Outlines of a Mechanical Theory of Storms Part 1

Outlines of a Mechanical Theory of Storms.

by T. Ba.s.snett.

PREFACE.

On presenting to the public a work of this novel character, overstepping, as it does, the barriers erected by modern systems to the further progress of knowledge, a few words of explanation may not be inappropriate. Early imbued with a desire to understand the _causes_ of natural phenomena, the author devoured with avidity the interpretations contained in the elementary works of orthodox science, until reason and observation rendered him dissatisfied with the repast. To him it appeared that there was an evident tendency in scholastic instruction, to make the knowledge of nature inaccessible to the many, that the world might be made more dependent on the few; while many of the _established principles_, on which the learned rested, seemed to be at variance with the simplicity and consistency of truth. Thus situated, he ventured to think for himself, and looking back on the history of the past, and finding so many cases in which the philosophy of to-day was supplanted by a different system on the morrow, he was led to suspect the possibility of future revolutions, and was thus determined to be no longer embarra.s.sed by previous systems, nor deterred by opinions however learned, which conflicted with a rational recognition of the mechanical nature of all physical phenomena.

The science of meteorology, to which the following pages are devoted, is, and always has been, a confessedly complex subject; and on this account, any suggestions and facts which observation gleans,--no matter how humble the source may be, should not be denied a hearing by those professedly engaged in the pursuit of truth. Step by step, the author became more and more confirmed in his doubts of the soundness of many modern theories; and in 1838 he had attained a position which enabled him to allege in the public prints of the day, that there did exist certain erroneous dogmas in the schools, which stood in the way of a fuller development of the causes of many meteorological phenomena. This annunciation was made in general terms, and no notice was taken of it.

Subsequently, he forwarded to the British a.s.sociation of Science, then convened at Birmingham, a communication of similar tenor; and at a later date still, a more particular statement of the advantages of his discoveries to the navigator and agriculturist, was sent to the British admiralty. The first of these communications was treated with silent contempt; the last elicited some unimportant reply. In 1844 a memorial was presented to Congress, accompanied with a certified copy of _predictions_ of the weather, written several weeks before the event, and attested in due form by two impartial witnesses; but neither did this result in any inquiry as to its truth. During the time since elapsed, he has been engaged in pursuits which prevented him from pressing the subject elsewhere, until the spring of 1853, he brought his theory under the notice of the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution. This led to a correspondence between himself and the gentlemanly Secretary of the Inst.i.tution, whose doubts of the truth of his allegations were expressed with kindness, and whose courtesy was in strange contrast with the conduct of others. In the communications which he forwarded to that Inst.i.tution, he gave a detailed statement of the difficulties he had met with, and expressed the hope that an Inst.i.tution, created for the purpose of increasing and diffusing knowledge, would feel justified in lending the influence of its name to facilitate the completion of a theory which was yet undeniably imperfect. In view of this, a test was proposed.[1] "Give us, for example, a prediction of the weather for one month in each season of the year 1854, for the City of Washington." This test the author refused, for the reason that he did not consider it necessary to wait so long; but he informed the Secretary of the Inst.i.tution, that he would prepare an outline of his theory, which would enable him to decide upon the merits of the discoveries claimed. This outline is contained in the following pages. During the summer of 1853 he called upon Professor Henry, then at Chicago, with his ma.n.u.script; but a sudden indisposition prevented that gentleman from having it read.

He, however, strongly recommended its publication from such impressions he then received.[2] This the author had resolved on, from a sense of duty to the world at large, although the promise was rather of prospective loss than of present benefit. The peculiar form under which the theory appears, is, therefore, a result of the circ.u.mstances above stated, and of the author's present inability to enter into the minute details of a subject, which embraces in its range the whole visible creation.

In extending the theory to other phenomena, he has only fearlessly followed out the same principles which have conducted him to a knowledge of a disturbing cause, to which atmospheric storms owe their origin, and in doing so he has conferred with no one. For whatever of merit or of blame may therefore justly attach to these views, he alone is responsible. If he has charged the scientific with inconsistency, or with sometimes forgetting that the truth of their unnecessarily abstruse investigations depends on the truth of the data, he at least is conscientious; for he is too well aware that to provoke an unfavorable verdict by contending against such fearful odds, is not the surest way to either wealth or fame, or even to an acknowledgment of at least _the mite_, which he cannot but feel that he has contributed to the treasury of knowledge. That the scientific organisations of the day do tend to curb the aberrations of a fanciful philosophy, cannot be denied; but at the same time there is engendered such a slavish subordination as checks the originality of thought, and destroys that perfect freedom from the trammels of system, so necessary to success in the pursuit of truth. Of such an influence the author explicitly a.s.serts his entire independence.

