the upper leg in 
 the angle behind the knee, when it is bent ; the lower leg and 
 foot find their security in the perspiration that exudes between 
 the toes, as the lower arm and hand are protected by it, as it 
 escapes between the fingers and in the palm of the hand all 
 these salutary provisions are independent of the will of the 
 individual, and are so many safety valves for his preservation 
 from injury, in too many cases, from his own imprudence and 
 folly. 
 
 It is to the female of every species that the Creator has 
 confided the care and perservation of the young animal, as 
 well as the continuance of the species to which she may be- 
 long. We all know how powerful is the emotion of maternal 
 instinct ; it needs no illustration. 
 
 Among all animals but man the season of reproduction is 
 dependent upon climatic influences upon the temperature of 
 the season, when the young animal is to be ushered into life, 
 and on the products of the earth necessary for the mother 
 during the period of its dependence upon her for sustenance 
 us well as for its own support afterwards. 
 
 We will illustrate by a common example. We will suppose
 
 122 
 
 that the season for reproduction with the domestic cow has 
 arrived; she is at pasture, and unconscious of the change in 
 her condition which is about to happen. Suddenly, there 
 begins to he given out from her body a strong effluvium it 
 surrounds her and accompanies her in every movement. It 
 fills the atmosphere near her wafted by the wind it is carried 
 to a great distance. A mile or more to the leeward of the 
 cow, a bull is feeding among a hundred cows, in the pasture 
 field: grazing quietly he is observed to turn his head towards 
 the direction from which the wind is coming. It marks the 
 first approach of the effluvium; he turns quickly around 
 towards the wind, raises his head high above his body and 
 draws a long inspiration of air. He recognizes the fragrance. 
 It is to him an invitation. lie sets out in a rapid walk in the 
 direction from which the wind is coming; then he quickens 
 his pace into a fast trot, and, as the welcome perfume increases 
 in strength, he breaks into a gallop, and then into a full 
 run. A fence, a barrier, intervenes ; raising himself on his 
 hind heels he throws his forehand on the fence- and breaks it 
 to the ground. lienewing his speed he arrives in the field in 
 which the cow is quietly graxing among a thousand cows. 
 lie follows the fragrance directly to the object of his visit. 
 Now, what does this haste mean? "Why does he leave his own 
 pasture, a mile or more away, to rush with such speed to 
 other fields? Because a new life is to be developed, and the 
 indispensable elements of it are heat, electricity and mag- 
 netism. The exercise of his muscles in running has prod 
 friction, friction has developed electricity, positive, which de- 
 mands negative electricity from increased inspiration of the 
 atmosphere. His imagination has been excited by the pun- 
 gency <>f the grateful aroma he has breathed. lie arriv> 
 
 >w, draws a long inspiration, licks heron the neck with 
 
 uirh tongue, and upon her loins, and makes an effort, as 
 Jnp'r 1 to have done to Kuropa. after crossing the Bos- 
 
 phorus. The cow recedes from him. and he is disappointed 
 she is not ready. Again and again he proffers his devotion 
 still rejected. The cow, in the meantime, recedes from him a 
 few ; d begins again to graze. Kvery moment, liow- 
 
 . her maturity of passion is approaching, the circulation 
 of her blood iic ''miniated by his proximity and the 
 
 odour given out. from his body. Eteat and electricity in her 
 body are developed by a quickened circulation, and when the 
 instinct of her nature has been fully aroused she communi- 
 cates to him, in a mysterious way, her readiness to receive, in
 
 the language of tin- Latin po<-i, " '"rum ruentcm in Venrr 
 the elements of life are there, electricity, magnetism and }i<-at, 
 and at the end of the period of gestation, a new life is added 
 to the herd. 
 
 Among birds and poultry, the requisites for reproduction 
 are similar. In the poultry yard observe the gallant cock. 
 Scratching on the ground he finds a grain of corn, or perchance 
 an insect; he gives a chuckle and one of his hens approaches 
 to receive it. She picks it up, and comprehending the 
 generous motive of the gallant bird, she starts off in a run to 
 enjoy the gift. The cock pursues, and after a sharp and 
 quick race, in which friction, electricity, heat and magnetism 
 are developed in each of them, she suddenly stops, an embrace 
 follows, and an egg is impregnated, which in due time is 
 hatched into a chicken. 
 
 Sometimes, the cock pretending to have found some choice 
 morsel when in fact he has not, calls a hen, who on approach- 
 ing him discovers the cheat and starts from him on a run, to 
 be pursued by him as before, and with precisely a similar 
 result to the last mentioned. So that to be a gay deceiver of 
 the female is not confined to base man. 
 
 In the reproduction of all the varieties of animal life, from 
 the enormous whale to the firefly, which in the language of 
 Tom Moore, " lights her mate to her cell," and from it to the 
 tiniest insect, the like conduct prevails, viz: the exercise of the 
 muscles producing friction, and evolving electricity, magnetism 
 and heat, to vitalize the ovum in its impregnation. 
 
 The whale requires three-quarters of an hour to be passed 
 in sportive dalliance around his mate, before a sufficient 
 degree of electricity, magnetism and heat can be attained to 
 impregnate the ovum of the female. 
 
 I have been credibly informed by a very intelligent man, 
 who was for many years engaged in the whale fishery in the 
 Southern Pacific ocean and Australian seas, that while cruis- 
 ing for whales off the coast of Australia the boats of his ship 
 pursued and captured a large sperm whale that made 90 bar- 
 rels of oil. That when first struck with the harpoou he went 
 down with great velocity, carrying with him an immense 
 length of line, and that before he arose again to the surface 
 " to blow " one hour and twenty-three minutes by the ship's chro- 
 nometer had elapsed, which fact proves that it is not necessary
 
 124 
 
 for a whale to come to the surface of the water at short 
 intervals of time to breathe, as naturalists suppose, as 
 from the lapse of time mentioned while he was under 
 the water he evidently had supplied himself with atmos- 
 pheric air for breathing purposes from the water, as it was 
 impossible that any pair of lungs could have inhaled and re- 
 tained sufficient air before he went down to sustain him for 
 BO long a time under water. The true explanation probably 
 is, that the whale came to the surface to blow oft', with his car- 
 bonic acid gas and watery vapour from his lungs, the 
 surplus electricity that had been evolved in his system by the 
 immense muscular action he had displayed in his descent 
 from, and subsequent ascent to the surface, as by no other 
 method could he have gotten rid of it. 
 
 Among terrestrial animals nothing is more common during 
 the heats of summer, when so much electricity is evolved 
 within them by their inspiration of air, the circulation of their 
 blood, their digestion, secretions and muscular action, than to 
 see them in herds standing in water up to or above their 
 knees to relieve themselves of their surplus electricity by the 
 conducting power of the water and thus to cool their bodies 
 whose heat must ascend into the air, and could not be con- 
 ducted to the earth while their electricity could, by the water 
 in which they stood, be rapidly conducted from their bodies 
 to the earth. 
 
 Such is likewise the cause of the habit of wallowing in 
 muddy water of all the pachyderrnata, from the mammoth 
 through the elephant, rhinoceros, down to the common pig. 
 
 All fatty or oleaginous substances being anti-f fictional, as is 
 illustrated in every day life in the axles of our vehicles and in 
 machinery having any rotating :issociations, prevent the evolu- 
 tion of electricity, and consequently of heat. Ilencc some 
 extraordinary facts appear in the animal economy. It is 
 known that the whale, one of the varieties of the cet:: 
 
 HILT from its teat -5, which are external on,its body. 
 1, ly naturalists, with the mammalia, to 
 
 \\hich the huma! jjs. The whale inspires atmos- 
 
 pheric air, when floating on the surface of the water, and also 
 it from the. water itself when swimming beneath its 
 surface. The whales, are warm blooded, and the conjunction 
 of 1h<- negative elect ri'-ity of the atmospheric air they have 
 inspired, with the positive electricity of their blood, produces 
 heat. This heat and the accompanying electricity, which is
 
 125 
 
 derived from the friction of their blood in circulation, and of 
 their muscles in exercise while in motion, would all be rapidly 
 conducted from their bodies by the water of a lower tempera- 
 ture, in which it moves and lives, but for the great thickness 
 of the blubber or fat which encompasses them respectively, 
 and the immense quantity of oil contained in their skulls, that 
 are non-conductors of electricity, and serve to insulate it as it 
 is evolved. How then, in the rapid passage of a whale 
 through the water, is the enormous quantity of electricity 
 evolved by the friction of its organs, muscles and blood, in 
 their respective motions, to be got rid of since it cannot escape 
 from its body on account of the non-conducting power of the 
 robe of blubber which encloses it ? The whale, in breathing, 
 takes in a large quantity of water containing atmospheric air, 
 which air, having one electricity, is received into its respira- 
 tory system, where it meets with the blood oppositely electri- 
 fied. This blood it oxygenates, and by the positive electricity 
 of its lungs and heart, this blood, similarly electrified, is 
 driven through the arteries, to carry to every organ of its body 
 its renovating and vitalizing material. Changing the character 
 of its electricity by induction as it passes into the veins, 
 through the capillaries, it is taken back to the heart and 
 thence to the lungs by the attraction of the positive electricity 
 of those organs, to maintain the life of the animal, and this 
 process is continued during its existence, Now the air which 
 the whale has inspired, whether from the atmosphere directly, 
 or by abstraction from the water in which he lives, after it 
 has been used to oxidate his blood, is to be gotten rid of. 
 But how ? This air being warm carbonic acid gas, and asso- 
 ciated with watery vapour produced by the heat of opposite 
 electricities in converting the carbon of the blood into car- 
 bonic acid gas during the act of breathing, is positively elec- 
 trified, and is repelled from the lungs by their positive elec- 
 tricity, into the atmosphere negatively electrified, through its 
 blow holes or spiracles, and thus the act of breathing among 
 animals is nothing more or less than the action of electricities 
 in their opposite condition of attraction and repulsion, when 
 associated with inspired and expired atmospheric air. 
 
 Professor Matteucci has incontestably proved, " that currents 
 of electricity are always circulating in the animal frame, and 
 are not limited merely to cold blooded reptiles, but are 
 common to fishes, birds and mammalia." He has shown that a 
 " current of positive electricity is always circulating from the 
 interior to the exterior of a muscle, and that muscular con-
 
 126 
 
 tractions are developed in the animal machine by a fluid which 
 is conducted from the brain to the muscles." 
 
 The contraction of a muscle is produced by an electric cur- 
 rent of one kind. The extension of it is occasioned by 
 another current of opposite electricity. These alternate forces, 
 applied to the muscles of an animal, keep tin-in in healthy 
 exercise, and occasion all their movements, whether voluntary 
 as directed by the will, or involuntary as independent of it. 
 When a person, therefore, is immersed in water, particularly 
 in sea water, he is apt to be drowned ; for the positive elec- 
 tricity which flows from the interior to the exterior of his 
 muscles, extending them, is carried off rapidly by the negative 
 electricity of the water in which he is immersed, leaving the 
 negative electricity flowing from the brain to the muscles, to 
 contract them in cramps, which he is not able to overcome, as 
 he has lost the power to extend his limbs by the escape of his 
 positive electricity into the water. This is the cause of the 
 frequent drowning of persons ; even the best swimmers are 
 sometimes drowned from this cause. The Creator has pro- 
 vided a remedy against this loss of positive electricity in 
 aquatic birds; covered with down and outside feathers, they 
 secrete a certain oily matter with which these birds, punc- 
 turing with their bills the vesicles containing it on the surface 
 of their bodies, and filling their bills with it, anoint their 
 feathers, rendering them impenetrable by the water in which 
 they swim, and thus they retain not only their electricities 
 but also the necessary temperature of their bodies which the 
 union of these electricities in their bodies develops. The 
 w- iinen of the South Sea Islands, in the Pacific Ocean, having 
 taken the hint from these birds, without comprehending its 
 
 n, when they go to swim anoint their bodies with palm 
 oanut oil, and boldly plunge into the sea, swimming a 
 
 :>eyond the breakers which surround their island homes, 
 and taking with them a piece of board, stillicient to bear their 
 
 :t, on which they mount, and then standing on the 
 
 I on one foot, balancing their bodies upon it, they allow 
 the immense rollers from the ocean to bear them with great 
 rapidity to the breakers, where thrown from their boards by 
 the violence of their motion they swim to the shore, repeating 
 in this manner their sport for hours, defying cramps, pre- 
 serving their electricities, retaining the natural heat of their 
 bodies, and revelling in the joyous excitement of their dai 
 ous sports. This practice of the South Sea Island 
 paid, has been recently imitated by the Hnglish Captain Webb, 
 in his successful attempt to swim across the Straits of Dover,
 
 127 
 
 ho having anointed his person before starting with the oil of 
 porpoises, which enabled him to retain his electricity and heat 
 in his body, and thus to accomplish his feat. Xo\v, in 
 of shipwreck, it is obvious that when people are thrown into 
 the water, no mere floating apparatus, called "Life Pre- 
 servers" are of any value to prevent the escape of the elec- 
 tricity and heat of the floating person ; but that he is liable to 
 be drowned in a very few minutes by the escape of those 
 elements of life from his body, notwithstanding he may con- 
 tinue to float for hours afterwards. The Esquimaux and 
 other Arctic tribes of people delight to eat oils, blubber, and 
 other fatty substances, having been taught by their instinct 
 that this fatty diet serves to retain within them the heat of 
 their bodies but how ? All fatty substances are anti-fric- 
 tional, and non-productive of electricity. The viscera and 
 tissues of these fat eating people become invested with fat, 
 retarding the evolution of electricity in their system, and by 
 thus diminishing their interior heat, preventing the secretion 
 of excessive perspiration, by which their electricity would be 
 carried off from their bodies, and the consequent reduction of 
 their temperature. 
 
 The people along the shores of the Mediterranean sea, in 
 the south of France, Spain and Portugal, delight also in oily 
 foods, as a preventive of the excessive secretion of perspiration, 
 without however understanding the rationale of their diet. 
 
 The first Napoleon, in a conversation with Corvisart, his 
 chief physician, said, that " he had no faith in the art of medi- 
 cine ; but that he placed a high value on surgery. Anatomy 
 had developed a knowledge of the human organization, and 
 post mortem dissections had displayed the effects of disease, 
 or of injuries to various parts of the human system, by which 
 the surgeon could profit, but that no such valuable aid was 
 offered to the physician, who had to grope his way as best he 
 could, in his attempts to discover the cause and the seat of the 
 disease, and then to adopt an experimental treatment to 
 remove it." 
 
 "But,'"' said Corvisart, " Does your Majesty never take medi- 
 cine ? " " No/' said Napoleon ; " When I am disordered, I 
 abstain from food, mount my horse, and ride rapidly sixty 
 miles on my return I bathe, sleep soundly, and the next day I 
 am well." The rationale of this treatment is as follows, viz: 
 The active exercise on horseback produced friction in many 
 of his muscles, which friction evolved positive electricity; this 
 required renewed inspiration of atmospheric air, negatively
 
 128 
 
 electrified, to restore the electrical equilibrium ; the union of 
 these electricities developed heat and magnetism, which con- 
 ducted to the stomach and intestines served to digest the food 
 previously taken, and which, having remained undigested, had 
 occasioned his disorder. If any excess of electricity remained 
 in his system after his return to the palace, the warm bath 
 conducted it from him, and soothed him to sleep. 
 
 Solomon, the wisest of men, has left, as one of his legacies 
 to mankind, the maxim, " spare the rod and spoil the child." 
 Now let us examine this. When children were misbehaved, 
 were destructive in their inclinations and conduct, rebellious 
 to authority, and were otherwise troublesome to parents or 
 others having the charge of them, Solomon, being a keen 
 observer of effects, recommended personal chastisement with 
 the rod, and naturally attributed their better deportment 
 after the punishment, to the fear of the child of its repetition, 
 and perhaps with greater severity. This was possibly a natural 
 conclusion on his part, at the age in which he lived, and may 
 be so considered even at the present time, but there is another 
 explanation, more philosophical and more scientific. It is as 
 follows, viz : "When people are in good health, they are usually 
 cheerful, in good humour with themselves, and amiable to 
 those around them; they do not think of or attempt to per- 
 petrate mischief to others, their electricities are in equilibrium, 
 and they deport themselves properly. Now let one or other 
 of their electricities be in excess, immediately their disposi- 
 tions become changed; no longer amiable, they see everything 
 and person through a disturbed medium; they become sullen, 
 cross, crabbed, quarrelsome and disagreeable; the least dis- 
 appointment ruffles them, and they proceed to behave ill. 
 Now with children, when the rod is applied vigorously to their 
 persons, the friction produced by the blows evolves electricity 
 of the kind necessary to restore the healthy electric equilibrium 
 of their bodies. When that is re-established there is an end 
 of the trouble; they become amiable and gentle. This salutary 
 method of correcting " les enfans terribles" has greatly fallen 
 into disuse in our times, from the overweening maternal in- 
 stinct of mammas, which is horrified by the cries of the suffering 
 little ones, and hence they decry against it. 
 
 This punishment is also well adapted to the adult human 
 animal, if we are to believe a statement recently made in some 
 of the London newspapers. It seems that the British Parlia- 
 ment, within a few years past, had re-established corporeal 
 punishment with the cat-o'-nine-tails at a whipping post for a
 
 129 
 
 certain class of criminals, whoso crimes Lad become alarmingly 
 numerous. Since the re-introduction <>f the whipping 
 and its accompanying punishment, these cr'n.ics hav.- almost 
 (1 to exist Let other people pro tit by the example. 
 
 It is remarkable that three such eminent men as Solomon, 
 Nicholas F, of Knssia, and Xapoleou Bonaparte, should each 
 use in a different way the powers of electricity successfully, 
 and yet be ignorant of the powers they were developing. 
 Solomon by his rod correcting the wilful caprices of childhood, 
 Nicholas I, removing the effects of frost bites, and Napoleon 
 restoring himself to health, each by the evolution of electricity. 
 
