Library of Useful Knowledge: Natural philosophy, Volume 1

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1829

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Page 20 - ... is equal to the weight of a column of water whose base is the section of the piston, and whose height is the distance of the level of the water in the barrel AC, above the level in the reservoir.
Page 51 - so well defined, that I could distinguish, by a telescope, every sail, the general rig of the ship, and its particular character, insomuch that I confidently pronounced it to be my father's ship, the Fame, — which it afterwards proved to be — though on comparing notes with my father, I found that our relative position, at the time, gave our distance from one another very nearly thirty miles, being about seventeen miles beyond the horizon, and some leagues beyond the limit of direct vision!
Page 37 - Can any thing surprise us more, than to find that the color of white is a mixture of all others; that red, and blue, and green, and all the rest, merely by being blended in certain proportions, form what we had fancied rather to be no color at all than all colors together? Chemistry is not behind in its wonders. That the diamond...
Page 38 - Is it not in the highest degree interesting to find, that the power which keeps this earth in its shape, and in its path, wheeling round the sun, extends over all the other worlds that compose the universe, and gives to each its proper place and motion ; that...
Page 40 - Providence, every part would be in harmony with a plan of absolute benevolence. Independently, however, of this most consoling inference, the delight is inexpressible of being able to follow, as it were, with our eyes, the marvellous works of the Great Architect of Nature, to trace the unbounded power and exquisite skill which are exhibited in the most minute, as well as the mightiest parts of his system.
Page 32 - This will cause the air at the equator to stand more than seven miles higher from the surface of the earth to the top of the atmosphere than at the north pole.
Page 39 - ... and reasoning, of some of the great doctrines in Natural Science, learning truths wholly new to him, and satisfying himself by careful examination of the grounds on which known truths rest, so...
Page 37 - How wonderful are the laws that regulate the motions of fluids ! Is there anything in all the idle books of tales and horrors more truly astonishing than the fact, that a few pounds of water may, by mere pressure, without any machinery — by merely being placed in a particular way, produce an irresistible force? What can be more strange, than that an ounce weight should balance hundreds of pounds, by the intervention of a few bars of thin iron? Observe the extraordinary truths which Optical Science...
Page 50 - ... in their natural colours and proper actions, passing rapidly in succession along the surface of the sea during the whole of the short period of time while the above-mentioned causes remain.
Page 38 - ... plants and animals to breathe ; that these operations, so unlike to common eyes, when examined by the light of science, are the same, — the rusting of metals, — the formation of acids, — the burning of inflammable bodies, — the breathing of animals, — and the growth of plants by night. To know this is a positive gratification.

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