In thus introducing his theory, the reader is forewarned that he will not find it dressed in the fascinating garb of the popular literature of the day, whose chief characteristic is to promise much when possessing little. It is, however, a plant of the author's own raising, unpropped, unpruned, with none of the delicate tendrils or graceful festoons of the trellissed vine; yet he flatters himself that its roots are watered by the springs of truth, and hopes that he who is in quest of _that_, will not find, amidst its many cl.u.s.ters, any fruit to set his teeth on edge.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Extract from a letter from Professor Henry.

[2] This gentleman kindly offered to contribute from his own private means, to forward the publication, but he could do nothing officially without submitting the ma.n.u.script to three different censors. He who claims a new discovery, will seldom be satisfied to have it judged by men who are engaged in the same investigations, however pure and honorable they may be. Is this Inst.i.tution adopting the best plan of aiding truth, in its struggles against error? Should any man sit as judge in his own trial? If there had been a powerful Inst.i.tution to stand between Galileo and the scientific of his day, his doctrines would not have been condemned, and the world would have been fifty years more in advance.

MECHANICAL THEORY OF STORMS.

SECTION FIRST.

PRESENT STATE OF METEOROLOGY.

The present state of the science of which we are about to treat, cannot be better defined than in the words of the celebrated Humboldt, who has devoted a long life to the investigation of this department of Physics.

He says: "The processes of the absorption of light, the liberation of heat, and the variations in the elastic and electric tension, and in the hygrometric condition of the vast aerial ocean, are all so intimately connected together, that each individual meteorological process is modified by the action of all the others. The complicated nature of these disturbing causes, increases the difficulty of giving a full explanation of these involved meteorological phenomena; and likewise limits, or _wholly precludes_ the possibility of that predetermination of atmospheric changes, which would be so important for horticulture, agriculture, and navigation, no less than for the comfort and enjoyment of life. Those who place the value of meteorology in this problematic species of prediction, rather than in the knowledge of the phenomena themselves, are firmly convinced that this branch of science, on account of which so many expeditions to distant mountainous regions have been undertaken, has not made any very considerable progress for centuries past. The confidence which they refuse to the physicist they yield to changes of the moon, and to certain days marked in the calender by the superst.i.tion of a by-gone age."

The charge thus skilfully repelled, contains, however, much truth; there has been no adequate return of the vast amount of labor and expense thus far devoted to this branch of knowledge. And it is not wonderful that the popular mind should expect a result which is so much in accordance with the wants of mankind. Who is there whose happiness, and health, and comfort, _and_ safety, and prosperity, may not be more or less affected by reducing to law, the apparently irregular fluctuations of the weather, and the predetermination of the storm? To do this would be the crowning triumph of the age; and the present theory has pioneered the way for its speedy accomplishment.

ORIGINAL CONDITION OF THE EARTH.

That the present order of things had a beginning, is taught by every a.n.a.logy around us, and as we have the glaring fact forced upon us, that our globe has experienced a far higher temperature on its surface than obtains at present, and moreover, as it is demonstrated beyond a cavil, that the interior is now of far higher temperature than is due to solar radiation, we are justified in concluding, not only that the condition of the interior of our globe is that of fusion, but that its original temperature was far higher than at present; so that the inference is allowable that there has been a time when the whole globe was _perhaps_ in this state. But why should we stop here? There are three states of matter, the solid, the fluid, and the gaseous; and with this pa.s.sing glance at the question, we will jump at once to the theory of La Place,--that not only our own globe, but the whole solar system, has been once in the nebulous state.

In justice to himself, the author ought to remark, that he had reasoned his way up to this starting point, before even the name of La Place had reached his ears. He makes the remark in order to disclaim any desire to appropriate that which belongs to another; as he may innocently speak of things hereafter, the idea of which has occurred to others. It is not his intention here to say a word _pro_ or _con_ on the nebular hypothesis; it is sufficient to allude to the facts, that the direction of rotation and of revolution is the same for all the planets and satellites of our system; and that the planes on which these motions are performed, are nearly coincident. That this concordance is due to one common cause, no one acquainted with the theory of probabilities will pretend to deny.