 Let us turn now to the fourth class of vertebrate animals, 
 which as a general rule live in the water, and prominent in 
 this class are fishes. " A fish breathes by means of its gills, 
 extracting the air from the water in which it lives, and reject- 
 ing the w r ater, which carries off whatever positive electricity 
 that may have been evolved by its muscles in its motions." 
 This leaves the fish in a condition of negative electricity, like 
 that of the water in which it lives, and having but one elec- 
 tricity, it is cold blooded warm blooded animals having their 
 blood warmed by the union or conjunction of opposite 
 electricities. " Fish are nearly insensible to pain, from the 
 same* cause," as all pain in animals results from a disturbance 
 of the electrical equilibrium of their bodies. " The tempera- 
 ture offish is only 2 \varmer than that of the water in which 
 they live. They have small brains in comparison to the size 
 of their bodies considerably smaller in proportion than they 
 are in birds or mammalia." This accounts for their insensi- 
 bility to pain, " but the nerves communicating with the brain, 
 are as large in fish proportionately as in either birds or mam- 
 malia. The senses of sight and hearing are well developed 
 in fish, as are also those of smell and taste, particularly that 
 of smell, which chiefly guides them to their food. This sense 
 is very keen, more so than in many other animals, and thus it 
 is that strong smelling baits are so successful in fishing." 
 
 Fish are remarkably fecund. There is nothing in the 
 animal world that can be compared with them, unless it be 
 some species of insects. The codfish yields its eggs in 
 millions, from a sturgeon have been taken seven millions of 
 eggs, flounder produces 1.200,000, the sole 1,000,000, mackerel 
 500,000, and so on. These eggs, if they be not vivified by the 
 milt of the male fish, just rot away in the sea, and never come 
 to life at all, and are of no value except perhaps as food to 
 some minor animals of the deep.
 
 130 
 
 It is now well known, that the impregnation of fish eggs is 
 a purely external act to their bodies, fish having no organs 
 of generation. It is this wonderfully exceptional principle in 
 the life of fish, that has given rise to the art of pisciculture, '. e. 
 the artificial impregnation, of the eggs of fish, forcibly exuded 
 from their bodies, which are brought into contact with the 
 milt of the male fish independent altogether of the animal. 
 
 The principle of fish life which brings the male and female 
 fish together at the period of spawning is unknown. Some 
 naturalists have supposed that the fish do not gather into 
 ehoals till they are about to perform the grandest action of 
 their nature, and that till then each animal lives a separate 
 and individual life; but this does not suggest the attraction 
 which brings them into this association. 
 
 I will venture upon an explanation. Their instinct teaches 
 them that their eggs, when ready to be discharged from their 
 bodies, must be deposited in warmer water than that in 
 which they habitually swim. Having but one electricity, the 
 negative, which is the same as that in which they live, no vivi- 
 fication of their eggs could take place if duly commingled 
 with the milt of the male fish in mid ocean, but attracted by 
 the warmer water of rivers at their sources, or in locjhs or 
 bays sheltered from the waves of the sea, where in their 
 shallows vegetable food is always growing at the bottom for 
 the support of the young fry, when they shall be hatched, 
 they hasten in immense shoals for mutual protection from 
 their enemies, to these lying-in places, where th- r roo 
 
 of the female, and the milt of the male are contiguously 
 deposited on the rocks or in the gravel at the bottom. The 
 ve electricity of the warm water derived from the fric- 
 tional action of sunlight upon the rocks and sand on the 
 ii of the shallow waters in which the eggs of the fish 
 Q deposited, as well as upon the eggs themselves 
 coining in contact with the negatively electrified eggs and 
 milt evolves heat, and with it magnetism, and in due time 
 .mug fry are fully developed, vivified by these elements 
 of life, breaking the outer membrane <>r shell of the eggs con- 
 taining them, already distended and thinned by the growth 
 of the embryo within, emerging into full life into the element 
 where they are to have their being. Of ;he hatching 
 
 of the eggs of fish is not uniform as to time in different species, 
 some requiring a longer period than others to attain the 
 maturity of their development. 
 
 Here we have a remarkable illustration of the production of
 
 131 
 
 life by electricity and magnetism, outside of the bodies of the 
 parent fish; while perhaps in almost every other class of an. mal 
 life it is developed within the body of the female, after impreg- 
 nation by the male animal, showing most conclusively that these 
 imponderables are always present as well at the commence- 
 ment of life as during its continuance, while it has been 
 demonstrated time and again, that whatever decreases the vis 
 vitce of an animal diminishes also the evidence of the elec- 
 tricity within it, until after death it ceases altogether. Arc wo 
 not right, therefore, in concluding that electricity, magnetism, 
 and heat are, in certain relations to each other, elements of 
 every life ? 
 
 Oxygen gas is a supporter of combustion, as it also is of life, 
 which in fact is one form, of combustion. It is negatively 
 electrified, and it is because it is so electrified that it supports 
 both life and combustion. Let us illustrate this. The atmos- 
 phere, composed of nitrogen and oxygen gases for the most 
 part, with a slight admixture of other gases and watery vapour, 
 which last contains a large portion of oxygen gas, is nega- 
 tively electrified. "Wood, coal, and vegetable substances, in a 
 dry state, are positively electrified. Now when we have on 
 our hearths wood as fuel, and from the condition of the wood 
 as well as that ol the atmosphere the combustion of the wood 
 is slow and sluggish, we apply a pair of bellows to hasten it 
 the common explanation of this use of the bellows is, that it 
 brings more oxygen gas into contact with the slightly kindled 
 wood than the atmosphere naturally furnishes, and hence the 
 combustion is quickened. This is true, but it also brings 
 associated with the oxygen gas its negative electricity, which 
 coming into union with the positive electricity of the fire and 
 the wood already slightly heated, produces increased heat, 
 which the additional oxygen gas thus supplied nourishes into 
 flame, and the fire is properly kindled. Potassium thrown 
 into a vessel of oxygen gas, bursts into the most brilliant 
 flame from the same cause, the potassium being positively 
 electrified in a high degree and so it is, but in a lesser degree, 
 with the other metalloids. 
 
 In regard to the non-producing and non-conducting powers 
 of electricity by fatty or oleaginous substances, a very remark- 
 able fact has been developed in relation to the human family. 
 
 It has for a long time been observed that in countries where 
 the sugar cane has been cultivated, and where sugar h.s boon
 
 132 
 
 manufactured from its expressed juice, the negroes employed 
 in making it grow enormously fat from the unrestricted use of 
 the warm juice of the expressed cane during the process of 
 boiling. From this food, like the whale, they become sur- 
 rounded by an enyelop of fat, as do also the interior organs 
 of their bodies. This fat is anti-frictional and preyents the 
 evolution of electricity, which in the absence of the fat would 
 be developed. Hence these labourers could no longer be pro- 
 creatiye, and as their labour was yery exhausting, the neces- 
 sity for a new gang of labourers every four or five years be- 
 came established on sugar plantations. This fact, in sugar 
 producing countries, has kept alive and continued the n< 
 slave trade to this day and where it has been abolished and 
 the coolie trade substituted for it, the same results obtain. 
 ]S"o women are sent to the plantations with the coolies, for 
 they become like negroes, virtually emasculated by the 
 absence of their electricity. So that we may attribute to the 
 loss of electricity in the producers of sugar the great obstacle 
 to the abolition of slavery for so long a time in the British 
 AVfst Indies, and at the present moment in the Spanish Islands, 
 in Brazil, and elsewhere as it exists. 
 
 The same deteriorating influences upon their organization 
 from fatness, in other portions of the human race, appear in 
 various parts of the world, preventing the development of 
 their electricity and magnetism, by which their animal 
 functions are impaired, and their intellectual faculties greatly 
 weakened. The Esquimaux, Fins, Laps, and all inhabitants of 
 high northern climates, requiring a fatty and carbonaceous 
 loud, are examples of this character. The inference to be 
 drawn from this remarkable fact is that such persons as are 
 opposed to an it: {' population, and who resist the in- 
 
 junction to the Patriarchs of " going forth, multiplying and 
 replenishing the earth," should select for their companions in 
 lite the fattest persons of the opposite sex that they can find, 
 and they will be rewarded by an immense reduction in their 
 household and educational cxp< hen compared with 
 
 those of their neighbours who chance to be of a lean kind. 
 
 In connection with this subject of continuing a species of 
 animal, I may mention that in Europe, as well as in this 
 couir ;\v mistaken notion exists as to the best age at 
 
 which young cattle should be propagated. The prevailing 
 idea is that heifers should not be allowed to bear their off- 
 spring before they are four years old, and in the state of Penn-
 
 133 
 
 sylvania they are not taxable- before they have attained that 
 Xow, this is ;i fallacy, as 1 have abundantly tested dur- 
 ing rlie last twenty years. I have thought that nature was the 
 best guide in sueh cases, and accordingly, as my animals: are 
 always well cared for, my heifers are sufficiently developed 
 and matured when nine months old to receive the masculine 
 impregnation, and to undergo, afterwards, a healthy gestation, 
 and to produce their young when about eighteen months old. 
 By my system of breeding, there is a saving in the expense of 
 supporting young heifers during two years and a half over the 
 common method. My herd of cows thus produced will com- 
 pare favorably in size, produce of milk, cream and butter, and 
 nealthfulness with any herd of similar numbers of cows in this 
 country. I do not remember to have had a sick cow or heifer 
 during the last twenty years. But I have exceeded even this 
 early propagation of their species. Last year a young heifer 
 of mine, only four months old, manifesting a desire for copu- 
 lation, was permitted to receive the male impregnation. IShe 
 duly conceived, and before she was fourteen months old she 
 bore a healthy male calf. The heifer herself, apparently, was 
 not incommoded by the event, and continued to enjoy excel- 
 lent health ; and some six weeks after the birth of her calf she 
 again received the male impregnation. This heifer was reared 
 under the stimulating influence of the associated blue and 
 plain glass, which had hastened its development three years 
 and a half. Xow, apply this discovery to the rearing of do- 
 mestic animals throughout the world, and begin to estimate 
 the benefit to mankind to be derived from the reduced ex- 
 penses in producing them and the great gain that will result 
 in increasing the number of animals to be raised in any given 
 period of time, and some faint idea may be formed of the great 
 value of this discovery in this single branch of human in- 
 dustry. 
 
 A wide-spread error in agriculture exists in Europe, as well 
 as in this country, and has even been maintained in books of 
 science. It is " that underneath large trees vegetation droops 
 and languishes, even when the shade is not very intense.'' 
 Some years ago I had occasion to plough up the sod which 
 covered a small orchard of apple and chestnut trees on my 
 farm. All the trees were old and large. I caused the field to 
 be well manured, even to the bottom of the trunks of all the 
 trees. When the ground was well broken up, I directed my 
 farmer to mark out drills for sugar beets, and to plant the seed
 
 close up to the trunks of all the trees. He looked at me with 
 lishment, and said : " Wliy, sir, plant so close to the trees ? 
 Kothing ever grows under the shade of tr- I replied 
 
 that I had heard such a statement before, but that I did not 
 think it to be well founded. I had seen too many weeds, 
 suckers and brambles growing luxuriantly under trees all 
 the country to attach any credence to it. "Do as I tell you ; 
 plant the seed close to the trees, and leave the result to take 
 care of itself." My farmer was so much astounded by what he 
 considered my foolish directions, that he went over to some 
 farmers who were planting their seed in neighbouring fields, 
 and told them of the absurd directions I had given him. In 
 the fulness of their neighbourly kindness, they came over to me. 
 to enlighten me on the subject of farming. " Your man tells 
 us," said one of them to me, "that you have told him to plant 
 sugar beet seed close to the trunks of your big chestnut trees. 
 We have come over to tell you, what you may not know, that 
 no plant will grow under the shade of trees, and to dissuade, 
 you from attempting to make them grow there. We have 
 been farming 25 years, and our fathers before us all their lives, 
 and we have never heard of such a thing as planting for a 
 crop under the shade of trees. Pray don't try it." I thanked 
 them for their solicitude, but told them that " it was an experi- 
 ment; if it should fail, the loss of a few seed and a little labour 
 were all that would be involved in it ; and if it should succeed, 
 it would explode and banish a very mischievous and expensive 
 fallacy in agriculture; little harm was to be apprehended from 
 it." The farmer finding me determined, said, " You gentle- 
 men from the city, come into the country, buy land, > 
 expensive buildings, pun-base high priced stock of all kinds, 
 and every new fangled tool or labour saving machine that is 
 advertised, hire people and go to work, and think you are 
 farmers; but I have never known one of you 1o make even 
 his expenses out of his farming. You had all much better do 
 
 ur neighbours do than strike out into new paths.' 
 paid to him, "your rebuke is just, and what you say is no 
 doubt true; L acknowledge it to be, true in my case. 1 know 
 very little of anything, but I could not think for a moment of 
 taking up the time of my farming neighbours by asking them 
 Low to manage my farm; I must learn it as best, I ran without 
 taxing their neighbourly kindness, and this experiment of 
 mine is one of my early lessons in farming." Finally, these 
 good people took their leave, and my beet seed Were planted 
 according to my directions. Iii due time they germinated,
 
 185 
 
 and began to grow, and to tin- surprise of my fanner the 
 plants as they grew beeame stronger and larger at the 1'ottora 
 of the trunks of the largest trees than the other plants were 
 in the open spaces in other parts of the field. This dilferenee 
 continued to iner >n advanced, and when the 
 
 time had arrived for Catherine: them, the greatest ei>ntra-t 
 was perceptible hetween those that had grown under the 
 shade of the trees, even of the largest, and those which had 
 grown in the open sunlight. 
 
 At this time the same kind neighbours who had visited mo 
 in the previous spring to advise me against planting my seed 
 under the shade of the trees, were gathering their autumn 
 crops in the adjacent fields. I went over to them and asked 
 them if they would like to see my beet crop, and on their ex- 
 pressing a desire to see it, I invited them to accompany me, 
 and we proceeded to the field. On our way I asked them 
 where they thought the best beets would be found. " In the 
 open sunlight to be sure," was the answer ; " nothing ever 
 grows under the shade of trees !" I made no reply, and soon 
 after we entered the field. As we passed along I was amused 
 at the astonishment depicted on their countenances as they 
 examined the beets in different parts of the field. Presently 
 one of them, nudging another, said in a low voice ; " George, 
 did you ever see any thing like that before ? why, there are no 
 beets in the sunlight, and the big ones are under the trees." 
 This was the fact; the plants in the sunlight were few, scat- 
 tered and spindling in their growth, having a long slender 
 taproot and were valueless for food, * while there was a 
 luxuriant growth under the trees of large sized and excellent 
 quality. After examining attentively the whole field, and 
 declaring that they had never seen or heard of the like, and 
 would not have believed it had they not seen it themselves, 
 they came to me and asked me if I could explain so unheard 
 of a phenomenon. I replied, " you know 1 am from the city, 
 how then can I be expected to know anything about farming? 
 If you who have been farmers all your lives, and your fathers 
 before you the same, cannot explain this why should you ex- 
 pect me who have no experience in farming, being from the 
 city, to do it ? I know nothing about it, but I will tell you 
 what I think. I will illustrate my meaning by an example : 
 suppose you should take two men, both healthy, strong and 
 vigorous, and both very hungry one of them is six feet tall 
 and very broad and muscular the other man is five feet six 
 inches high, and also muscular. Suppose you place them at a
 
 136 
 
 table and put before them food sufficient only for one man of 
 average size and strength, and tell thorn to eat, how much of 
 the food ; do you think the little man would get ?" " Well, I 
 
 - not a great deal of it," said one of the men ; to which the 
 others assented. '"Xow, suppose you had put on the table enough 
 food for both, would they not rise from the table refreshed 
 and reinvigorated, and ready for their work?" I said to them. 
 " Well, yes, I should think so;" was their answer. "Now," 
 said I to them ; " the first supposition illustrates your mode 
 of farming. You manure your land lightly, furnishing food 
 enough only for your crop, and nothing for your hungry trees, 
 if you should happen to have any upon your land. The 
 
 . neglected and hungry, take all the food within reach of 
 their roots, and nothing grows, therefore, under their shade 
 hence your proverb that plants will not grow underneath the 
 shade of large trees even when it is not very intense. In 
 my experiment I had placed sufficient food before the 
 large trees, and the small plants. The tree digests its food, 
 and can take no more food at a given time than can any 
 animal, relatively consequently what is left over after feeding 
 the tree goes to feed the small plants and it also gets its fill 
 of nutrition, so that both thrive and grow healthfully. Now, 
 there is another reason why small plants should grow better 
 and faster under the shade of large trees than anywhere else, 
 and it is this. The dew late in the afternoon begins to settle 
 upon the leaves of plants under the shade of trees an hour or 
 more before it does out in the sunlight, and in the morning' 
 after the sun has risen, the shade of the trees protects the 
 plants under them from losing the dew upon them by evapora- 
 tion till ten o'clock, A. M. So that the plants under the 
 shade of the trees have the advantage of four or more hours 
 of moisture, in the dew that rests upon them, than other plants 
 in the sunlight which have no such protection and you know 
 that moisture is necessary to the growth of plants." They 
 thanked me for my explanation and went their way (on- 
 founded. Since then I have cultivated under very large trees 
 on my lawn, plants and flowers of many descriptions with [ 
 
 and the cultivation has greatly beiietiied the 1 ire.-s 
 then, I would recommend to all having trees on their 
 
 lawns to cultivate the soil at their ba^es in flowering plan' 
 they desire ornament-, or in vegetables if they need them for 
 Iders of small patches of land, this information 
 may prove to he of ..I eonvenience. 
 
 This little narrative brings me to the subject of the forma-
 
 137 
 
 tion of dew, which I do not attribute to condensation of the 
 atmosphere holding it in suspension, but to the < 
 opposite cause, viz : the expansion and rarefaction of tho 
 atmosphere by heat, its ascent upwards and its abandonment 
 of the water which it had previously held in suspension. 
 
 When, in the rotation of the earth upon its axis, any given 
 area of its surface is no longer illuminated by the sun's rays, 
 or, as in common language, it is said, "It is sunset;" the rays 
 of sunlight do not illumine the atmosphere that is over such 
 an area of the earth's surface, and, as the night advances, that 
 atmosphere becomes colder and more magnetic with its 
 increase of cold by induction. Columns or volumes of this 
 cold air are then attracted to the earth by its opposite 
 magnetism, and descend towards it. At the same time the air 
 in contact with and just above the earth's surface, having been 
 heated during the day by the electricity evolved by sunlight, 
 and being positively electrified, ascends to meet the cold air 
 descending from above, negatively electrified and oppositely 
 magnetic; the conjunction of these opposite electricities 
 produces additional heat which so warms the air freighted 
 \pith moisture 'that is descending from above, that its expan- 
 sion and rarefaction will no longer admit of its holding in 
 suspension the watery vapour that it was bringing down with 
 it ; it consequently ascends alone, leaving the globules of water 
 which it contained to be carried to the earth by their magnet- 
 ism, and to insensibly settle upon the grass, leaves, earth, &c., 
 and form what we call dew, hoar frost, &c - , according to the 
 temperature of the earth's surface at the time of such deposi- 
 tion. This occurs in a cloudless sky. 
 
