Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Two Curious Philosophical Papers. Written By Dr. Franklin,
TWO CURIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL PAPERS . WRITTEN BY Dr . FRANKLIN ,
AND JfOT TO BE FOUND IN ANY COLLECTION' OF HIS WORKS , No . I .
Endorsed in Dr . FRANKLIN ' Hand , as follows , viz . LETTER to Abbe SOUL AIRE , occasioned b y his sending me some Notes he had taken of what I had said to Mm in Conversation on the Theory of the Earth . I wrote it to set him ri ght in some Points wherein he had mistaken my Meaning .
SIK ' Passy , Sept . 22 , 17 S 2 . I RETURN the Papers with some corrections . I didnot find coal ^ mines under the calcareous rock in Derbyshire . I only remarked , that at the lowest part of that rockv mountain Which was in sight , there were oyster shells mixed with the stone ; and part of the high county of Derbbeing probabl much above
y y as the level ofthe sea , as the coal mines of Whitehaven were below it seemed a proof ; that there had been a great bouleversement in the surface of that island , some part of it having been depressed under the sea , and other parts , which had been under it , being raised above it . Such changes 111 the superficial parts of the Globe seemed to me unlikel y to happen if the Earth were solid to the centr , T
therefore imagined ,, that the internal parts mi ght be a fluid more dense , and of greater specific gravity than any ofthe solids we are acquainted with , which therefore , might swim in or upon that fluid . Thus the surface ofthe Globe would be a , shell capable of being broken and disordered by the violent movements of the fluid on which it rested . And as air has been compressed by art to be twice dense water
so as as as , in which case , if such air and water could be contained in a strong glass vessel , the air would be seen to take the lowest place , and the water to float above and upon it ; and as we know not yet the degree of density to which air may be compressed , and M . Amontons calculated , that its density increasing as it approached the centre in the same proportion above the surfaceit would
as , , at the depth of leagues be heavier than gold , possibly the dense fluid occupying the Internal parts ofthe globe might be air compressed . And as the force of expansion 111 dense air when heated , is in proportion to its density , this central air might afford another agent to move the surface as well as be of use in keeping alive the central fires ; though , as you observe , the sudden rarefaction of water , coming into contact , without those fires , may be an agent sufficientl y strong for that
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Two Curious Philosophical Papers. Written By Dr. Franklin,
TWO CURIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL PAPERS . WRITTEN BY Dr . FRANKLIN ,
AND JfOT TO BE FOUND IN ANY COLLECTION' OF HIS WORKS , No . I .
Endorsed in Dr . FRANKLIN ' Hand , as follows , viz . LETTER to Abbe SOUL AIRE , occasioned b y his sending me some Notes he had taken of what I had said to Mm in Conversation on the Theory of the Earth . I wrote it to set him ri ght in some Points wherein he had mistaken my Meaning .
SIK ' Passy , Sept . 22 , 17 S 2 . I RETURN the Papers with some corrections . I didnot find coal ^ mines under the calcareous rock in Derbyshire . I only remarked , that at the lowest part of that rockv mountain Which was in sight , there were oyster shells mixed with the stone ; and part of the high county of Derbbeing probabl much above
y y as the level ofthe sea , as the coal mines of Whitehaven were below it seemed a proof ; that there had been a great bouleversement in the surface of that island , some part of it having been depressed under the sea , and other parts , which had been under it , being raised above it . Such changes 111 the superficial parts of the Globe seemed to me unlikel y to happen if the Earth were solid to the centr , T
therefore imagined ,, that the internal parts mi ght be a fluid more dense , and of greater specific gravity than any ofthe solids we are acquainted with , which therefore , might swim in or upon that fluid . Thus the surface ofthe Globe would be a , shell capable of being broken and disordered by the violent movements of the fluid on which it rested . And as air has been compressed by art to be twice dense water
so as as as , in which case , if such air and water could be contained in a strong glass vessel , the air would be seen to take the lowest place , and the water to float above and upon it ; and as we know not yet the degree of density to which air may be compressed , and M . Amontons calculated , that its density increasing as it approached the centre in the same proportion above the surfaceit would
as , , at the depth of leagues be heavier than gold , possibly the dense fluid occupying the Internal parts ofthe globe might be air compressed . And as the force of expansion 111 dense air when heated , is in proportion to its density , this central air might afford another agent to move the surface as well as be of use in keeping alive the central fires ; though , as you observe , the sudden rarefaction of water , coming into contact , without those fires , may be an agent sufficientl y strong for that