GREAT OBJECT OF LA PLACE.

The science of Astronomy occupies a pre-eminent rank in the physical circle, not only on account of that dignity conferred upon it in the most remote antiquity, or as being the grand starting point--the earliest born of science--from whence we must contemplate the visible creation, if we would reduce its numerous details into one harmonious whole; but also on account of its practical fruits, of the value of which modern commerce is an instance. Accordingly we will glance at its past history. In the earliest ages there was no doubt a rational view entertained of the movements of the planets in s.p.a.ce. From the Chaldeans to the Arabs, a belief prevailed, that s.p.a.ce was filled with a pure ethereal fluid, whose existence probably did not rest on any more solid foundation than a.n.a.logy or tradition. One hundred years after Copernicus had given to the world the true arrangements of our planetary system, Descartes advanced his theory of vortices in the ethereal medium, in which the planets were borne in orbits around the sun, and the satellites around their primaries. This idea retained its ground with various additions, until the Geometry of Newton reconciled the laws of Kepler with the existence of a power pertaining to matter, varying inversely as the squares of the distances, to which power he showed the weight of terrestrial bodies was owing, and also the revolution of the moon about the earth. Since Newton's day, those deviations from the strict wording of Kepler's laws, have been referred to the same law, and the avowed object of the author of the "Mechanique Celeste," was to bring all the great phenomena of nature within the grasp of a.n.a.lysis, by referring them to one single principle, and one simple law. And in his Introduction to the Theory of the Moon, he remarks: "Hence it incontestibly follows, that the law of gravitation is the sole cause of the lunar inequalities."

BESSEL'S OPINION.

However beautiful the conception, it must be admitted that in its _a priori_ aspect, it was not in accordance with human experience and a.n.a.logy to antic.i.p.ate a successful issue. In nature law re-acts upon law, and change induces change, through an almost endless chain of consequences; and it might be asked, why a simple law of matter should thus be exempt from the common lot? Why, in a word, there should be no intrinsic difference in matter, by which the gravitation of similar or dissimilar substances should be affected? But experiment has detected no such differences; a globe of lead and a globe of wood, of equal weight, attract contiguous bodies with equal force. It is evident, therefore, that if there be such differences, human means are not yet refined enough to detect them. Was the issue successful then? Generally speaking, we may say yes. But where there is a discrepancy between theory and observation, however small that may be, it shows there is still something wanting; and a high authority (Professor Bessel) says in relation to this: "But I think that the certainty that the theory based upon this law, _perfectly_ explains all the observations, is not correctly inferred." We will not here enumerate the cases to which suspicion might be directed, neither will we more than just allude to the fact, that the Theory of Newton requires a vacuum, in order that the planetary motions may be mathematically exact, and permanent in their stability.

A VACUUM REQUIRED BY MODERN SYSTEMS.

Whatever may be the practical belief of the learned, their fundamental principles forbid the avowal of a plenum, although the undulatory theory of light renders a plenum necessary, and is so far virtually recognized by them, and a correction for resistance is applied to the Comet of Encke. Yet there has been no attempt made to reconcile these opposing principles, other than by supposing that the celestial regions are filled with an extremely rare and elastic fluid. That no definite view has been agreed on, is not denied, and Sir John Herschel speculates on the reality of a resisting medium, by suggesting questions that will ultimately have to be considered, as: "What is the law of density of the resisting medium which _surrounds_ the sun? Is it in rest or in motion?

If the latter, in what direction does it move?" In these queries he still clings to the idea of Encke, that the resistance is confined to the neighborhood of the sun and planets, like a ponderable fluid. But the most profound a.n.a.lyst the world has ever boasted, speaks less cautiously, (Poisson Rech.) "It is difficult to attribute, as is usually done, the incandescence of aerolites to friction against the molecules of the atmosphere, at an elevation above the earth where the density of the air is almost null. May we not suppose that the electric fluid, in a neutral condition, forms a kind of atmosphere, extending far beyond the ma.s.s of our atmosphere, yet _subject to terrestrial attraction_, yet _physically imponderable_, and, consequently, following our globe in its motion?" The incandescence of aerolites must, therefore, be owing to friction against the molecules of the electric fluid which forms an atmosphere around the globe. According to this view, some force keeps it there, yet it is not ponderable. As it is of limited extent, this is not the medium whose undulations brings to light the existence of the stars; neither is Encke's, nor Herschel's, nor any other resisting medium.