 When the clouds are floating above us, there is no dew, not 
 because, as we have been taught, that the radiated heat from 
 the earth is reflected by the lower surface of tihe clouds to the 
 earth, thus keeping the air in contact with the earth too warm 
 to deposit its water as dew, as that is an absurdity, since heat 
 reaching the lower part of any gaseous or vapoury fluid, would 
 at once penetrate and permeate such gases, vapours or clouds 
 and expand, rarefy and disperse them ; but because the inter- 
 posing clouds would prevent the descent of the volumes of 
 cold air freighted with moisture above them to the earth 
 below, and consequently there could be no deposition of water 
 or dew from them. Cold does not condense the atmosphere, 
 for if it did the density of the air would be much greater in 
 winter than in summer, which we know is not the case. Be-
 
 138 
 
 sides, the rarity and tenuity of the air at great elevations, 
 where extreme cold prevails perennially, contradicts this, as- 
 sumption. Nor has the air any -weight gravitation is sup- 
 posed to act only in one direction, viz: towards the centre of 
 the earth, while it is known that the air presses equally in all 
 directions, upwards from below, laterally and downward from 
 ahove, hence it cannot be acted upon by gravitation. The 
 barometric pressure of the atmosphere in its variations, is due 
 in all probability to magnetic attraction and repulsion between 
 the atmosphere and the earth. The same reasoning applies to 
 the waters of the oceans. They are fluids pressing like the air 
 in all directions, upwards from below, laterally and down- 
 wards, and rest upon the earth by the attraction of the earth's 
 magnetism, and not by gravitation, since their upward and 
 lateral pressures are antagonistic to the attraction of gravi- 
 tation. Every drop of water is a magnet. When the globules 
 are vertical their poles are at the foci of their forms, the 
 lower pole attracted by the magnetism of the air above 
 and its upper pole attracted towards the magnetism of the 
 earth below. These downward and upward attractions and 
 corresponding repulsions dislocate, from their great mobility, 
 other globules of the water, and force their polar magnetic 
 axis to be horizontal or dia-magnetic, and these pressures 
 everywhere varying intension, develop magnetic forces through- 
 out the mass of water, acting at every possible angle with each 
 other, and producing everywhere opposite resistances. These 
 magnetic changes induce electrical disturbances in the water, 
 resulting in the development of heat by friction and the con- 
 junction of opposite electricities, causing in all latitudes those 
 currents of evaporation associated with electricity, which we 
 find agglomerated in the atmosphere as masses of clouds, fogs, 
 mists, '&.(-. These masses of clouds acquiring their electricities 
 bv induction, become oppositely electrified according to their 
 elevation in the atmosphere' above the earth, and as they 
 approach each other in their movements, an electric, discharge 
 takes place, a decomposition of the watery vapour occurs, the 
 hvdp - is burnt in the oxygen gas of the decomposed 
 
 r, displaying that bright yellow light peculiar to hydrogen, 
 in Hashes KO da/zling that if they were not so evanescent no 
 animal vision could supporttheir glare and then follow their zig- 
 ath in the atmosphere, as they are attracted by currents of 
 en in the air of varying conducting powers. The result is 
 trilled and magnetic, the globules of which repelling 
 each-other, and pressed upon in every direction by the magnetic
 
 139 
 
 forces of the atmosphere, descend to the earth as ppheriral 
 drops to meet and mingle with the magnetism of the earth. 
 These drops of water are what we call rain. 
 
 If it were not for the upward pressure of the waters of the 
 ocean from their lowest depth, how long wolild the crust of 
 earth beneath them, (computed by physicists to be relatively to 
 the mass of the earth no thicker than an egg shell is when 
 compared to the mass of albumen that it contains,) be able to 
 sustain the pressure downwards of a mass of water from five 
 to ten miles in depth as it moves in its tides, its currents, and 
 the rotation of the earth upon its axis, and as it rolls in its orbit ? 
 "Would not the momentum of such a mass of waters thus put 
 in motion, in the course of time that has elapsed since they 
 were gathered in seas and oceans, wear away so much of the 
 earth's crust as to allow the waters to flood the interior fires 
 of the earth, and produce explosions that would shiver the 
 planet into thousands of fragments? And does not this 
 furnish another argument against the doctrine of gravitation ? 
 The same principle applies relative to the upward pressure of 
 the atmosphere. In the cases of the waters of the ocean and 
 the atmosphere both being fluids, differing however in their 
 tenuity, their molecules have great mobility among themselves 
 respectively, and from the irregular and unequal upward and 
 downward magnetic attractions and repulsions, these mole- 
 cules are displaced and turned aside, changing the directions 
 of their poles and their axes, and thus becoming dia-magnetic 
 or horizontally magnetic, creating thus the lateral pressures 
 existing both in the water and the atmosphere. 
 
 "When, from the mobility of the molecules in the crust of 
 the earth at the period of the planet being launched into 
 space in its rotary motion on its axes, and its progressive- 
 motion in its orbit, the equatorial diameter was, by magnetic 
 attraction and repulsion, increased twenty-six miles more than 
 the polar diameter, the same influences repelled from tho 
 poles respectively and attracted to the respective opposite 
 poles the waters in the arctic and antarctic basins till they 
 met in the tropics. 
 
 The upward pressure of these waters, their polar currents 
 of cold water at great depths, and the rotation of the earth 
 on its axis from west to east, have united in forcing the 
 masses of oceanic waters to the westward till they impinged 
 upon the eastern coasts of America and of Asia action and
 
 140 
 
 re-action being equal ; these waters, after their impact with 
 these coasts and their contiguous islands, were reflected hack 
 again towards the western coasts of Europe and Africa, and 
 meeting midway in oceans, the succeeding waves of these 
 waters have risen above the general level of the oceans a few 
 feet, which has been called a tide, and which has been 
 attributed erroneously to the attraction of the sun and moon 
 instead of to the forces which I have mentioned above. 
 
 The impact of these waters in mid-ocean throws back to the 
 European and African waters, coming from thence and to 
 eastern American and Asiatic coasts, the waters attracted 
 there by the rotary motion of the earth on its axis and thua 
 they force back in all these continents the waters of the rivers 
 emptying themselves into the oceans, creating in them the 
 tides, the causes of which never before have been satisfactorily 
 explained. These tides, therefore, are the results of the 
 magnetic attraction and repulsion of the waters and the coasts 
 of the continents where they are seen and felt and are not 
 affected at all, either by sun or moon. 
 
 The currents of the Mediterranean sea the upper one 
 inwards is the result of the pressure of the Atlantic ocean in 
 its reflux from the mid ocean impact of the oceanic waters, 
 the lower current running into the Atlantic ocean is pro- 
 duced by the upward pressure of the Mediterranean waters 
 and the magnetic attraction of the colder polar current at great 
 depth towards the equator. 
 
 The heat of the earth ascends perpendicularly to the hori- 
 zon. It cannot, therefore, be deflected to any considerable 
 extent in producing winds or currents of air. These result 
 from electrical and magnetic attractions and repulsions the 
 upward pressure of the air, which is nothing inure than tho 
 magnetic repulsion of it from the earth having their similar 
 - (<' magnetism adjacent, until by induction the polarity 
 of the air is changed in the higher atmosphere, where, being 
 intensely cold, it is attenuated l>y the repellent qualities of its 
 homogeneous magnetism, and not by the low do^iv of its 
 temperature, which happens to be coincident with its mag- 
 netism, but is incapable of condensing the molecules of the 
 atmosphere. 
 
 When we remember the law of attraction and repulsion of
 
 141 
 
 magnetism, viz: that it acts inversely as the square of the 
 distance, and that the earth, its oceans and its atmosphere, are 
 all magnetic, and mutually attract and repel each other accord- 
 ing to this law which, by the way, is the same law that 
 Newton assigned to the gravity of matter and when we fur- 
 ther remember that they are all in continuity with each other, 
 we cannot fail to conceive that thi.s planet has all the 
 forces within and around it that are necessary for the per- 
 formance of all its functions without attributing them to the 
 actions of such distant orbs as the sun and the moon. If the 
 moon, as our astronomers assert, exerts a greater influence 
 upon the tides than does the sun, owing to the greater dis- 
 tance of the sun from the earth, by a parity of reasoning, how 
 much more influential must the earth itself be which is in 
 contact both with its waters and its atmosphere. All fluids 
 when acted upon by unequal forces assume a spiral course, as 
 witness the whirlwind in the atmosphere, and the whirlpool, 
 and eddying currents in the waters. The currents of the 
 oceans are spiral curves modified in their curvatures by the 
 fixed as well as movable obstacles they encounter in their 
 several courses. 
 
 When a wave at sea has reached its crest, why does it curl 
 over and break into spray, as it descends into the trough of 
 the sea ? If the moon lifts it up why does not the moon hold 
 it up ? When a wave breaks on the shore, why does it cling 
 to the earth, and recede in contact with it as the undertow, fre- 
 quently carrying with it to destruction the incautious or un- 
 skilful swimmer ? Why does not the moon keep this water 
 on the surface instead of suffering it, though it be warmer 
 than the water at greater depths, to seek its company 
 against an assumed law of physics, that the warmer fluid floats 
 upon the colder ? 
 
 Why, in the whirlpool, does the warm surface water rush 
 down its spiral coils to meet and mingle with the colder water 
 of the greater depths ? And why does this cold water ascend 
 in counter spirals to meet the descending warmer water? 
 This action is not caused by gravitation ; it is magnetic, and 
 so it is also in the whirlwind. The warm air of the lower 
 atmosphere, in contact with the earth, is taken up in its spiral 
 coils, attracted by the opposite magnetism of the upper air, 
 which descends in opposite spiral coils to meet it in its ascent, 
 and together the column of whirling air, repelled from its
 
 142 
 
 source and carried over the surface of the earth, hut in con- 
 tact with it, -with a resistless impetuosity, by the electrical 
 current which has developed the magnetism of the column, 
 devastates and destroys every obstacle that lies in its course, 
 till the magnetic equilibrium is again attained, when a calm 
 ensues. In these instances of the whirlpool and the whirl- 
 wind, the assumed law of gravitation is violated by the ascent 
 of the warm air into the colder upper atmosphere, as well as 
 by the descent of the warm surface water to the depths below; 
 thus proving that the motions of fluids, whether gaseous or 
 liquid, are controlled by magnetism. 
 
 A balloon charged with hydrogen gas, and released from its 
 fastening to the earth, ascends rapidly into the upper atmo- 
 ephere the region of intense cold, where, as we are taught in 
 the schools, it should be condensed, and the sides of tho 
 balloon should be loose and pressed inward by the condensing 
 power of the cold in that elevated region. According to the 
 doctrine of gravitation it has ascended because it was filled 
 with hydrogen gas the lightest substance in nature and 
 every light substance floats upon any other substance heavier 
 than itself. 
 
 Now, let us see what actually takes place in the balloon. 
 
 First, The hydrogen gas is positively electrified, and is at- 
 tracted to the upper atmosphere by its opposite electricity, 
 which is negative. 
 
 Second, The balloon itself is painted and varnished with 
 gums to retain the hydrogen gas, which pigments and varnish 
 are also positively electrified and assist in raising the balloon. 
 
 Tltird, The higher the balloon ascends tho greater is the at- 
 traction of the negative electricity of the upper air for it. 
 
 Presently a conjunction of these opposite electricities of tho 
 upper uir and the positively electrified gummed surface of the 
 balloon occurs, heat and magnetism are evolved, the canvas 
 of the balloon begins to expand, and within it the hydrogen 
 gas also expands to fill and to tighten the canvas. The at- 
 traction from without and the expansion of the hydrogen gas 
 within distend the canvas to its fullest extent. Should tho 
 ceronaut not at once open the safety valve of the balloon, and 
 liberate a portion of the hydrogen gas within it, these forces 
 would burst the canvas and precipitate the unlucky aeronaut
 
 143 
 
 to the earth, a catastrophe which really happened in England 
 only a few days since. 
 
 The ascent of the balloon, the expansion of its canvas and 
 of the hydrogen gas within it instead of their condensation by 
 the extreme cold of the upper atmosphere, the bursting of the 
 balloon all contradict the Newtonian theory. 
 
 "We will now explain why the temperature on the surface 
 of the earth is greater during summer, though the sun is 
 then at its greatest distance from the earth, than it is in 
 winter, when the distance between the earth and the sun is at 
 the least, being three millions of miles less than it was at the 
 summer solstice viz : June 21st. On this day the rays o- 
 sunlight, vertical at the tropic ot Cancer, impinging through 
 the atmosphere upon the surface of the earth, with a velocity 
 of 186,000 miles per second, produce great friction. This 
 friction is the result of the impact of all the rays of sunlight 
 upon the earth's surface. This friction evolves more elec- 
 tricity in the contact than it does in winter, when the angle 
 of incidence of the rays of light is very much more acute, 
 and a large portion of the rays of light are at that time 
 reflected and refracted into planetary epace, without develop- 
 ing the electricity either in quantity or tension, which the 
 whole quantity of rays of light would do if they reached the 
 earth directly. Consequently as the electricity evolved is lesa 
 in winter, the heat which f hia electricity produces in conjunc- 
 tion with the opposite electricity of the earth's surface ia much 
 less, and the temperature is therefore lower in winter than in 
 summer. 
 
 Besides, the vertical impact of matter upon matter, as of light 
 upon the atmosphere, or upon the surface of the earth, is always 
 more violent, and produces more friction than its impact from an 
 acute angle, or as it is called a " glancing blow," would do, 
 hence more electricity results from the friction produced by 
 the vertical impact of light, than there would be from its im- 
 pact at an acute angle. The declination of the sun, therefore, 
 by constantly changing the angles of incidence of its light, as 
 it enters our atmosphere, and impinges upon the earth's sur- 
 face, is the cause of the changes of the terrestrial temperature 
 at the several seasons of the year. Hence the more vertical 
 the light, the more friction is developed in its impact with the 
 earth, and the more electricity thus evolved, and the moro 
 heat produced by the conjunction of the opposite electricities 
 from the light and earth.
 
 144 
 
 At the height of five miles or more ahove the earth, when 
 masses of clouds oppositely electrified come together, great 
 heat is evolved by the union of these electricities, and with it 
 is also developed magnetism ; the air of the cloud thus heated 
 hecomes positively electrified, and greatly expanded by the 
 heat, it rushes upwards attracted by the negative electricity of 
 the atmosphere above it, abandoning the watery vapour it had 
 contained in suspension, and which absorbing the magnetism 
 developed by the union of the opposite electricities begins to 
 fall towards the earth, not by gravitation but by the magnetic 
 repulsion of the surrounding air, and the magnetic attraction 
 of the earth itself and the waters on its surface. At the same 
 time, when this conjunction of opposite electricities occurs, 
 much of the watery vapour that the clouds held in suspension 
 is decomposed by the superior attraction of the intense elec- 
 tricity for the hydrogen gas of the water, which is immediately 
 burnt in the oxygen gas that had been liberated by the 
 decomposition of the watery particles of the clouds in the first 
 place. This inflamed hydrogen burning with a yellow light, 
 rushes to embrace again its lover, oxygen gas, pursuing it in 
 those brilliantly illuminated zig-zag courses which we call 
 flashes of lightning. 
 
 Now as these conjunctions of opposite electricities are suc- 
 cessive in a storm, we see the frequent flashes of lightning 
 and hear the rolling of the thunder, (which latter is merely 
 the noise of the explosions of oxygen and hydrogen gases, 
 when acted upon by a current of electricity passing through 
 them,) as they dart or roll through' the atmosphere. The 
 water thus formed, starting in sheets or columns as it may be, 
 is at once disintegrated, by the repulsion of the magnetism 
 which it has absorbed, into atoms or globules, each of which 
 is a separate magnet. These are repelled by the magnetism 
 of the upper atmosphere, and are attracted by the opposite 
 magnetism of the earth and its waters, and continue to descend 
 towards the earth, but the molecules of atmospheric air are 
 also magnets, and repel and retard the descent of the ram 
 drops as they fall, and these forces continue to dimmish their 
 , till, on approaching the earth, they are so comminuted, 
 that frequently thoy become absorbed by the atmosphere and 
 appear as mist and fog. 
 
 Now, if rain falls by gravitation, beginning,'at that great 
 height of five or more miles, to descend in the first second of 
 time 16.1 feet, in the next 32.2 feet, in third second 64.4 feet,
 
 145 
 
 in the fourth second 9G.6 feet, increasing its velocity IH the 
 time of descent and the space through which it pa.-srd as the 
 square of the time, it would he found that its velocity and 
 momentum, when it reached the earth, would he so great as 
 to wash the soil iiito the seas, denuding mountains and dis- 
 integrating rocks, and destroying every living object on the 
 planet. We see on a email scale the devastating power of a 
 waterspout that breaks and discharges its contents when 
 traveling only a short distance above the earth. Besides it is 
 only necessary to see the retardatory effect of magnetism upon 
 the flakes of snow as they fall lazily to the earth, each crystal 
 of the snow flake, or frozen water, being acknowledged 
 magnet endowed with its full proportion of magnetic power. 
 
 These facts prove that neither the clouds that float in the 
 atmosphere nor the waters they contain, which have been 
 taken up by evaporation from the rivers, lakes and seas, and 
 which are again returned to them in rain, snow and hail, are 
 affected by the so-called laws of gravitation. Conceive for a 
 moment that the volume of water of the Niagara river which 
 passes over the falls, should, by gravitation, descend from a 
 height of two, three or five miles above the earth, the common 
 height of clouds; then imagine the destruction that would 
 follow such a descent; and yet water from clouds start in their 
 courses towards the earth in masses so great as to dwindle 
 in comparison the mighty stream of Niagara at the falls, and 
 jet only benefit results from the rainfall. Why, then, does 
 the water from the clouds not continue to fall, as it has started, 
 in these enormous masses? It is because the Creator lias 
 beneficently prcrvided against such a calamity by investing 
 water with magnetism, when its constituents, oxygen and 
 hydrogen gases, are combined by the passage of a current of 
 electricity through them, in the formation of water, and the 
 atoms or globules of water, being each magnetic, repel each 
 other, and are repelled from the upper atmosphere also 
 magnetic and are attracted to the earth by 'its opposite mag- 
 netism, allowing rain, snow and hail to fall gently and in 
 small particles to the earth. Hence the greater the height of 
 the clouds from which the rain falls, the smaller and more 
 attenuated will be the rain drops in arriving at the earth. 
 Mists and fogs, therefore, are as frequently the results of rain 
 falling from very high clouds, as they are from evaporation at 
 the surface of the earth or ocean. 
 
