Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Two Curious Philosophical Papers. Written By Dr. Franklin,
purpose , when acting between the incumbent earth and the fluid on which it rests . . JIf one might indulge imagination in supposing how such a globe was formed , I should conceive , that all the elements in separate particles being originally mixed in confusion and occupying a great space * they would ( as soon as the Almighty first ordained gravity , or the mutual of others
mutual attraction of certain parts , and the repulsion , to exist ) all move towards their common centre ; that the air being a fluid whose parts repel each other , thoug h drawn to the common centre by their gravity , would be densest . towards the centre , and rarer as more ° remote ; consequently all bodies lig hter than the central parts of that air , and immersed in it , would recede from at that of the air
the centre , and rise till they arrived region which was of the same specific gravity with themselves , where they would rest ; while other matter , mixed with-the lighter air , would descend , and the two meeting would form the shell ofthe first earth , leaving the upper atmosp hercnearly clear . The oriinal movement of the parts towards their common centre would
g form a whirl there ; which would continue upon the turning of the new-formed g lobe upon its axis , and the greatest diameter of the shell would be in its equator . If by any accident afterwards , the axis should be changed , the dense internal fluid , by altering its form , must burst the shell , and throw all its substance into the
confusion in which we find it . I will not trouble you at present with my fancies concerning the forming the rest of our system . Superior beings smile at our theories , and at our presumption in making them . I will just mention that your observation of the ferruginous nature ofthe lava which is thrown out from the depths of our volcanos , gave me great pleasure . It has long been a in the substance ofthe
supposition of mine , that the iron contained globe , has made it capable of becoming , as it is , a great magnet ; that the fluid of magnetism perhaps exists in all space ; so that there is a magnetical North and South of the universe , as well as of this globe , and that if it were possible for a man to fly from : star to starhe miht his course by the compass ; that it
, g govern was by the power of this general magnetism this globe became a particular magnet . In soft or hot iron the fluid p f magnetism is = naturally diffused equally ; when within the influence of the magnet , it is drawn to one end of the iron , made denser there and rarer at the other . While the iron continues soft and hot , it is only a temporary magnet ; if it cools or grows hard in that the fluid not
situation , it becomes a permanent one , magnetic easily resuming its equilibrium . Perhaps it may be owing to the permanent magnetism of this globe , which it had not at first , that its axis is at present kept parallel to- itself , and not liable to the changes it formerly suffered , which occasioned the rupture of its shell , the submersions and emersions of its lands , and the spnfusion « fits seaspns . The present polar sod equatorial dm-Si
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Two Curious Philosophical Papers. Written By Dr. Franklin,
purpose , when acting between the incumbent earth and the fluid on which it rests . . JIf one might indulge imagination in supposing how such a globe was formed , I should conceive , that all the elements in separate particles being originally mixed in confusion and occupying a great space * they would ( as soon as the Almighty first ordained gravity , or the mutual of others
mutual attraction of certain parts , and the repulsion , to exist ) all move towards their common centre ; that the air being a fluid whose parts repel each other , thoug h drawn to the common centre by their gravity , would be densest . towards the centre , and rarer as more ° remote ; consequently all bodies lig hter than the central parts of that air , and immersed in it , would recede from at that of the air
the centre , and rise till they arrived region which was of the same specific gravity with themselves , where they would rest ; while other matter , mixed with-the lighter air , would descend , and the two meeting would form the shell ofthe first earth , leaving the upper atmosp hercnearly clear . The oriinal movement of the parts towards their common centre would
g form a whirl there ; which would continue upon the turning of the new-formed g lobe upon its axis , and the greatest diameter of the shell would be in its equator . If by any accident afterwards , the axis should be changed , the dense internal fluid , by altering its form , must burst the shell , and throw all its substance into the
confusion in which we find it . I will not trouble you at present with my fancies concerning the forming the rest of our system . Superior beings smile at our theories , and at our presumption in making them . I will just mention that your observation of the ferruginous nature ofthe lava which is thrown out from the depths of our volcanos , gave me great pleasure . It has long been a in the substance ofthe
supposition of mine , that the iron contained globe , has made it capable of becoming , as it is , a great magnet ; that the fluid of magnetism perhaps exists in all space ; so that there is a magnetical North and South of the universe , as well as of this globe , and that if it were possible for a man to fly from : star to starhe miht his course by the compass ; that it
, g govern was by the power of this general magnetism this globe became a particular magnet . In soft or hot iron the fluid p f magnetism is = naturally diffused equally ; when within the influence of the magnet , it is drawn to one end of the iron , made denser there and rarer at the other . While the iron continues soft and hot , it is only a temporary magnet ; if it cools or grows hard in that the fluid not
situation , it becomes a permanent one , magnetic easily resuming its equilibrium . Perhaps it may be owing to the permanent magnetism of this globe , which it had not at first , that its axis is at present kept parallel to- itself , and not liable to the changes it formerly suffered , which occasioned the rupture of its shell , the submersions and emersions of its lands , and the spnfusion « fits seaspns . The present polar sod equatorial dm-Si