Where shall we find the present established principles of science? If we grant the Newtonians a plenum, they still cling to attraction of _all matter_ in some shape. If we confine them to a vacuum, they will virtually deny it. Is not this solemn trifling? How much more n.o.ble would it be to exhibit a little more tolerance, seeing that they themselves know not what to believe? We do not offer these remarks as argument, but merely as indications of that course of reasoning by which we conclude that the upholders of the present systems of science are not ent.i.tled to any other ground than the pure Newtonian basis of an interplanetary vacuum.

DIFFICULTIES OF THIS VIEW.

This, then, is the state of the case: Matter attracts matter directly as the ma.s.s, and inversely as the squares of the distances. This law is derived from the planetary motions; s.p.a.ce is, consequently, a void; and, therefore, the power which gives mechanical momentum to matter, is transferred from one end of creation to the other, without any physical medium to convey the impulse. At the present day the doctrines of Descartes are considered absurd; yet here is an absurdity of a far deeper dye, without we resort to the miraculous, which at once obliterates the connection between cause and effect, which it is the peculiar province of physical science to develop. Let us take another view. The present doctrine of light teaches that light is an undulation of an elastic medium necessarily filling all s.p.a.ce; and this branch of science probably rests on higher and surer grounds than any other. Every test applied to it by the refinements of modern skill, strengthens its claims. Here then the Newtonian vacuum is no longer a void. If we get over this difficulty, by attributing to this medium a degree of tenuity almost spiritual, we shall run upon Scylla while endeavoring to shun Charybdis. Light and heat come bound together from the sun, by the same path, and with the same velocity. Heat is therefore due also to an excitement of this attenuated medium. Yet this heat puts our atmosphere in motion, impels onward the waves of the sea, wafts our ships to distant climes, grinds our corn, and in various ways does the work of man. If we expose a ma.s.s of metal to the sun's rays for a single hour the temperature will be raised. To do the same by an artificial fire, would consume fuel, and this fuel would generate the strength or force of a horse. Estimate, therefore, the amount of force received from the sun in a single day for the whole globe, and we shall find that nothing but a material medium will suffice to convey this force.

Let us appeal to a.n.a.logy. The undulations of our atmosphere produce sound; that is, convey to the ear a part of a mechanical force imparted to a solid body--a bell for instance. Let us suppose this force to equal one pound. On account of the elasticity of the bell, the whole of the force is not instantaneously imparted to the surrounding air; but the denser the air the sooner it loses its motion. In a dense fluid like water, the motion is imparted quickly, and the sound is not a ring but a click. If we diminish the density of the air, the loss of motion is r.e.t.a.r.ded; so that we might conceive it possible, provided the bell could be suspended in a _perfect vacuum_, without a mechanical tie, and there was no friction to overcome from the rigidity of its particles, that the bell would vibrate forever, although its sound could never reach the ear. We see, therefore, that the mechanical effect in a given time, is owing to the density of the medium. But can we resort to such an a.n.a.logy? Every discovery in the science confirms more and more the a.n.a.logy between the motions of air and the medium of s.p.a.ce; the angle of reflexion and incidence follows the same law in both; the law of radiation and interference; and if experiments were inst.i.tuted, there can be but little doubt that sound has also got its spectrum.

ETHER IMPONDERABLE.

The medium of s.p.a.ce, therefore, is capable of conveying a mechanical force from one body to another; it therefore possesses inertia. Does it also possess gravity? If we forsake not the principles of science, it is but right that we expect science shall abide by her own principles.

Condensation in every elastic medium is as the compressing power, according to all experiments. In the case of our atmosphere under the law of gravitation, the density of air, (supposing it to be infinitely expansible,) at a height only of ten semidiameters of the earth above its surface, would have only a density equal to the density of one cubic inch of such air we breathe, if that cubic inch was to be expanded so as to fill a globular s.p.a.ce whose centre should be the earth, and whose surface should take inside the whole visible creation. Such a medium could convey no mechanical force from the sun, and therefore the medium of s.p.a.ce cannot be ponderable. Simple as the argument is, it is una.s.sailable.

ELECTRIC FLUID THE MEDIUM OF s.p.a.cE.