 Melted lead on the top of a shot tower is positively electri*
 
 146 
 
 fied the air around it negatively electrified. The lead in 
 falling repels itself and is attracted by the opposite electricity 
 of the air, causing it to separate and to assume the spherical 
 form of shot on reaching the vessels to receive it at the bottom 
 of the tower. So that we may attribute the spherical or 
 spheroidal forms of rain drops, of meteors, and of the planets 
 themselves, to the forces of magnetism. 
 
 Let us take a cast iron spherical shot of the calibre of twenty- 
 four pounds, and heat it to a nearly white heat: then let us 
 select the lightest down from the common thistle that we cau 
 find; we will then shake some handfuls of it over the hot shot 
 at the distance of three feet above it. It will be found that 
 notwithstanding what is called the attraction of gravitation, 
 not only of the heavy shot but also of the still heavier earth 
 on which it is supported, the down will be carried upwards 
 into the atmosphere by the current of heated air radiated from 
 the hot surface of the shot, instead of falling either upon it or 
 on the earth immediately adjacent to it. If, therefore, this 
 d shot repels some of the lighest flocculent matter of which 
 \ve have any knowledge, and will not allow it to fall upon the 
 earth in opposition to the radiating power of its heat, what 
 becomes of the gravitation of the earth and of the other planets, 
 and of ccmetary matter, &c., to the sun, if this latter is an 
 incandescent body of a temperature so high that we cannot 
 really conceive of its actual intensity? If the lightest sub- 
 stance, so-called, cannot be attracted by it through such 
 radiation of its heat, how can it attract the heaviest 
 planets '< What also becomes of its magnetism in the presence 
 of such intensity of heat? It is evident that this great heat 
 could not co-exist with the magnetic forces of the sun, which 
 are thought to control the movements of our solar system. 
 
 Let us observe a boy on an August day, when the ther- 
 mometer indicates 08 of Fahrenheit, in a room with dosed 
 doors and window sashes admit no disturbing currents 
 
 of air, while he amuses himself with blowing soap bubbles 
 from the bowl of a clay pipe. When the bubble is formed, 
 and it is sufficiently thin, he throws it oil' from the bowl of 
 his pipe. The circumference of the bubble interrupted by the 
 bowl of the pipe, as soon us it is detached therefrom, closes 
 upon itself by magnetic attraction, and forms a nearly perfect 
 sphere, while it ax-ends rapidly towards the ceiling of the room. 
 Mark the play of iridescent colours on its surface ;is it rec< 
 the light from a window, just as the suu receives the separate
 
 147 
 
 rays of light from the stars and reflects them to the earth. c. 
 Now why docs this huhble ascend in the atmosphere ? The 
 water and the sou]) of the bubble, as well as the component 
 parts of the soap are each heavier than the warm air of the 
 room. The gas that fills its interior, composed of vapour and 
 carbonic acid gas from the lungs of the boy, is also in its com- 
 ponents heavier than the same air, and is also probably of a 
 lower temperature than the air, which is 98 of Fahrenheit, 
 and yet the bubble, in defiance of the so-called laws of gravita- 
 tion, ascends to the ceiling, instead of descending to the floor. 
 
 If what astronomers tell us is correct, the density of the sun 
 is about one-fourth of that of the earth, and cannot relatively 
 be so great, volume for volume, as that of this soap bubble. 
 Water is the standard measure of density; potash and soda in 
 salts, component parts of this soap bubble, have each a gr 
 density than water, while the oil associated with them in the 
 soapy water is perhaps less than that of water, while the 
 density of the soapy water is greater than that of the sun. 
 Now the earth, with all its power of alleged gravitation, could 
 not prevent this soap bubble from ascending in the air. Xow 
 why was this ? The globules of soapy water were held 
 together in the bubble by the viscous character of its oily par- 
 ticles, which having an opposite electric condition to that of 
 the water, attracted it to complete the circumference of the 
 bubble when it was detached from the bowl of the pipe, while 
 the magnetism of the whole bubble, repelled by that of the 
 earth, caused it to ascend into the upper air by the attraction 
 of the magnetism existing there. 
 
 Now conceive of a soap bubble 1,400,000 times greater in 
 its dimensions than the earth, to be placed in one of the foci 
 of the earth's orbit, and then imagine it to exert its gravitating 
 power upon the earth, and estimate the result. If the earth 
 could not attract by gravitation this soap bubble in the room 
 referred to, what power would the big soap bubble have to 
 attract the earth by its gravitation, when their positions would 
 be reversed ? 
 
 The undulatory theory of light is faulty in this, that every 
 wave requires a resisting medium to lift it above the common 
 level. In water, when any force disturbs its surface, the 
 inertia of the water, against which the surface water is driven, 
 offers a resistance by which the surface water is raised into a 
 wave, but in all such cases the velocity of the force is small ;
 
 148 
 
 -when the velocity of the wind, for instance, is one hundred 
 and fifty miles per hour, it carries off the surface water into 
 spray, until sufficient time has elapsed to allow the inertia of 
 the mass of water to resist the impulse of the wind, when 
 waves are formed. Now if the ether of interplanetary and 
 interstellar spaces furnished sucli a medium of resistance it 
 would not admit of the passage of light through it, with its 
 inconceivable velocity of 186,000 miles per second. If the 
 ether itself was luminous, some force of very low velocity must 
 impinge upon it to make its undulations, and to be undula- 
 tions they must meet with resistance to become such ; besides 
 all undulations occur on the surfaces of fluids, and extend but 
 a short distance below the surfaces; but ether of space has no 
 dimensions, it is illimitable ; no one can say where is its 
 surface; neither words nor figures can define its depth, width 
 or height, and as all motions through it are of inconceivably 
 high velocities, it follows that there can be no undulations in 
 ;hey are produced by low velocities. 
 
 .light, on a bright July day, falling in its greatest in- 
 tensity upon the calm and placid surface of an expanse of water, 
 penetrates it and descends to very great depths below it, 
 without producing the slightest undulation on its surface, or 
 movement within its masses. Its velocity is so great that no 
 appreciable time is afforded for the disturbance of the inertia 
 of the water. So it is with the ether of interstellar and inter- 
 planetary space. Thin, subtle, and attenuated, as this ether 
 may be supposed to be, the velocity of light in passing through 
 it is so transcendently great that there is no time for the dis- 
 turbance of its inertia, and consequently its motion is instantly 
 absorbed by the mass of the ether, without producing any 
 undulation whatever. ]STow undulation is a superficial act. 
 There is no wave at sea of a greater depth below the surface 
 than forty feet; all below that depth is unaffected by what- 
 
 cause that may have produced the superficial wave. 
 The great Leviathan of the deep, ninety or one hundred 
 long and of other corresponding dimensions, plunges beneath 
 the surface of the ocean when struck by a harpoon, and with 
 inconceivable speed rushes into the depths below, yet h<- leaves 
 no wave, no ripple, to indicate the course he has taken, and 
 the whalemen in his pursuit have to scan the horizon in every 
 direction to ascertain the place, sometimes a great distance off, 
 where he has risen to the surface of the ocean to blow off his 
 surpl 1 -icity and carbonic acid gas generated in his 
 
 lungs. So it is with all the fishes and marine animals that
 
 149 
 
 inhabit the great deep. Their motions, however plow or swift, 
 develop no undulations beneath the surface, and consequently 
 nono appear on the surface; there are, therefore, no undula- 
 tions below a depth of forty feet from the surface. 
 
 Geographers inform us that three-fourths of the outer crust 
 of the earth are covered by water, only one-fourth being drv 
 land. Of this fourth part but a small portion is habitable by 
 animals, and a still smaller part thereof is actually occupied 
 by them, while the waters of the earth are teeming everv- 
 where with animal life. Innumerable myriads of fishes, marine 
 animals, and sea monsters are known to exist beneath the 
 surface of these waters; their speed in pursuing or avoiding 
 each other, as they rush madly through them, should greatly 
 disturb their even surfaces, but whatever agitations may occur 
 in the depths of the ocean from these causes, no trace of them 
 ever is seen on its surface; there is no undulation from such 
 causes. "Why? The reason is obvious. Fluids press equally 
 in all directions. The inertia of the great mass of waters is 
 not to be disturbed by the passage of even innumerable 
 objects of small dimensions at whatever speed they may attain. 
 The same principle obtains in relation to the ether of planetary 
 space. This planet rolling in its orbit with a velocity of sixty- 
 eight thousand miles per hour, through this ether, does not 
 and cannot disturb the inertia of the whole ether of space; the 
 motion of the part displaced by the earth and its atmosphere 
 is absorbed at once by the whole mass, and its inertia remains 
 unaffected ; and so it is with all the planets, and even the sun 
 itself. The sun's motion in its orbit being 14,400 miles per 
 hour, the moon advancing in her orbit at the rate of 65,000 
 miles per hour, and so on with the rest of the planets, their 
 enormous velocities will not admit of the disturbance of the 
 inertia of the ether of space before the planet has left the ether 
 far behind through which it has passed. The retardation of 
 cometary matter in its course is not due to the resistance of the 
 ether through which it is passing, for if it was it would be 
 uniformly and continuously retarded in its whole course, and 
 not merely as it is approaching or leaving the neighborhood 
 of the sun, but it is owing to the magnetism of the sun and 
 the planets, as well as of the opposite magnetism of the ether 
 acting upon its own magnetism, that such variation in its 
 velocity has been observed. This reminds me, that when a 
 planet is at its nearest point to the sun, it is moving with its 
 greatest rapidity in its orbit ; and when at its remotest point 
 from the sun, it is proceeding at its slowest rate of speed in its
 
 150 
 
 orbit; but yet the orbit tbrougbout its entire course is so 
 balanced that the rapidity is exactly proportional to the near- 
 ness, and the slowness to the distance in reference to each, so 
 that equal areas of the space included in the orbit are described 
 by the planet in equal times, which is Kepler's celebrated 
 second law. 
 
 The friction of the atmosphere with the ether in its passage 
 through it evolves negative electricity, which is takenup by the 
 atmosphere by induction, and thus it becomes negatively electri- 
 fied. If the planets cannot, in their rotation around the sun and 
 on their respective axes, disturb the ether of space in its inertia, 
 how can it be supposed that rays of light passing through it 
 with its velocity of 186,000 miles per second, can cause it to 
 undulate ? Time is an element in the production of a wave, 
 and in tbe passage of light through ether there is not time 
 enough, to resist the passage of light, in order to produce it. 
 A musket ball with the initial velocity of 1500 feet per second, 
 when shot from a musket will perforate a door hanging on its 
 hinges without moving it, as there is not furnished sufficient 
 time to disturb its inertia before the ball had passed through 
 the door. So in like manner a tallow candle discharged from 
 a musket will pass through a door without disturbing its 
 position, while if it should be thrown from the hand against 
 the door at tho distance of ten feet from it, its momentum at 
 such low velocity would push the door back to its frame. 
 
 Rays of sunlight, in passing through the ether of space, 
 carry with them the negative electricity with which they were 
 repelled from the sun's photosphere, and continue to be 
 repelled by the negative electricity of the intensely cold 
 ether itself through whieh they are passing. Now intorjn.se 
 a glass prism to thopas.-age of a beam of this sunlight after 
 it has reaehed u^ on the surface of the earth. This white; 
 i of light idthen refracted and decomposed, and each colour 
 s the prism, diverging not only from the original r; 
 white light of which they are the elements, hut also fro,;-/ 
 ofliiT, as may be seen by observing the spectrum which they 
 form. This pj.oetrum exhibits these colours in the order of 
 their susceptibility of refraction, the red being refr; 
 
 and the violet most. From its appearance, Sir Jsaac 
 
 ton, who first analyzed it, thought that there were 
 
 actually seven primary or distinct colours in the composition 
 
 of light, but since his day investigation and analysis have 
 
 determined that there are but three primary colours, viz :
 
 151 
 
 red, yellow and blue, and that the orange, green, indigo and 
 violet, result from a commingling of the primary colours in 
 different degrees of intensity, as they form the spectrum. 
 Now, let us sot.- wha' this refraction and decomposition 
 
 of light by the prism. The glass prism was positively electri- 
 fied when the sunbeam was thrown upon it; the op: 
 electricities of the light and the glas3 were brought into 
 contact ; heat and magnetism were evolved by their union ; 
 the glass was expanded by the heat, which was immediately 
 absorbed by the air ; the rays of light, changing their electri- 
 cities by induction, become positively electrified and magnetic 
 and repel each other, forming Newton's seven primary rays, 
 according to the different degrees of positive electrization and 
 magnetization they have absorbed. This explanation will 
 also account for the invisible heat rays outside of the spectrum, 
 which by some philosophers have been erroneously supposed 
 to have come directly from the sun, associated with its light. 
 Again, let us take two pieces of flannel made of wool, of the 
 same texture and size ; let one of them be white flannel, the 
 other black flannel. Now white flannel has the same electri- 
 cal condition as white sunlight, that is, negative. It conse- 
 quently reflects or repels the sunlight, according to electrical 
 laws. For this effect it is extensively used by the people of hot 
 countries for articles of outside clothing to keep them cool 
 during sunshine. Suppose we place these two pieces of 
 flannel, in the winter time, on the snow, one hundred feet 
 apart, the temperature of the air being at zero of Fahrenheit, 
 and the sun shining brilliantly through a clear atmosphere, 
 and let us watch the effect. In a little while it will be seen 
 that the piece of white flannel is frozen tight to the snow, 
 while the black flannel, having absorbed all the rays of the 
 sunlight from its opposite electrical condition, has become 
 heated by the development of the heat from the union of these 
 opposite electricites, and the snow has become melted under 
 the black flannel. This experiment proves that heat is the 
 result of the union of opposite electricities as in the associated 
 primary rays of light, for the material composing the two 
 pieces of flannel was similar, while the negatively electrified 
 white flannel repelled the negative white sunlight, absorbing 
 the cold of the snow beneath and becoming frozen to it, as 
 the positively electrified black flannel attracted the negatively 
 electrified white sunlight developing the heat which melted 
 the snow. Now as every object in nature has a colour of some 
 kind, when the sunlight falls upon it, we can understand 
 that the variations of temperature on the surface of the earth,
 
 152 
 
 are the immediate results of electrical action upon it by the 
 rays of light as light and not by rays of heat from the sun. 
 
 "We have thus shown you, that from the attributes of heat, 
 it is physically impossible for it to be transmitted to this or 
 any other planet from the sun through an almost infinite space 
 of ether at a temperature of 142 of centigrade thermometer. 
 
 "We have shown you that the negative electricity of our 
 atmosphere is derived by induction from this very cold e 
 in the rotation of the earth on its axis, and in its motions in 
 its orbit, carrying with it its atmosphere in its course. 
 
 "We have shown you that the atmosphere is held in its place 
 around the earth by its magnetism and dia-magnetism, which 
 have been developed by currents of opposite electricities in 
 conjunction, produced by the passage of rays of light through 
 the atmosphere, evolving by their friction with it electricity 
 of one kind, while the opposite kind of electricity has been 
 produced by the impact of rays of light upon the more solid 
 parts of the earth's crust and upon its waters as it developed 
 their evaporation. 
 
 "We have shown that the attraction of matter on or above the 
 earth, is through magnetism to the poles opposite respectively 
 to the hemispheres of the earth, that it is confined to the crust 
 of the earth, and that it is not the attraction of gravitation. 
 
 "We have shown that the upward pressure of all fluids, from 
 capillary attraction in tubes to the upward pressure of the 
 waters of the ocean that float the tonnage of the world, to that 
 of the atmosphere which holds it suspended above the surface 
 of the earth, is strictly magnetic. "We have shown that the 
 variations of the barometer at the level of the sea ar. 
 
 d by the varying weight of the atmosphere, but by 
 condition, as those of the thermometer are pro- 
 1 l>y currents of electricity, which permeate the glass 
 tubes that contain the thermometric fluid, 
 
 "We have shown that all terrestrial heat is derived from the 
 conjunction of opposite electricities, whether proceeding from 
 the combustion of inflammable substances, from friction, or 
 Irom the contact of currents of air or of gases oppositely elec- 
 
 tril; 
 
 We have shown that friction of substances of low tempera- 
 tures produces negative electricity, and increases the cold by
 
 153 
 
 their union, illustrated by two blocks of ice nil,' -thcr 
 
 and uniting more firmly at their junction than in anv < 
 of their parts. And then we have shown that positive elec- 
 tricity is always associated with heat, and the opposite elec- 
 tricity with cold; that their conjunction produces heat or cold 
 according as one or the other of the electricities predominates 
 at the moment of their union; that magnetism is also evolved 
 by their conjunction, and that if much heat is developed, the 
 magnetism disappears and takes refuge in the nearest greater 
 cold; that magnetism is therefore the antagonist of heat, and 
 is found in its greatest intensity in extreme cold, in the 
 highest part of the atmosphere, and in the Arctic and Antarc- 
 tic regions. 
 
 If the atomic theory be true, and the atoms of ether be 
 spheres or oblate spheroids, we may imagine that light passing 
 in rays through the intensely cold ether, develops negative 
 electricity by its friction with the ether, and that this nega- 
 tive electricity resides in the interstitial spaces between the 
 atoms of the ether until attracted by positive electricity of 
 greater or lesser volume and tension, their conjunction would 
 produce magnetism which would find a habitat among these 
 interstitial spaces of the atoms of ether in the poles of the 
 atoms themselves. 
 
 From tne mobility of the particles of fluids, whether liquid 
 or gaseous, it appears that their tendency is to move in spiral 
 curves. In the currents of ocean, sea, lake or river waters, 
 the frequency of their curved direction is everywhere manifest, 
 any obstruction to the general direction of their currents, 
 whether superficial, or at varying depths below the surface, is 
 eufiicient to determine them into spiral curves of greater or 
 lesser curvatures. It would seem that this attribute of fluids 
 was intended by the Creator for the evolution of currents of 
 electricity by the friction of these particles of the inner curves 
 of the spirals, and of magnetism by the passage of this electri- 
 city along the spirals of the fluids themselves. This is an 
 origin of magnetism, as well in the waters as in the atmos- 
 phere. The great currents of the ocean, sweeping in curves 
 greater than a great circle of the earth itself, are only elements 
 of immense spirals. The circular motion of an infusion of 
 tea in a cup when stirred by a spoon to hasten the solution of 
 the accompanying sugar, is but an illustration of the same 
 principle, and so it is with gaseous fluids. The tiny whirlwind 
 that raises the dust in summer in our country roads, is but a
 
 154 
 
 type of the currents of atmospheric air, from the gentle breeze 
 that fans us in the summer heats to the tornado, hurricane, 
 and mighty cyclone that desolate the oceans and islands in 
 intertropical regions. This form, therefore, in which these 
 fluids are continually moving, is among the means adopted by 
 the Creator to develop electricity, magnetism and heat, on 
 and above the surface of our planet. 
 
 " Let us for a moment consider the action of the two great 
 currents of warm water on the opposite coasts of North 
 America. The Gulf Stream and the Japanese current through 
 P>chring's Straits to the Arctic Ocean. Let us consider the 
 Gulf Stream. On the Equator, in the Atlantic Ocean the 
 mean temperature of the surface of the sea, according to 
 Kaiutz, is 78.6, the average maximum in latitude 6 north is 
 80.3, the highest observed temperature in 3 1', north, 
 according to Kotzebue, 84.6, and the mean temperature of 
 the sea between the parallels of 3 north and 3 south, accord- 
 ing to Humboldt, was from 80.1 to 82.4. The mean tempera- 
 ture of the air in the equatorial belt of the Atlantic ( > 
 between 10 north and 10 south, according to Lentz, is 73.8. 
 Here you have the surface water of the ocean in the 
 Equatorial belt of the Atlantic Ocean hotter by 3.8 than air 
 just above it. Now T , if these respective temperatures were 
 produced by emanations of heat from the sun, their condition 
 of temperature should be reversed, the capacity of the air to 
 absorb heat being so much greater than that of water. This 
 fact proves that, it is not solar heat that produces the tempera- 
 ture either in the air or water. 
 
 "In July, the course of the Gulf Stream, in latitude 38 
 north, shows the form of a tongue ot temperature! of 81.5, 
 (at some places even ,S4 ' J was observed.) This hot stream pro- 
 itself as a double tongue, with a mean temperature of 
 from 77 to 81.5 of Fahrenheit, (20 to 1 of Reaumur,) to- 
 wards the north as far as the 40 of latitude, and towards 
 the east to the 43 of longitude west of Greenwich, that is, 
 far beyond Newfoundland. In January, the tongue of 77 
 of Fahrenheit, (iiO of Reaumur,) reaches to latitude 37 north 
 and longitude 7 ( > 30' west, ami at the place where the east 
 end of this tongue of 77 of Fahrenheit terminates in July, 
 we find in .January a temperature of Gi!.5 and 62.8 of Fah- 
 renheit, (14 ami i-V of Reaumur.) 
 
 " Up to the meridian of the eastern end of Newfoundland, 
 the Gulf Stream proceeds first in an east northeast, ami then 
 in an east direction parallel to the American coast, with an
 
 155 
 
 average temperature in July of 77 to 83.8 Fahn-ii/ 
 
 to 23 Reaumur,) and in January, of 68 to 77 Falm-nla-it, 
 
 (16 to 23 Reaumur.) The highest temperature oft: 
 
 in Africa in the same parallel of latitude in January, is only 
 
 59. 
 
 "At Newfoundland, the Gulf Stream comes in violent colli- 
 sion with the Polar Stream of Labrador, which nearly at a 
 right angle sets against and penetrates into it like an immense 
 wedge. On the eastern side of the Grand Bank it is so 
 powerful that, according to the surface isotherms, it pene- 
 trates into the Gulf Stream from 150 to 200 miles southward 
 of its general limits, and therefore entirely intersects the 
 surface waters of the easterly stream for that breadth, which 
 is the most important part of its course. The Gulf Stream, 
 300 miles northeast of Newfoundland bank, after having 
 passed beyond this polar current, is warmer than it is south of 
 it. The influence of the temperature of this polar steam is 
 less in January than in July. 380 miles eastward of Xewfound- 
 land, on the 50 of north latitude, the .Gulf Stream has a 
 surface temperature of 68 Fahrenheit in July, while in 
 January, the G-ulf Stream on the 50 degree of north latitude 
 has a temperature of 54.5 Fahrenheit; the thermometer 
 shows at the same time at Prague, or at Ratibor, (in SiK-sia.) 
 on the same parallel of latitude, temperatures of minus 24, 
 and sometimes still hnver ones. The isothermal line of 54.5 
 Fahrenheit, (10 of Reaumur,) runs up in July towards 
 Iceland and the Faroe Islands to the 61 of north latitude. 
 There it meets for the second time the polar stream which on 
 the east coast of Iceland again threatens to block up its way 
 and to destroy it. la Julv, temperatures were observed on 
 the north coast of Iceland of 45, 47 and 49.3, (by Lord 
 Dufferin, 46,) while oft 1 the cast coast for six degrees of longi- 
 tude, none higher than from 40 to 42.6 were found. 
 
 "According to Irminger's data, and Lord Dufferin's observa- 
 tions, the Gulf Stream setting towards the north preponderates 
 in Julv on the north and west coasts of Iceland, but on the 
 east and south coasts the polar stream coming from the direc- 
 tion of Jan Mayeu. 
 
 " Between Iceland and the Faroe Islands, the Gulf and polar 
 streams are contending against each other, and the result of 
 this struggle is a sea divided into a great number of hot and 
 cold bands, which fact is demonstrated clearly by Lord Duf- 
 ferin's cruise from Stornoway to Reikiavik in 1856, and fully 
 corroborated by Wallich in the Bull Dog Expedition of 1860.
 
 156 
 
 " The fact that the two streams in their contest appear as 
 many bauds and strata alongside, over and beneath each other, 
 is proved iu>t only by the observations of the temperature of 
 the surface of the sea by Irminger and Dufr'erin, but also by 
 the researches of "Wallich in regard to the nature of the bot- 
 tom of the sea. The latter found there volcanic stones point- 
 ing as to their origin to Jan Mayen, and at other plan's 
 ophiocomte of two to five inches in length which could have 
 bee i carried there only by the warm Gulf Stream. Besides, the 
 drift ice penetrates here further to the south than anywhere 
 else east of Iceland. * * * * But here the Gulf Stream 
 comes away equally intact from its struggle with the polar 
 etream as at Newfoundland. We now know its further 
 course in the summer from many direct observations as far 
 north as Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla,and beyond the 80 of 
 north latitude. 
 
 " The mild winter of the British Isles is well known. The 
 mean temperature for January in London is 37.4; at Edin- 
 burgh the same ; at Dublin 40.5. The further we go from 
 east to west or from south to north, or, in other words, the 
 nearer to the Gulf Stream, the higher we find the temperature. 
 At Unst, on one of the Shetland Islands, 560 miles north from 
 London, the mean temperature of the air in January is 40.3% 
 and that of the sea 45.5, (East Yell.) The warm current 
 of the sea is tempering the air. The lowest temperature 
 observed in London was 5, at Penzance on the west coast, 
 -jiM.l , at Sandwick on the Orkney Islands +15.8, at Madrid 
 -f I.'..'> has been observed, and -f-27.5 at Algiers, which 
 provides Europe with cauliflowers in winter. 
 
 " On the morning of Feb. 8, 1870, the telegraph announced 
 the temperature at .Ratibor, (in Silesia,) to be 2">. 4, while 
 northwest of it, atBreslau, it was 13, at Berlin 0.4, at 
 -f 10.6, and at Christiansand, on the south of Norway, 8 of 
 latitude north of Ratibor, + 30.7. So high a temperature 
 would be impossible in Xorway if tho winds did not bring it 
 from the high temperature of the Gulf Stream to the westward. 
 
 "Many persons suppose because the summer in Iceland is 
 
 rough and cold that the winter must be dreadful in !H severity 
 
 Id, but exactly the contrary is the case. J)r. Ilend< 
 
 -. i hat 'I really shuddered at the thought of livingthrough 
 
 the winter in Iceland. How greatly was J astonished when I 
 
 found the temperature not only higher than in Denmark,.
 
 157 
 
 where I had been during the preceding winter, hut also that 
 the winter in Iceland was by no means mon than the 
 
 mildest winter which I hud ever known in Denmark and 
 Sweden.' Sheep and horses have to take care of themselves 
 during the entire year in Iceland; only cattle and the more 
 valuable saddle horses are led in the stable during winter. 
 How impossible would it be in Germany to leave any don. 
 animal in midwinter without shelter even for a i'ew'days onlv. 
 The lakes near Reikiavik, in Iceland, are frozen in many 
 winters not more than two inches thick, very rarely to eigh- 
 teen inches. The lowest temperature of the air experienced 
 there during thirteen years was only + 3.9. 
 
 "It is not to be wondered at that such is the case, because 
 the warm Gulf Stream provides Iceland with heat. Its mean 
 temperature there is, even in January, 34.7 above zero, and 
 the lowest temperature noted during twenty years was only 28.6. 
 Iceland is situated close to the Arctic circle, and in the lati- 
 tude of Siberia. 
 
 " "While on the western side of the north Atlantic ocean, the 
 polar ice reaches down to latitude 36 north, (the parallel of 
 Gibraltar and Malta,) and the name Labrador is sufficient to 
 characterize the climatic qualities of all the land between 50 
 and 60 north, there exists on the east side of the ocean along the 
 Norwegian coast cultivated land up to 71 north, the northern- 
 most land of the world, in which, under the influence of the 
 Gulf Stream, agriculture is the main occupation of the inhabi- 
 tants. Wheat is grown up to Inderoen, in latitude 64 north ; 
 barley up to Alten,in 70 north, where sowing generally is done 
 between the 20th and 25th of June, yielding in the short space 
 of eight weeks, to the 20th or 30th of August, in the average 
 six or seven fold ; the potato yields at the same place on the 
 average seven or eight fold, in favourable seasons even twelve 
 to fifteen fold ; it thrives on the coast as far east as Yadso, on the 
 Russian boundary line. At Alten (70 north)relishable cauli- 
 flower is raised even in less favourable summers. Where 
 washed by the polar current, there are, as shown by the various 
 Franklin expeditions, under 70 north, but desolate ice deserts 
 without any cultivation. There is on the eastern side of the 
 ocean .the flourishing and busy little town of Hauimerfest, 
 where only once the temperature has been as low as +5 and 
 generally is not less than 9.5, while on the western side of 
 the ocean there are only the poor snow huts of the Esquimaux 
 in 70 north.
 
 158 
 
 TVTiile Germany has to suffer the frigid air of 24, and 
 sometimes more intense cold iu winter, at that same time 
 Norway gathers a rich harvest under the Arctic circle, not 
 from its acres, but in the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, as 
 for instance at Ansvaer, in the direction of the vortex of the 
 Gulf Stream ; there the herring makes its appearance about the 
 10th day of December, remaining until the first days of Janu- 
 ary, and then about 10.000 people congregate, and haul about 
 200,000 tons of these fish of a value of more than one million 
 of dollars." 
 
 The warmer air of the land near large bodies of water, 
 whether of lakes, seas or oceans, is due to the difference of 
 temperatures between that of the atmosphere and that of the 
 waters, which being in contact at the surface develops one 
 kind of electricity, which meeting with the opposite electricity 
 of the air evolves -heat and renders the climate of such localities 
 mild, healthful and agreeable. 
 
 " East of the North Cape, distant from it about 120 nautical 
 miles at Vardoe, the temperature of January is -f-18.5 ; 
 while at St. Petersburg, 620 miles south of the former, it is 
 -j-15.1 , or 3.4 colder. But the most important fact, testify- 
 ing to the existence and the great volume of the Gulf Stream 
 at the North Cape, appears to me to be the temperature of the 
 sea at Fruholm, which in January is in the mean still +37.9. 
 Fruholm is on the same parallel ot latitude as Ust-Jansk, lati- 
 tude 70 55' north, in Siberia, and Point Barrow, in North 
 iea. The former has a mean temperature in January, of 
 38.6, the latter of 18.6. Me ran, in Tyrol, of world 
 wide celebrity, on account of its mild and temperate air, 
 r to the equator by 24 J, has in January a temperature 
 of the air of 31.8, Venice, 36.3, Vevay, 33.1, Paris 
 35.4, New York, 29.5, Washington, 31.5." 
 
 We will not pursue this subject of the surface temperature 
 of the Gulf Stream to its ultimate northern development, but 
 
 we will turn our attention to the temperature of the Gulf 
 in, at its various depths in its course, as well as of the 
 eea itself. 
 
 "North of the isothermal line of 39.4, (3.3 of Reaumur,) 
 toward the pole, the temperature generally increases with the 
 depth, while southward, toward the equator, it decreases. 
 There is, however, no uniformity in this, as Lieutenant 
 Kodgers, in ]*.").">, found in the Asiatic part of the Arctic Ocean 
 there is on the surface a warm current, with water of a low
 
 159 
 
 specific gravity, beneath it a cold current, and then again a 
 warm current of heavier water, and all these strata running 
 in opposite directions. 
 
 " In entering upon the question of temperature of sea water 
 
 at diU'erent depths, it must be borne in mind that water is 
 densest at a temperature of 39.2, and that it arranges itself 
 in the various depths according to the specific gravity in 
 strata, either above and beneath, or" alcngside each other. 
 From the place where the sea shows at the surface a tempera- 
 ture of 39.2, it will lose in temperature toward the pole, 
 while in general, it will gain with the increase of depth, but 
 toward the equator the temperature of the surface will increase 
 while it will decrease downward in proportion. 
 
 " Parry, in latitude 57 51' north, longitude 41 05' west of 
 Greenwich, on June 13th, 1819, observed the sea to have a 
 temperature on .the surface of 40.5, and at a depth of 1410 
 feet, in the Gulf Stream, 130 nautical miles southeast of Cape 
 Farewell, a temperature of 39. 140 miles northeast of this 
 place, in latitude 59 35' north, longitude 38 5' west of 
 Greenwich, Captain Kundsen, on the 30th of June, 1859, found 
 the temperature of the surface 44.6, and at the depth of 1800 
 feet, 43.4, which corresponds with Parry's measurements. 
 
 " Wallick remarks that on the parallel of latitude 63 north, 
 not far from the south coast of Iceland, the temperatures on the 
 surface, and at a depth of 600 feet, differ in the average not 
 more than 3.8, and that consequently the Gulf Stream does 
 not essentially lose in temperature to that depth. 
 
 " On Irminger's chart of the currents and ice drifts around 
 Iceland, there is, in Brede Bugt, (Broad Bay,) in latitude 65 
 17' north, longitude 23 25' west of Greenwich, a temperature 
 recorded of 46 at the surface, and of 45.5 at a depth of 300 
 feet, showing that the Gulf Stream at this place in the vicinity 
 of the Polar Circle has lost in that depth only .5 of a degree 
 of temperature. 
 
 " Scoresby remarks, * that the temperature of the sea near 
 Spitzbergen is six or seven degrees warmer at the depth of 
 from 600 feet to 1200 feet than it is at the surface.' 
 
 " From the results obtained by the British Sounding Expedi- 
 tion, from May 31st to September 7th, 1869, in the North 
 Atlantic Ocean, between the Faroe Islands and Spain, it
 
 1GO 
 
 appears that the Gulf Stream has, between Ireland and Spain, 
 a depth of 900 fathoms or 5400 feet, and equally as much iu i ar 
 the Rockall rock, west of the Hebrides. Between Rockall 
 and the Faroe Islands, near the parallel of latitude 60 north, 
 it reaches to the bottom of the sea, which has a depth there of 
 707 fathoms, or 4UOJ feet, and at that depth the Gulf Stream 
 has still a temperature of 41.5. It has also been found that 
 an Antarctic current of cold water, directly over the bottom of 
 the sea clear up to the Irish and Scottish coasts, exists, meeting 
 there an Arctic stream. In the notes of Professor Thomson, 
 the stratum at Rockall, from 900 to 1400 fathoms below the 
 surface, is designated as cold indraught, Arctic and Antarctic, 
 " (temperature 39.2 to 37.4,) and the stratum between 900 
 and 2435 fathoms, between Ireland and Spain, as indraught " 
 of cold water, probably mainly Antarctic, (temperature 39.2 
 to 36.5.) 
 
 " It is demonstrated by figures and facts, that the hot source 
 and core of the Gulf Stream extends from the straits of 
 Florida along the North American coast at all times, day and 
 night, in winter as in summer, even in January, with a 
 temperature of 77 and more, up to the 37 of north latitude, 
 while at the same time and in the same latitude in Tunis, in. 
 Africa, the temperature of the air is but 53.4. The Gulf 
 Stream transports and develops still in this latitude a higher 
 temperature than either water or air possesses in the Atlantic 
 ocean, even under the equator, on which neither in July nor 
 in January the temperature is ever as high as that of the Gulf 
 Stream in latitude 37 north. 
 
 ' Tnder the 37 and 38 of northern latitude, the hot core of 
 the Gulf Stream turns away from the American coast towards 
 the east beyond the meridian of Newfoundland and its bank 
 to 40 of longitude west of Greenwich, where it still possesses 
 a temperature in July of about 75, and in January of about 
 G6. From there it proceeds to the northeast, diffuses nearly 
 across the entire Atlantic, and surrounds the whole of Europe 
 to the Arctic region and the White Sea of Archangel, with a 
 broad and permanent warm water course, without which 
 England and Germany would be a second Labrador, and 
 Scandinavia and Russia a second Greenland, buried beneath 
 glaciers; whereas, in Fruholm, (71 6' north,) the sun does 
 not rise at all above the horizon during the entire month of 
 January, in a latitude in which, in Asia and America, the 
 mercury remains frozen for months there the Gulf Stream
 
 1G1 
 
 preserves for the sea a temperature of 37.8. While the sun 
 
 in the short days of winter sends forth his rays of light and 
 warmth hut for :i few hours, and the influen-- latter i- 
 
 quickly losi again in the long nights, the Gulf Stream does 
 not cease, day or night, to be the source of warmth. 
 
 "The Gulf Stream carries more heat to the north than is 
 carried hy all the warm air currents from the entire periphery 
 of the equator towards the North Pole and towards the South 
 Pole. The southwest winds receive their high temperature 
 from the Gulf Stream, and only through the ocean not by the 
 winds can warmth be carried into latitudes as high as those 
 of the European coasts are. 
 