Let us take yet another view. All experiments prove that the phenomenon we call electricity, is owing to a disturbance of the equilibrium or natural condition of a highly elastic fluid. In certain conditions of the atmosphere, this fluid is acc.u.mulated in the region of the clouds, and by its tension is enabled to force a pa.s.sage through opposing obstacles, in order to restore the equilibrium. By experiment it is found that dry dense air opposes the greatest obstacle to its escape. As the air is rarefied, this obstacle diminishes; until in a vacuum the transmission may be considered instantaneous. There ought to be, therefore, a greater escape of electricity from the clouds upwards than downwards; and, if s.p.a.ce be void, or only filled with an extremely attenuated matter, the electricity of the earth, considered as an elastic fluid without ponderosity, (and no law of condensation from the law of gravity in harmony with its other attributes, will allow us to consider it otherwise,) _would long since have left the earth_. The same objection applies in the case of the galvanic and magnetic fluids. If we entertain the idea that electricity is a mere disturbance of natural condition, wherein two fluids are united, and that an excess of one is necessarily attended by deficiency in the other, we depart from the first rule of philosophy, which teaches us to admit no greater number of causes than are sufficient to explain the phenomenon. For we fearlessly a.s.sert that not a single fact exists in electrical science, which can be explained better on Dufoy's theory than on Franklin's; and the former objections would still apply.

NEWTONIAN GRAVITY.

But what is gravity? According to Newton: "Haec est qualitas omnium in quibus experimenta inst.i.tuere licet, et propterea per Reg. 3 de universes affirmanda est." _Vide_ Prin. Lib. Ter. Cor. 2. Prop. vi.

Now the other primary qualities of matter are unaffected by circ.u.mstances. The inertia of a particle of matter is the same at Jupiter as on the earth, so also is its extension; but not so with gravity. It depends on other matter, and on its distance from it; and may be less or greater at different times, and in different places. It is, therefore, not philosophical to say that all matter is necessarily ponderous, inasmuch as it is a virtue not residing in itself alone, but needs the existence of other matter to call it into action. If an atom were isolated in s.p.a.ce it would have no weight. If influenced by other matter, there must be some physical medium to convey the influence, or gravity is not in accordance with the laws of force and motion. Which horn of the dilemma shall we take? Let us first admit that there is a principle of gravitation, affecting all planetary or atomic matter, and that there exists a highly elastic medium, pervading all s.p.a.ce, conveying to us the light of the most distant stars, and that this medium is not affected by gravity. In this summary way, therefore, we have arrived at the pivot on which this theory turns.

The prominent feature of the theory, therefore, is the necessity it will show for the existence of an all-pervading medium, and that it possesses inertia without ponderosity. That electricity is nothing more than the effects of the condensation and rarefaction of this medium by force.

That it also pervades all atomic matter, whose motions necessarily move the medium; and, consequently, that there can be no motion without some degree of electricity. That no change can take place in bodies either by chemical decomposition, by increase or decrease of temperature, by friction or contact, without in some measure exciting electricity or motion of the ether. That galvanism and magnetism are but ethereal currents without condensation, induced by peculiar superficial and internal molecular arrangement of the particles of certain substances.

That light and heat are effects of the vibrations of atoms, propagated through this universal medium from body to body. That the atomic motion of heat can be produced by the motion of translation or momentum of bodies in the gross, that is, by friction, by compression, &c.; and can be reconverted into momentum at our pleasure. Hence the latent heat or specific atomic motion of combustibles, originally derived from the sun, is transferred to atoms, which are capable of being inclosed in cylinders, so as to make use of their force of expansion, which is thus converted into momentum available for all the wants of man.

GRAVITY MECHANICAL.

When we come to a full examination of this theory, we shall further reason that this _ether_ so far from being of that quasi spiritual nature which astronomers would have us believe, is a fearfully energetic fluid, possessing considerable inertia and elasticity; that its law of condensation is that of all other fluids, that is, as the compressing force directly; and that its effects are simply a product of matter and motion. We will next endeavor to prove that the gravity of planetary matter could not exist without this ethereal medium, by showing that it is an effect produced by the interference of _opposing waves_, whereby a body is prevented from radiating into s.p.a.ce its own atomic motion, from the side opposite which another body is placed, as much as on the opposite side, and consequently it is propelled by its own motion towards the other body. And this effect following the simple law of inertia and radiation, is directly as the ma.s.s, and inversely as the squares of the distances.

GREAT PRINCIPLE OF DYNAMICS.