 "From the soundings obtained so far, the Gulf Stream must 
 be, up to the Arctic ocean, a deep and voluminous water 
 course. If it should not be so, the polar ice would reach also 
 the European coasts. In the Antarctic ocean the polar ice 
 drifts all around the globe as far at least as latitude 57 5' 
 south, in many places to 50 and 40, (latitudes corresponding 
 respectively to those of the British Channel and the Mediter- 
 ranean Sea,) on some even to 35, (corresponding to the 
 latitude of Morocco,) but not the smallest particle of northern 
 polar ice has ever reached even the northernmost cape of 
 Europe. The Gulf Stream in its course is more powerful and 
 steady than all the winds ; only the the polar ice and polar 
 currents in spring and summer exercise a great influence over 
 it. The polar stream presses at three places against it: first, 
 from the northwest, east of Newfoundland, then from the 
 northeast of Iceland; at both these places the polar stream is 
 buried and proceeds beneath the Gulf Stream, after having 
 pushed it off laterally to the southeast. But for the third 
 time, at Bear Island, the polar stream comes directly against 
 the Gulf Stream from the northeast, splits it into two or three 
 branches, and iu places even presses it beneath its own waters 
 at least in July. Under the lee of Spitsbergen, this latter 
 branch rises again and proceeds on the surface according to 
 Parry's observations to latitude 82 -J north. The main branch 
 east of Bear Island, has been traced by Dr. Bessels to latitude 
 76 8' north, where in August, 1869, it had still a temperature 
 of 41.2. 
 
 " The polar streams, in conformity with the general laws of 
 nature, are less powerful in winter than in the summer. The 
 polar ice does not drift as far southward ; it makes fast more
 
 162 
 
 or less to the Arctic coasts and islands ; in spring .and sum- 
 mer, on the contrary, it drifts along similar to the glacier 
 tongues, in Alpine mountains, or the ice in our rivers. The 
 Gulf Stream is in winter more powerful than in summer, 
 while the polar streams, so to say, set at rest in some measure, 
 withdraw their ice and concentrate it around the land. The 
 relations of the temperature of the Gulf Stream within them- 
 selves, are ahout the same in January as in July, the fluctu- 
 ation between its maximum and minimum temperature, (July 
 and January, or August and February,) would be on the 
 average only about 9 of 'Fahrenheit, ( 4 of Keaumur.) 
 
 " What immense contrast to this extraordinary temperature 
 is offered by the temperature of the air on the mainland! 
 From the sea and air isothermal line of 36.5 Fahrenheit, 
 (2 of Reaumur,) at Philadelphia, to Northumberland S< 
 with 40, the distance is 2280 miles nearly due north, 
 There is, therefore, in about each thirty miles a fall in temper- 
 ature of one degree, as you go north. From the same point 
 at Philadelphia to the Gulf Stream, east of Fruholm, on the 
 same isothermal line of 36.5 Fahrenheit, (or 2 of Reaumur,) 
 there are in the direction of the Gulf Stream, in an air line, 
 about 5400 miles, in which distance there is no fall at all in 
 the temperature of the Gulf Stream. There, one degree of fall 
 in each thirty miles; here, the same temperature along 5400 
 miles in a northeast direction. Such is the influence and 
 power of the Gulf Stream. In the latitude of Berlin, which 
 has a mean temperature ot the air in January of 28, the 
 Gulf Stream has 50 ; at the Faroe Islands it has still 42.1 ; but 
 in Jakutsk, in the latitude of the Faroes, the air is 40 below 
 zero, a difference of 82.1." 
 
 Scoresby remarks : "In some situations near Spitzbergen, 
 the warm water not only occupies the lower and mid regions 
 of the sea, but also appears at the surface; in some instances, 
 even among ice, the temperature of the sea at the surface lias 
 as high as 30, or 38, when that of the air has been 
 several degrees below freezing. This circumstance, however, 
 has chiefly occurred near the meridians of 6 to 12 ea- 
 Greenwich, and we, find from observations that the sea freezes 
 less in these longitudes than in any other part of the Spitz- 
 bergen sea." 
 
 " The hot source and core of tho Gulf Stream extends from 
 the straits of Florida, along tho Xorth American coast at all 
 times, day and night, iii winter and summer, even in January,
 
 163 
 
 with a temperature of 77, and more, up to the 37 of north- 
 era latitude, while at the same time, and in the same latini'l.-, 
 in. Africa, (Tunis,) the temperature of the air is but 5 
 The Gulf Stream transports and develops still, in this lati- 
 tude, a higher temperature than water and air possess in tho 
 Atlantic ocean, even under the equator, on which neither in 
 Julv nor in January, the temperature is ever as high a.s that 
 of the Gulf Stream, in latitude 37 north."* 
 
 Why is this? "We have shown that heat could not be 
 forced down by the sun along the line of the Gulf Stream, by 
 any power of which we have a notion. If this heat could bo 
 derived from the sun, it is clear that the temperature of the 
 ocean under the equator should be at least a- ^-ivat, if not 
 much greater, than it is in the straits of Florida^or up to the 
 37 of north latitude; but we know, experimentally, that this 
 is not the case, but that the heat is actually less either on land 
 or ocean under the equator, than it is in that portion of tho 
 Gulf Stream from the straits of Florida to the 37 of north 
 latitude. Therefore solar radiation of heat is out of the ques- 
 tion. JS~or could the great heat at the immense depths of the 
 Gulf Stream, penetrate thereto, even if it were possible for 
 heat to descend to our planet from the sun, for the tendency 
 of heat is everywhere to ascend into the atmosphere, and it 
 could not remain permanently at those depths in opposition 
 to that tendency. We must therefore seek the cause of this 
 marvellous heat in the waters of the Gulf Stream, somewhere 
 else than in the sun. 
 
 We are told by our geologists that very great heat exists in 
 the interior of our earth and the existence of volcanoes in 
 many portions of the globe which are now active, as well as 
 those which have been quiet for a period of time unknown 
 to man, all attest the truth of their assertion. These volcanoes, 
 past and present, have subterranean and submarine communi- 
 cations with each other, which permeate large portions of the 
 interior of the earth and serve to transmit any excessive ac- 
 cumulation of heat from its immediate source to even the 
 most distant parts of the earth's interior, for radiation to the 
 surface of the earth. These communications are simply flues 
 for distributing the interior heat of the earth to its various parts. 
 The greatest heat is and always has been under the equator, 
 and these flues are for the most part submarine. If you will 
 
 * From Dr. A. Peterman's Essays on the Extension of the Gulf Stream.
 
 164 
 
 take an atlas of physical geography and cast your eyes upon 
 the map showing the distribution of volcanoes and the regions 
 subject to earthquakes, you will discover that the southern part 
 of Mexico and the isthmus connecting the two Americas are 
 studded with volcanoes, while the Caribbean sea is filled with 
 them. These volcanoes are doubtless connected by flues which 
 are united into many proximate flues in the straits of Florida, 
 through which the surplus heat of tbe interior of the earth under 
 the American continent and a part of the Atlantic ocean and 
 the Gulf of Mexico is transmitted to the Arctic regions, warm- 
 ing the waters of the Gulf Stream, through its whole length, 
 and thus moderating the climates of tbe western parts of 
 Europe. Another system of volcanoes will be observed almost 
 on the same meridian, extending from Tristan d'Acunhain the 
 southern Atlantic ocean though Trinidad, St. Helena, Ascen- 
 sion, Cape Verd Islands, Canary Islands, A/ores, Iceland and 
 Jan Mayen, to the Arctic regions. These vol. Attest 
 
 a central heat, forcing a passage by the repellent affinity of 
 positive electricity with which it is associated in the direction 
 of the polar axis of the earth, to outlets at either pole. 
 When obstructions are met with in tbe passage of this heat 
 and electricity towards the poles in the interior of the eartli 
 volcanoes are formed, the superincumbent crust of the earth 
 is upheaved and a vertical flue or chimney instead of the origi- 
 nal horizontal or inclined flue is developed, and an eruption 
 of matter is thrown out to form an island, which in a series 
 of ages may become a continent. 
 
 These two systems of submarine flues carrying the heat of 
 the central portion of the interior of the earth under the 
 Atlantic ocean, a part of the American continent, the Carrib- 
 bean sea, Gulf of Mexico and the Antilles, meet under the 
 Atlantic ocean to the southeast of the island of Iceland, each 
 furnishing Us supply of heat to maintain the temperatu; 
 the Gulf Stream, as well in its greatest depths as on its 
 extended surface. As heat ascends from its source into the 
 atmosphere, it passes upwards from the bottom of the Gulf 
 Stream through it to its surface, associated with its positive 
 electricity, where it encounters the negative electricity of the 
 atmosphere, and by conjunction with it, increases the heat of 
 the air above the water, which air, thus warmed, attracted by the 
 colder air negatively electrified of tbe land that is nearest to it, 
 flowt in a steady wind towards it, ameliorating its climate and 
 promoting the health and happiness of its inhabitants.
 
 1G5 
 
 All warm currents of \vater, wherever t'iry mav he situated, 
 have a similar origin in the heat developed in the interior of 
 the earth. The islands of the Pacific ocean may he all regarded 
 as volcanic. The western coasts of America from Cape Horn 
 to their northern limits, furnish a corresponding proportion of 
 volcanic action, and the warm Japanese current through 
 Behring's straits and along the coast of Asia, evinces a similar 
 origin in submarine flues conveying heated air under the 
 ocean to the Arctic regions on that side of the globe. 
 
 " The British expeditions for deep soa soundings ascertained 
 the temperature of the water of the Gulf Stream, at a depth 
 of 6000 feet, (being more than one mile,) to be 38.1, and at 
 14, 610 feet, (being nearly three miles,) to be still 36.5. Com- 
 pared with this/ the deep sea temperature of the Gulf of 
 Arabia, and even of the water under the Equator, will be 
 found very low, sinking to 34 ; in general, the deep sea 
 temperature of the tropical oceans is lower than that of the 
 Horth American basin. 
 
 " In the northern Atlantic ocean, between 50 and 60 of 
 latitude, there are certain bands of water of a high tern; 
 ture interposed between bauds of water of a lower tempertu re 
 
 " T/iese bands of a higher temperature are to be found, more or tess, 
 where a warm current and a cold current converge, as, for in.- 
 east of Iceland. The two principal bands alluded to by Admi- 
 ral Irmiuger, in his memoir, in about 60 of north latitude, 
 between the Shetland islands and Cape Farewell, are, doubt- 
 less, the two convex vertices of the Gulf Stream in that 
 region. 
 
 " The fact that the entire sea between Scotland and Iceland 
 consists of a great number of such warm and cold bands of 
 water, adjoining each other, is best proved by the cruise of 
 Lord Dufferiu, who, sailing from Stornoway, in the Hebrides, 
 to Reikiavik, between the 13th and 20th of June, 1856, oh 
 served the temperature of the surface of the sea every two 
 hours in all, ninety times and found it to change not less than 
 forty-four times, or, in the average, once in fourteen nautical 
 miles, the change fluctuating between 52.9 and 43 ; for the 
 most part, however, between 50 and 47.8; while on starting 
 from Stornoway, the temperature was observed to be 48, and 
 on arriving at Iceland again 48. 
 
 " There are bands where the water is of a higher temperature 
 close to one where it is of a lower temperature, and such
 
 1G6 
 
 are found on cadi passage across the Atlantic-, between 
 F;.irhill and Greenland. The diU'ercnce between the highest 
 .iid tlic lowest temperatures of the sea observed on this line 
 of the Atlantic ocean is 10.8, up to 30 or 40 west: of Green- 
 wich : to the west of this meridian, the temperature tell more 
 rapidly, the- more so the nearer to Greenland. The tempera- 
 ture of the warmest bands is defined frequently pretty sharply 
 against the waters which run through them. This high 
 temperature of the sea at its surface, extends 30 degrees of 
 longitude., or at least 900 nautical miles west of Fairhul. 
 
 "Fimllay mentions that the temperature at the depth of 
 1200 feet was found to he only f>.">, while on the surface of 
 the Gulf Stream it reached 77.4. In the Florida straits, 
 where the velocity of the Gulf Stream is greatest, the tem- 
 perature at 4800 feet was found to he only 88.1. 
 
 " The warm water of the Gulf Stream is not found at consider- 
 able depths, much of the heat of the lower strata escaping to 
 the surface. It is, besides, a fact, that this warm water is hut 
 little apt to mix with the adjoining sea-water. 
 
 '"'Above the broad Atlantic ocean, in high latitudes, in the 
 colder seasons there is a relatively high temperature, which by 
 the prevailing western and southwestern wimb is carried to 
 the coasts of Europe." 
 
 Let us now consider, some of the recogni/ed laws of 
 heat and electricity. It is known, that where two adjacent 
 diil'erent temperatures exist there electricity is evolved. 
 Now the waters of the Gulf Stream, the .Japanese current, and 
 of other I. imfl existing in the oceans and along coasts, 
 
 deriving their heat in the iirst place from the submarine tines 
 connecting subterranean and submarine volcanoes with the 
 Arctic and Antarctic regions, admit of the passage of this heat 
 through their globules to their upper surfaces, in conformity to 
 the attraction of heat from 1 he surface of t he cart h to 1 he upper 
 
 atmosphere. This ascenl of heat from the bottom of these hot, 
 streams through their waters to the atmosphere, in connection 
 with the indraught of cold Arctic and Antarctic waters flowing 
 
 over the l>ot tom of the oceans, is the cause of the low tempera- 
 ture always found at such depths in those waters while in- 
 termediately from the bottom, of the ocean to the surface in 
 such hot currents of water, the temperature varies till it comes 
 nto contact with that of the atmosphere, and that of the ocean 
 water en< ing these hot currents of water through their 
 
 whole extent. The contact of these different temperatures
 
 1G7 
 
 evolves electricity, which is positive where the high 
 ture of the water pervades its greater volumes, and 
 electricity where (lie cold Arctic and Antarctic waters exceed in 
 volume, below the surface, tlie waters of tlie liot stream. The 
 conjunction of these opposite electricities evolves heat, which 
 being absorbed hy the water where they meet serves to supply 
 a continuous source of heat to the farthest extremities of such 
 hot currents of water to the Polar regions and this is why 
 this great heat is maintained from its original source in the 
 Florida straits to the high latitude where it is observed. The 
 cause of the hot waters of the (Julf Stream not mixing readily 
 with the colder wafers of the Xorthern Atlantic ocean, will he 
 readily found in tlie junction of these opposite electricities, pro- 
 ducing heat where these hot ami-cold waters meet. 
 
 In ascending from the earth in a balloon, aeronauts have 
 discovered the same law to prevail among gaseous iluids as 
 among liquid fluids on the earth, a>:d that strata of heated air, 
 even at great elevations, are as it were sandwiched between 
 others of far lower temperature ; the contiguity of these strata 
 of warm and cold air develops heat and electricity as well as 
 magnetism in the atmosphere, as is done also in the waters of 
 the ocean by corresponding columns of warm and cold water 
 in juxtaposition. These attributes of fluids are, therefore, 
 among the great sources of the evolution of these impondera- 
 ble powers. 
 
 The cold Arctic and Antarctic currents of water, in motion 
 to the Equator from the poles while currents of warm water 
 from the tropics to the poles are moving beside them in a 
 directly opposite direction, are conclusive evidences that they 
 are impelled by magnetic attractions and repulsions in the 
 crust of the earth, and so it is also with the aerial currents of 
 the atmosphere. Those of a great elevation, having a very 
 low temperature, are attracted towards the Equator and down- 
 wards to the earth by its magnetism, while the warm equato- 
 rial currents, repelled from the earth by the same magnet- 
 ism which has attracted the cold upper current downward 
 towards it, ascend to the upper regions of the atmosphere 
 attracted by the opposite magnetism existing there, and in 
 both cases in opposition to the supposed law of gravitation, for 
 the air descending to the earth from the elevated regions of 
 the atmosphere is much thinner and more attenuated than the 
 air beneath, and the ascending warm, air is much denser than 
 the air of the regions that it seeks. The diagonal and spiral
 
 168 
 
 motions of either the descending or the ascending currents of 
 the atmosphere arc produced by the magnetism of those portions 
 of the atmosphere, through which they are respectively 
 passing. 
 
 When our attention is directed to the fact of the Labrador 
 and Polar, or Arctic currents running towards the Equator, 
 while by their sides the Gulf Stream is running towards the 
 Arctic regions in an opposite direction ; and when it is dis- 
 covered by the deep sea soundings, that there are currents of 
 wat IT of varying temperatures at great depths which also run 
 side by side in opposite directions, at whatever depths, we are 
 forced to the conclusion that no conceivable system of gravita- 
 tion can bo devised to explain the anomaly. But if we apply 
 the law of development of heat and magnetism, by the con- 
 junction of opposite electricities, which are always associated 
 with differences of contiguous temperatures, the solution of 
 the phenomena referred to becomes comparatively easy. The 
 electro-magnetic condition of the warm water of the Gulf 
 Stream is repelled from the Equator, and attracted by the 
 opposite electro-magnetic condition of the waters and atmos- 
 phere about the North Pole, while the cold waters of the 
 Labrador and Arctic currents are repelled by the similar 
 electro-magnetism of the waters at their starting point, and 
 are attracted towards the Equator by the opposite electro-mag- 
 netism of the warm waters there. Similar causes produce 
 similar effects in the southern hemisphere, and similar electro- 
 magnetic forces dominate in the atmosphere all over the 
 planet. Hence we find there, horizontal winds blowing in 
 opposite directions, one above the other, and it is by this wise 
 arrangement of oppositely electrified currents of air that the 
 rainfall is scattered and distributed over vast areas of the 
 earth's surface!, modifying the temperatures and furnishing 
 to the parched and arid soil those supplies of water for irriga- 
 tion, so indispensable to the support of animal and vegetable 
 life upon it. 
 
 Tn the. year 1^28, I was detailed with two other officers of 
 the army, by the Secretary of War, to make a survey of the 
 mountainous region in the states of North and South Carolina, 
 Georgia, and Tennessee, lying between the head of navigation 
 on the Savannah river, at the eastern foot of the I;lue Uidgo 
 mountains, and the head of navigation on the Tcrne 
 river, on the western side of the same mountains. The object
 
 1G9 
 
 of the survey was to ascertain the practicability of construct- 
 ing a navigable canal ou the mountains, to bring the produce 
 of northern Alabama and eastern Tennessee to Charleston, 
 in South Carolina, and Savannah, in Georgia, instead of 
 ing it to Mobile and New Orleans, and thus it was hoped by 
 tlie administration of the Government to reconcile the people 
 of South Carolina and Georgia especially, to the policy of 
 having the internal improvements of the country to be made 
 by the Federal Government instead of by the State Govern- 
 ments. 
 
 On reaching our destination, I was directed to run a line of 
 levels from the head waters of the Savannah river over the 
 mountains to those of the Tennessee river, a distance, if I 
 remember rightly, of some ninety miles. I had under my 
 command eleven men mountaineers stout, strong, active, 
 and hardy fellows. The other officers were employed in 
 prospecting for other routes across the mountains, at consid- 
 erable distances from that I was pursuing. The country was 
 then very thinly settled, and a portion of my route bordered 
 on the lands occupied by the Creek or Cherokee Indians, then 
 living in the state of Georgia. Of course, we had to carry all 
 our supplies with us, the country furnishing little or nothing. 
 "We were occupied on this duty some five months, from July 
 till December. Frost appeared in the latter part of Septem- 
 ber, on the parallel of latitude of Charleston, in South Caro- 
 lina, and thin ice was formed on the streams almost nightly 
 after October 15th. In the latter part of October my party 
 was benighted in the valley of the Little Tennessee river, far 
 away from any human habitation, on a narrow alluvial bottom, 
 overhung by a precipitous and lofty mountain. The man 
 detailed to bring to ua from the mountain ridge our supplies 
 for the day and night, had missed his way, and hud descended 
 to the river, at a place that we had left several miles behind 
 us. He had not observed our trail, and supposing that we 
 had not passed the spot which he had reached, he kindled a 
 fire, and remained there all night awaiting our arrival. After 
 sending men in every direction in search of him, who returned 
 without success, I began to make arrangements for the night. 
 The air was cold and humid, ice being formed of the thick- 
 ness of a quarter of an inch on the still waters of a portion of 
 the river, a heavy growth of timber in the valley of the river 
 where I had halted rendered the ground, as well as the air, 
 very damp. The men, like myself, were all dressed in light
 
 170 
 
 summer clothing 1 , and fire, therefore, became a prime necessity, 
 but the question was, how to obtain it. At that period, 
 lucifer matches, if they had been invented, could not be 
 procured where we were. My arms and ammunition, 
 with the rest of our supplies, were with my wagon, 
 and where it was we had not been able to discover. 
 It occurred to me to procure fire by friction, for at that 
 day it was thought that heat was evolved by friction. So I 
 divided my ten men into five reliefs of two men each, and 
 directing some of them to gather the driest pieces of wood 
 they could find, I notched the pieces so as to make the 
 greatest rubbing surfaces possible in them, and then I set two 
 men at a time to rub the pieces of wood together. Having 
 some pieces of dry paper in my pockets, I hoped to be able to 
 kindle a fire w r ith them, when sufficient heat should be 
 developed by the friction of the pieces of wood. The men 
 relieved each other every five minutes, after having rubbed the 
 pieces of wood together, vigourously and rapidly; the wood 
 became blackened, and much smoke was given out, but no 
 fire could be produced. The wood itself was not sufficiently 
 dry, and none more suitable could be procured. The evening 
 air was cold and damp and carried off as fast as it was evolved 
 the positive electricity which flowed from the friction pro- 
 duced on the wood by the active rubbing of the men. One of 
 the elements therefore to develop the heat, viz: the negative 
 
 i 'icily of the atmosphere that \v<- needed, was wanting. 
 After having kept these five reliefs of the men continually busy 
 in rubbing these pieces of wood for two consecutive hours, 
 i gave up the effort in despair, and we submitted ourselves to 
 the circumstances of our situation, and passed a dismal night 
 of great suffering. Had the wood and the night air been dry, 
 we should have kindled a fire in fifteen minutes with such 
 an amount of f notional electricity as was developed by the 
 rubbing of the wood by the men. The experiment satisfied 
 me that heat is only developed by the proper electrical condi- 
 tions and not by friction of itself. As it was, all the friction 
 we could produce did not prevent us from passing two 
 days and nights in these mountains without food or fire, the 
 
 r on the river, in its tranquil parts, having been frozen at 
 night of the thickness of a quarter of a dollar or an English 
 shilling. 
 
 Every housewife in the country knows that if she suffers 
 the sunlight to fall upon the burning fuel on her hearth, the
 
 171 
 
 combustion of the fuel will bo deadened by it, and if all 
 to continue long, it will be extinguished. This is o\\i> 
 the de-oxydizing power of the b! ('the sunlight, which 
 
 separating the oxygen gas from the atmo>pherio air in the 
 chimney, prevents the combustion of the fuel from the 
 absence of oxygen gas. Whoever has seen one of our w 
 prairies on fire, must have observed, in the stillness of the 
 morning air and in the bright sunshine, that the combustion 
 of the dry grass and herbage \vas slow, the flume la/ily < . 
 ing from one stalk to anothertill a <: nopy of smoke intercept- 
 ing the sunlight, allowed a current of air to be formed 
 beneath the smoke, which fanned the combustion into active 
 flame. These results were from the removal of the oxygen 
 gas from the air in the first place, by the blue ray of the sun- 
 light de-oxydi/ing it, and in the second part, obscuring the 
 sunlight by the canopy of smoke, which permitted the oxygen 
 gas in the atmosphere to be re-united to the air beneath it, 
 and to supply the oxygen gas to support anew the combustion 
 on the prairie. 
 
 It is therefore a mistake to suppose that friction produces 
 heat. It evolves electricity, which, uniting with opposite- 
 electricity, develops sometimes heat and sometimes cold, as 
 one or other of the electricities is predominant in volume and 
 tension at their conjunction. This is illustrated by the 
 passage of sunlight through two adjacent panes of glass, one 
 being blue, the other colourless and transparent, at the same 
 angle of incidence. Glass is known to be a feeble conductor 
 of heat as well as of electricity, for -we i; s in our 
 
 windows to confine within our rooms the artificial heat pro- 
 duced within them during winter, and in northern reiriona 
 double sashes are used in the windows, the outer sash to 
 prevent the cold from penetrating through them, and the 
 inner sash to confine the warmer air within the rooms; arid in 
 electrical experiments, glass handles are used to insulate 
 currents of electricity intended to be passed from one pole of 
 the battery to the other. 
 
 when sunlight with its enormous velocity falls thus 
 upon two such adjacent panes of glass, it will be found that 
 the plain transparent glass is cold to the touch of the hand, 
 while the blue glass is hot when so touched. If friction pro- 
 duced heat, both of these surfaces should have the same tem- 
 perature, but such is not the case. The reason is obvious. 
 The sunlight passes through the plain transparent glass, only
 
 172 
 
 slightly retarded by its density, which is greater than that of 
 the atmosphere, but subject to its refraction while six of the 
 primary rays of the sunlight that impinges upon the blue 
 glass, are suddenly arrested by the impact with it, which 
 shatters the composite rays of indigo, violet and purple into 
 their component parts, and only admits of the passage of the 
 blue ray through it. This sudden stoppage of a velocity of 
 186,000 miles per second of six of these primary rays of sun- 
 light produces enormous friction, which evolves negative 
 electricity from these rays, which coming in contact with the 
 vitreous or positive electricity of the glass evolves heat, that 
 expanding the molecules of the glass allows the heat thus 
 developed and a current of electro-magnetism, produced at 
 the same time by this conjunction of opposite electricities, to 
 through the glass, and to produce the marvelous results 
 upon animal and vegetable life that we have announced. 
 This, then, is the theory that explains the almost magical 
 effects that are produced in life by the impact of sunlight upon 
 the adjacent surfaces of plain transparent glass and blue g 
 
 The facts are in such harmony with the explanation of 
 them, that as we cannot deny the facts we are bound to 
 accept the theory that elucidates them. This will relieve the 
 scientific mind that is always bothered to accept a new fact or 
 to comprehend a new theory. 
 
 Light is diffusible. This is apparent cvcrywhere.in our illu- 
 minations. It is also compressible, as illustrated by the con- 
 cm! ration of sunlight through a common lensor sun glass into 
 a focus, by which a boy lights his segar or inflames a squib of 
 gunpowder. This shows that rays of light move through 
 ether, and our atmosphere, Without touching each other, and 
 that when they are comprised together, us in this lens, their 
 incy produces friction, and this friction evctlvcs negative 
 electricity, which has caused their separation, which negative 
 electricity brought into contact with the vitreous or positive, 
 electricity of the glass of the len, develops heat of extraordi- 
 nary intfii.-ny. Now, \vhenwe come to apply theso attributes 
 of light to the physical condition of our planet, we are t no 
 nations of our temperature throughout 
 us, directly to the action of light upon the various 
 polid, liquid '-onstituents of the planet, which at 
 
 - and in certain conditions are oppositely electri- 
 fied to the. rays of light. 
 
 There is no atmosphere about the moon and consequently
 
 173 
 
 it has no heal", as the rays oflight which fall upon tho moon's 
 surface being negatively elect rifled its they p ;i ^ through tho 
 cold ether of stellar and planetary space, ( ,ti n-a'-hiiiu; the 
 moon at a very small angle of incidence from, the sun, aj 
 Btantly reflected t'rom its surface upon the earth and into 
 space-. The moon itself being negatively electrified bv its con- 
 tact with this ether in its career r: its orhit, this negatively 
 electrified condition of the moon's surface repels the r;: 
 light therefrom, and hastens their reflection. The rotation on 
 its axis is the effect of electrical forces in its interior, and its 
 motion around the earth, and with it around the sun, results 
 from the magnetism contained within its crust, and in the 
 earth and its atmosphere, as well as in the planets, the sun 
 and the ether of space. 
 
 No one impulse could possibly send light from its various 
 sources in the firmament through space with its constant 
 velocity of 186,000 miles per second. It is impelled through 
 space with its own concomitant forces, as a rocket fired from 
 its stand is continually driven forward hy the forces evolved 
 in the combustion of its composition, till it is extinguished. 
 So light is repelled from its sources in the firmament by its 
 negative electricity, and its velocity is maintained by the ;. 
 ance of the negative electricity of the ether through which it is 
 passing, continually driving it forward. This condition of 
 negative electricity in light being constant, and its velocity 
 uniform, its rate of speed is maintained till it enters our atmos- 
 phere, where it encounters electrical disturbances of opposite 
 as well as similar conditions, producing its refraction, its re- 
 flections, its polarization and its absorption. On reaching the 
 surface of the earth, which at every moment presents a new 
 portion to the action of light, all the phenomena of day, 
 twilight and night, of heat and cold, of dryness and moisture, of 
 atmospheric and climatic changes, are developed. Seasons suc- 
 ceed each other, according to the angles of incidence of the sun's 
 light. When it falls in the summer on certain parts of the earth 
 almost vertically, no rays of light are reflected from it, they 
 all imi-inge npon it with their inconceivable velocity, develop- 
 ing by their friction with the earth an opposite electricity to 
 their own and that of the atmosphere, whose union produces 
 tho heats -of s mmer. In winter, though the earth is three 
 millions of miles nearer the sun than it is in summer, yet the 
 angle of incidence of the sun's rays of light is so small and 
 acute, that a large proportion of them are reflected into space 
 without producing the friction with the earth which is neces-
 
 174 
 
 sary to evolve an opposite electricity and heat consequent 
 upon the union of the two electricities : hence the temperature 
 of the winters in such parts of the earth's surface is low, and 
 cold prevails. The intermediate seasons make an average 
 between the extremes of summer and winter, from the cor- 
 responding angles of incidence of their light. 
 
 One of the most beautiful illustrations of the remarkable 
 power developed by the compressibility of light is furnished 
 in the celebrated exploits of Archimedes, the iSyracusan, the 
 most learned of the mathematicians of antiquity, in destroying 
 by means of reflecting mirrors the fleet of the Romans, who, 
 investing the city of Syracuse by land, were blockading its 
 port with a numerous fleet, which was preparing to batter the 
 sea walls of the city with battering rams and catapults. 
 Archimedes conceived the idea of destroying this fleet, which 
 was unapproachable by any adequatic force under the control 
 of the Syracusans, by concentrating upon it the light of the 
 sun, reflected from mirrors into foci, successively thrown 
 upon the several ships of the fleet, fit the distance of an 
 arrow's flight from the shore, or from 150 to 200 feet. 
 
 The two ancient authors who have furnished the clearest 
 account of this extraordinary feat in warfare, are Zonaras and 
 Txetzes, who each lived in the twelfth century of the Christian 
 era. The passage in the history of Zonaras does not enlighten 
 us in regard to the construction of the mirrors used by 
 Archimedes, it simply states the fact, and in another passage 
 the. same author says, that under the empire of Anastasius, in 
 the year 514, A. D., Proclus with burning mirrors burnt and 
 de-lroyed the fleet of Yitalien, who was besieging Constanti- 
 nople, and he added, their invention was ancient, and that Dion 
 gave the honour of it to Archimedes, who had used it success- 
 fully against the Romans at the siege of Syracuse. 
 
 The historian Tzetzes, enters more fully into the description 
 of the mirrors used by Archimedes, which he said were com- 
 i of a c.-ntral hexagonal mirror, surrounded by others of 
 a smaller size, which by the aid of hinges and metallic plates, 
 could be so exposed to the sun, that its rays of light falling 
 upon them would be reflected and then concentrated into a 
 common focus, developing so great a heat that the nhi: 
 the Romans were burnt by it, even at the distance of an 
 arrow's flight. 
 
 Among the moderns, Kircher has written that Archimedes 
 had been able to burn, at a great distance, with plane mirrors,
 
 175 
 
 rience Laving taught him that in assembling in (his 
 manner the images of the sun, a licat could be produced at a 
 oint where these images were united. 
 
 Mr. Du Fay, a member of the Royal Academy ices, 
 
 in a memoir printed in 1716, stated that the image of the sun, 
 reflected by a plane mirror more than 600 feet, upon a eon- 
 cave mirror with a diameter of 17 inches, burned intlamma- 
 ble substances at the focus of this concave mirror, lie more- 
 over added that some authors had suggested that a mirror, 
 with a very long focus, could be formed by using a large 
 number of small plane mirrors, which might be held in the 
 hands of as many persons, and so directed by them as to 
 throw, by reflection, all the images of the sun upon a given 
 point, thus developing great heat; but al the same time he 
 treated the story of Archimedes burning the Roman fleet at 
 Syracuse as the veriest fable, and worthy of all ridicule. 
 
 It is very singular that men will frequently believe state- 
 ments of the most improbable and even impossible character, 
 who, at the same time, will reject the best established historical 
 facts when they happen to be outside their circle of know- 
 ledge. Such has been the fate of the historv of the burning 
 
 O */ 
 
 mirrors with which Archimedes destroyed the Roman fleet at 
 Syracuse. This fact, related by many historians, believed, 
 without question, during fifteen or sixteen centuries, was, in 
 the seventeenth century, not only disputed, but was treated 
 as a silly fable by many of the savans of that period. Even 
 the illustrious Des Cartes openly denied its possibility, and 
 we must acknowledge that with the then received opinions on 
 Dioptrics, Des Cartes was excusable for not believing the 
 mirrors of Archimedes ever to have existed. 
 
 This incredulity, on the part of many persons claiming to 
 be scientists, excited the interest of M. de Button, the cele- 
 brated naturalist, at the time the Intendant of the Jardin des 
 Plantes, at Paris. He determined to test the question practi- 
 cally, and for this purpose constructed a system of reflecting 
 plane mirrors, by which he attained complete success. He 
 began by measuring the loss of illuminating power in the 
 reflection of the sun's rays from metallic mirrors of the finest 
 polish, when compared with the loss so sustained by reflec- 
 tion from plane glass mirrors covered on their backs with tin 
 foil. It was found that the glass mirrors lost less light by 
 reflection than the metallic mirrors did, but that it required 
 two plane glass mirrors of the same dimensions to produce,
 
 176 
 
 at a given distance, an illumination equal to that from the 
 same unobstructed beam of sunlight passing into an obscure 
 room through an aperture in the window shutter, and conse- 
 quently, that the number of his glass mirrors should be largely 
 increased to produce any sensible effect on combustible sub- 
 s f ances. After studying his subject in its various relations to 
 the laws of light and heat, as then understood by scientific 
 men, M. de BufFon constructed his mirror of 168 pieces of 
 plane glass, covered on the back with tin foil, each piece being 
 six inches wide by eight inches long, separated from each 
 other by four lines, and mounted on a stand, which was sus- 
 ceptible of being moved in every direction; each of these 
 glasses had a separate setting, so that it could be separately 
 moved in every direction, independent of the movements of 
 the other glasses. It required about half an hour to adjust 
 the reflected images of the sun from these mirrors into a com- 
 mon focus. When the glasses were properly arranged, and 
 the focus adjusted, a board of beech wood covered with pitch, 
 was set on iire by 40 of these glasses at the distance of 66 feet; 
 with 98 glasses, a board covered with pitch and sulphur was 
 set on fire at the distai.ce of 120 feet. A slight combustion wa3 
 produced on a board covered with wool cut very fine, by 
 employing 112 glasses, at the distance of 138 feet, with a very- 
 pale sun. At 150 feet of distance, a board covered with pitch 
 was made to smoke with 154 glasses, and it was thought that 
 it would have been burnt if the sun had not become overcast 
 with clouds. With a still feebler sun, chips of pine wood 
 covered with pitch have been set on fire in one minute and a 
 half, at the same distance, with a like number of glasses. 
 With an unclouded sun, a pine board, covered with pitch, at 
 the same distance, has been quickly set on fire with 128 
 glasses, and the fire has caught the whole surface of the focus, 
 \\hichwas 16 inches in diameter, at that distance. Finally, 
 the focus having been shortened to the distance of 20 feet, 
 with 12 glasses the substances easily combustible were set 
 on tire. With 45 glasses a tin canister, weighing six pounds, 
 Las been quickly melted with 117 glasses. Thin scraps of 
 silver have been melted, and a sheet of iron has been made 
 red hot; and there was reason to believe that if all the glasses 
 of the mirror had been used, motals could have been as easily 
 melted at 50 feet distance as at 20 feet. 
 
 These experiments have been made with a sun of a spring 
 time, and without much power, having been enfeebled by 
 atmospheric vapours. If then, with these disadvantages, wood
 
 177 
 
 could be burnt at 150 feet distant, we may well think, that 
 with a summer's sun, it could be readily 'burnt at 200 feet 
 distance, and with three similar mirrors" it could bo set on 
 lire at 400 feet distance. M. do Button thought that with 
 mirrors similar to his own, combustibles could not be inflamed 
 beyond a distance of 900 feet. 
 
 Let us attempt an explanation of these phenomena. The 
 enormous velocity of rays of light in coming to our planet, 
 establishes the fact that they cannot touch each other in their 
 passage, since if they jostled each other their velocity would 
 be greatly diminished. Repelled from each other, therefore, 
 by their own negative electricity, as well as by that they have 
 received from the cold ether through which they have passed, 
 they are attracted to the glass of the mirrors and their metal- 
 lic backing, by the vitreous or positive electricity of those sub- 
 Btances. On striking the glass, these rays produce friction, 
 which evolves positive electricity, the junction of these oppo- 
 site electricities evolves heat and magnetism, the rays of heat 
 thus developed follow the same laws as do those of light, and 
 together, both are reflected from the mirrors and are directed 
 to the common focus, where their concentration sets on fire 
 combustible substances, and melts and vaporizes those of a 
 more obdurate and intractable character. The refraction and 
 reflection, as well as the polarization of light, are due to the 
 repellent affinity of electricity. 
 
 When we are told that on many parts of the earth's surface 
 mountains have been upheaved till their peaks and ridges, at 
 distances varying from 16,000 to 28,000 feet above the level of 
 the sea, appear to be covered with snow, which from year to 
 year, and from century to century, continues to cover them, 
 no matter in what latitudes they may exist, nor in what ecu- 
 sou of the year they may be examined, we naturally ask our- 
 selves, why is this? How does it happen, that these snow- 
 capped peaks and ridges, at such great elevations above tho 
 sea, far above the region of the atmosphere in which clouds 
 and vapours habitually love to roam as it were at will, bask- 
 ing in a resplendent and brilliant sunlight, receiving all the 
 supposed emanations of heat from the sun, that philosophers 
 of every age have innocently conjectured that that luminary, 
 like a human spendthrift, was lavishing upon infinite space, 
 in all directions, that a small portion of it might reach our 
 planet, should preserve their mantles of perpetual snow, in all 
 seasons, in all climatic changes that are occurring every
 
 178 
 
 moment thousands of feet beneath them, and thus continue 
 delving, as it would seem, the mutability of all other earthly 
 things ? Some of our philosophers of the highest distinction, 
 have gone into the most elaborate calculations to show what 
 enormous columns of ice, of the greatest density, could be 
 melted by the heat of the sun, in its constant emanation, in 
 the smallest spaces of time, in the face of the fact that the 
 snow clad mountains, that happen to be the nearest to the 
 sun, have been from time immemorial, unaffected in the 
 slightest manner, by any heat derived from that great lumi- 
 nary. Let us attempt an explanation of this wonder. The 
 colour of snow is white. It has a low temperature. Its elec- 
 trical condition is negative, as is the white colour of sunlight, 
 as are the rays of sunlight which reach us through the i. 
 tively electrified ether of space, also intensely cold, and the 
 intensely cold upper strata of our atmosphere. As a conse- 
 quence, white sunlight, negatively electrified, falling upon the 
 white snow capped mountains, also negatively electrified, as 
 are also the strata of our atmosphere into which these moun- 
 tains lift their heads, these similar electricities repel each 
 other. The white sunlight is reflected into space from the 
 snow covered mountains, which remain undisturbed, and no 
 trace of the action of heat, as derived from the sun, is any- 
 where visible upon them. 
 
 If the sun is a great magnet, it must have its magnetic poles, 
 with their reciprocal attractions and repulsions. The plane of 
 the sun's equator is said to be neither perpendicular to nor 
 coincident with that of the ecliptic. Its magnetic poles may 
 therefore be differently situated in it to the positions occupied 
 in the earth by its magnetic poles. From the supposed enor- 
 mous volume and intensity of magnetism in and about the sun, 
 we may inter that the velocity of the planets and of cometary 
 matter in their respective pro'gress in their orbits, would be 
 cheeked when in their several perigees or nearest points to 
 the sun, from its great magnetic attraction, and that as they 
 ally receded therefrom, those velocities would be in- 
 -ed from the loss of the sun's attraction by increase of 
 distance from it, and the nearer approach to their apogees, or 
 greatest distance from the sun, where the SUU'B attraction 
 would be the least, and the opposite magnetic attraction of 
 the ether of space would be the greatest. If it were not 1 -r 
 the interior forces of the planets, <fcc., causing their rotations 
 on their B might suppose that their movements around 
 
 m might be stopped entirely, when tlr\v had .severally 
 reached their perigees by the magnetism of the sun.
 
 179 
 TVlien two magnets of different magnetic- volumes ami in- 
 
 tensities are brought near each other with similar 
 towards eaeh other, the greater magnet will repel the l-sser : 
 if their opposite poles approach ea<-h other, the feebler will be 
 attracted by the stronger. Now the sun having much gr 
 magnetic power than the earth, when the latter is at its peri- 
 gee its velocity must be retarded by the greater attractive 
 magnetism of the sun, which would hold it fixed when in peri- 
 gee, but foe the rotation of the earth on its axis, driving it 
 forward, and that retardation or holding it back after it bad 
 passed its perigee w r ould continue until the earth had receded 
 so far from its perigee as to have reached the attraction of the 
 opposite magnetism beyond its apogee. 
 
 The sun exhibits every characteristic and evidence of a body 
 enveloped in two atmospheres, so to state, the one in contact 
 with it being the region of white light, called the photosphere, 
 and outside of that, a region in which coloured light is some- 
 times manifested, especially along the edges of the solar disc, 
 and which last region is called the chromosphere. The spots 
 on the sun are supposed to be holes of various forms and 
 dimensions in the region of white light, through which the 
 dark body of the sun itself has been seen. These spots or 
 holes are liable to variations, and are analogous to the spots 
 of sunlight on the surface of the earth, which are sometimes 
 seen to be surrounded by the shadows cast upon the earth 
 by the clouds above it. Kasmyth, in the year 1866, made the 
 discovery that the luminous portion of the sun's disc is not 
 composed of light of equal or homogeneous intensity, but 
 consists of a minutely divided series of luminous streaks, 
 which he described as like willow leaves, around which the 
 light is less intense, or rather the photosphere is more trans- 
 parent. These willow leaves appeared to cross each other in 
 all varieties of directions, and their average magnitude was 
 about one thousand miles long, by a hundred miles broad ; 
 other observers have preferred to describe these appearances 
 as " granulations," "rice grains," and "shingle beach," and 
 as having elliptical forms, and of much smaller proportions. 
 
 The moon, we know to be a reflector of light without the 
 emission of any accompanying heat. The picture of the face 
 of the moon exhibited to us, represents great irregularities in 
 its surface, depressions, as if they were craters of extinct vol- 
 canoes, and elevations of great altitude, conveying the idea of 
 volcanic mountains; but the general colour is that of a light
 
 180 
 
 grey, not unlike to sheets of zinc, or tin foil, the latter of 
 which we use as backs or reflecting surfaces in our glass 
 mirrors. 
 
 If we thus get our nocturnal light from the moon, unac- 
 companied by heat, why should we insist upon violating the 
 well established laws of heat in its radiations, and declare the 
 sun to be an incandescent body, continually in active com- 
 bustion, requiring inconceivable masses of fuel of some kind 
 to maintain it, and surrounded on all sides by an immensity 
 of ethereal space of so low a temperature that any radiation 
 of heat from the sun must necessarily be absorbed and neu- 
 tralized as soon as it should leave the body of the sun ? We 
 therefore, for the reasons stated in this book, reject entirely 
 the theory of the incandescence of the sun, and of its lumi- 
 nous metallic vapours of great intensity of heat. 
 
 "We have shown in the body of this work, that the colored 
 lights constituting the primary rays of light, which aro 
 emitted from the various orbs of the firmament, negatively 
 electrified, and are propelled by the cold negatively electrified 
 ether through which they are continually passing to tho 
 sun, and through its transparent or translucent chromosphere 
 to the photosphere of the sun, are there commingled to 
 produce its white light, which then is repelled or reflected 
 from the grey " willow leaves," "granulations," " rice grains,'* 
 or whatever they may be, into ethereal space by the samo 
 negative electricity, which has been associated with them 
 throughout, a portion of which comes to us as the white light 
 of the sun. 
 
 This shows the synthesis or formation of the white light of 
 the sun, and that it is merely an association of tho primary 
 rays of light thrown together by electrical and magnetic 
 attractions and repulsions in the photosphere of the sun, and 
 so easily separable that the slightest change in the angle of 
 incidence of the white light of the sun, as it falls upon vapours, 
 clouds, or gases will excite their repellent affinities, and resolve 
 them into the varied and brilliant tints of primary and com- 
 posite colours, which everywhere in the temperate regions, 
 serve to excite our astonishment, wonder, and delight. These 
 changes need no accompaniment of heat, and us they are 
 without it, we return to the declaration of Moses, that " God 
 made two great lights, a greater light to rule the day, and a 
 lesser light to rule the night aud the stars.
 
 181 
 
 "And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon 
 the earth, and to rule the day and the night, und to divide the 
 light and the darkness ; arid God saw that it was good." 
 
 Among the fallacies of seience, as taught in our schools, to 
 some of which I have alluded in this book, there is not one 
 more surprising than the statement made by our astronomers, 
 that the earth, the planets, and the sun itself continually 
 revolve on their respective axes, and in their orbits from west 
 to east. We are also told that these orbits are elliptical 
 curves which return into themselves. Now we will illustrate 
 this movement by supposing that a man has started from San 
 Francisco, on the Pacific Ocean, to travel on the same parallel 
 of latitude from, west to east around the world. After he has 
 travelled one hundred and eighty degrees on this parallel of 
 latitude, he finds that he has reached the east cardinal point 
 from San Francisco, and if he should continue his journey, he 
 must travel westward, which course will bring him in time back 
 again to San Francisco. How is it possible, therefore, in a 
 curve which returns to itself to travel always in the same 
 direction ? There can be no fixed cardinal points in any solar 
 or stellar system which is always in motion. In regard to 
 the diminutive planet which we inhabit, the curvature or 
 annulus of magnetic poles, north and south, is sufficiently 
 stable tind fixed to furnish cardinal points of the compass to 
 regulate our journeyings upon it; but with planets, stars, and 
 suns, it is different. They have no fixed points in the celes- 
 tial sphere, of which we have or can have any knowledge, to 
 which the direction of their movements can be referred, and 
 it is simply an absurdity to attempt to assimilate planetary 
 and stellar motions to those of mankind on our earth. 
 
 The planes of the orbits of the planets arc neither coincident 
 with, parallel, nor perpendicular to each other, but they are 
 supposed to intersect each other in such a manner that tho 
 sun shall always be in a focus, common to all of these ellipti- 
 cal orbits; consequently any perpendicular line or plane to 
 any one of these orbits, cannot be perpendicular to any other 
 of them; and hence, there can be no cardinal points common 
 to them all, and their motions cannot be from west to east. 
 
 My task is finished. "When, in the beginning of this cen- 
 tury, it was announced that the primary rays of light had dif- 
 ferent attributes, and among them, that the blue ray stimulated 
 vegetation in a remarkable degree, many persons on the con-
 
 182 
 
 tinont of Europe, as well as in the British Isles, instituted 
 experiments, with a view to utilize these rays. Their experi- 
 ments were failures, as they were made with homogeneous 
 tinted glass, each of the primary rays having in this way heen 
 somewnere tested, but without satisfactory results. A know- 
 ledge of these failures induced me to examine the subject of 
 vegetable growth in its natural conditions. I soon discovered 
 that where vegetation was most luxuriant, and exuberant, 
 there the brilliant sunlight was always associated with the blue 
 light of the firmament. That during the torpor of winter, the 
 rays of sunlight fell upon the earth, owing to the declination 
 of the sim, at such acute angles of incidence, that many of 
 them were reflected into space without stimulating life on this 
 planet, while, at the same time, the blue colour of the sky was 
 intercepted from our vision by the watery vapours and clouds 
 that were constantly floating in the atmosphere. The absence, 
 therefore, of the blue colour of the sky, and many of the rays 
 of sunlight at this season, together with its low temperature, 
 convinced me that the Creator intended it to be a season of 
 rest for vegetable and animal life, a sort of Sabbath, in which 
 life, though existing in plants and animals, was reposing from 
 tivity, to be aroused into exercise on the return of the 
 season of spring, when from the less declination of the sun, 
 more of its light would be thrown upon the earth, associ. 
 with the blue colour of the sky, then unmasked by the dis- 
 sipation of the clouds and watery vapours which had con- 
 cealed it during the winter just past. I said to myself, " here 
 is the secret of the failures of these European experiments 
 with the primary rays of light. I will follow the guidance of 
 the Creator in cultivating my vines. I will associate the sun- 
 light with the blue colour of the sky, intensifying the latter. 
 I will make a tropical climate and atmosphere in the temper- 
 ate zone," The results are before you. The reflections i 
 have made on this subject have induced my investigation into 
 the Physics of Nature. I have not been satisfied with what I 
 have been taught in the schools. Their explanations are not 
 consistent with the known or presumed facts. 1 have ven- 
 tured, therefore, to form my own conclusions, irrespective of 
 dogmas that have been thrust upon mankind for centuries. 
 I do not profe>s to teach any one, but as a human atom 
 among the masses of mankind, for whom all knowledge should 
 be disseminated, I venture to impart to the public the conclu- 
 sions to which I have arrived on these subjects, and that pub- 
 lic may attach to them whatever value they please.
 
 APPENDIX TO PAETH. 
 
 P-] 
 
 A very remarkable confirmation of my theory of the forma- 
 tion of the equatorial diameter of the earth, as well as of those 
 of the other planets, by magnetic attraction and repulsion from 
 their respective poles, thus increasing those diameters in 
 various proportions over their several polar diameters, has 
 unexpectedly appeared in a paper read before the American 
 Academy of Sciences, at their meeting in this city held on 
 Thursday last, November 4th, 1875, and sent to it by Professor 
 Joseph Le Conte, of the University of California, a synopsis 
 of which was published in the supplement to the Public Ledger , 
 of this city, on Saturday, November 6th, 1875. The paper was 
 entitled " On the Evidence of Horizontal Crushing in the 
 Formation of the Coast Range of Mountains in California," 
 being the result of recent observations by the author. His 
 theory is, that mountains are formed wholly by a yielding of 
 the crust of the earth along certain lines to horizontal pres- 
 sure, not by bending into a convex arch filled and sustained 
 by a liquid beneath, but by a mashing together of the whole 
 crust with the formation of close folds and a thickening or 
 swelling upward of the squeezed mass. The author walked 
 slowly through the cut made by the Central Pacific Railroad, 
 from the plains adjoining the bay of San Francisco through 
 the Coast Ridge mountains to the San Joaquin plains, a dis- 
 tance of thirty miles. Both the sub-ranges into which the 
 range is divided are composed wholly of crumpled strata, 
 those of the western sub-range being crumpled in the most 
 extraordinary manner. The sub-range nearest the bay is ex- 
 ceedingly complex. From measurements of the angles of dip 
 the actual length of the folded strata is two and one-half 
 to three times the horizontal distance through the mountain. 
 There must have been fifteen to eighteen miles of original sea 
 bottom crushed into six miles, with a corresponding upswell- 
 ing of the whole mass. 
 
 183)
 
 184 
 
 PL] 
 
 To anticipate inquiry and satisfy curiosity respecting the 
 history of the author of the experiments mentioned herein, 
 and of the book itself, his civil and military history is as fol- 
 lows, viz : 
 
 AUGUSTUS JAMES PLEASONTOST, horn in the city of 
 "Washington, in the District of Columbia, January 21st, A. D. 
 1808. He was the second son of Stephen Pleasonton, of the 
 state of Delaware, and Mary Hopkins, his wife, of the county 
 of Lancaster, state of Pennsylvania. His father, Stephen 
 Pleasonton, entered the service of the government of the 
 United States, in the State Department, in the year 1800, and 
 continued to serve it till his death, which occured in the year 
 1854, after a service of more than fifty years. He was Fifth 
 Auditor of the Treasury Department, Acting Commissioner 
 of the Revenue of the United States, and Chief of the Light 
 House Department, for many years. He was of Norman ex- 
 traction. 
 
 His wife was the third daughter of John Hopkins, a sub- 
 stantial farmer of the county of Lancester, in the state of 
 Pennsylvania, who for very many years represented his county 
 in the Senate of Pennsylvania. Her ancestry was English. 
 Their son, Augustus, was appointed a Cadet of the United 
 States Military Academy at West Point, from the District of 
 Columbia, July 1st, A. D. 1822, continued as such till July 1st, 
 1826, when he was graduated and promoted in the army, to 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant of the Sixth Regment of Infantry 
 July 1st, 1826, Second Lieutenant Third Artillery June 1st, 
 1826. Transferred to First Artillery October 24th, 1826. 
 
 Augustus James Pleasonton served in garrison at Fortress 
 Monroe, Virginia, at the Artillery School of Practice in the 
 years 1826 and 1827, and on Topographical duty, from June 
 16th, 1827, till January 17th, 1828, and from June 14th, 1828 
 till June 30th, 1830. Resigned his commission in the army 
 June 30th, 1830. 
 
 His CIVIL HISTORY. Counsellor at Law at Philadelphia, 
 Penn., since the year 1832. Brigade Major in Pennsylvania 
 Volume. -r Militia in the years 1833 and 1835, Colonel of 
 Volunteer Artillery, of Penn., from 1835 till 1845, being 
 severely wounded July 7th, 1844, with a musket ball in the 
 left groin, while commanding his regiment in a desperate con-
 
 185 
 
 flict, with a formidable body of rioters, armed with muskets 
 and cannon, in Southwark, Philadelphia county, Penn. As- 
 sistant Adjutant General and Paymaster General of the state 
 of Pennsylvania from December llth, 1838 to October llth, 
 1839, during political disturbances at Harrisburg, Penn. 
 President of the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mountjoy and 
 Lancaster Railroad Company, of Pennsylvania, in the years 
 1839 and 1840. 
 
 His MILITARY HISTORY. Served during the Rebellion of 
 the seceding states from the year 1861 till 1866 as Brigadier 
 General of Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia. Appointed May 
 16th, 1861, under an act of the Legislature of the state ot 
 Pennsylvania, to organize and command a Volunteer Army 
 Corps of 10,000 men of Artillery, Infantry and Cavalry, as a 
 Home Guard for the defence of the city of Philadelphia, 
 Penn.
 
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 The influence of the blue 
 
 ray of the sunlight and of