INDEX.
- Air, currents of, how caused, 186.
- Air-pump, experiments with, 236.
- Animal mechanism, wonders of, 88.
- Argand-burners, why superior in brilliancy, 300.
- Artificial light dependent on heat, 297.
- Bath wells, temperature of the, 125.
- Blow-pipe, cause of the increased heat produced by the, 300.
- Brocken, spectre of the, in the Hartz mountains, 380;
- philosophy of, 383.
- Camera, images produced in, 342;
- why reversed, 372;
- how the lens intensifies images in the, 377;
- cause of variation in the size of objects in, 378;
- pictures must be projected on an opaque body, 380.
- Cellini, Benvenuto, and the necromancer, 417.
- Chlorine, experiments with, 279.
- Coal, power concentrated in, 110.
- Coal-mine, destructive explosion in, 94.
- Colours, curious result from mixing in certain proportions, 425.
- Combustion, laws of, 113;
- phenomena of, 245;
- nature of, 250;
- experiments in, 247;
- philosophy of, 284.
- Combustion, spontaneous, 262, 272.
- Corpse candles, philosophy of, 261.
- Creation, the wondrous story of, 116.
- Daguerreotype process of photography, 436.
- Dew, deposition of, 144;
- less plentiful in cloudy weather, 146;
- its laws, 147.
- Drummond light, the, 296.
- Earthquakes, 126.
- Electric light, 296.
- Ether, its powers of vaporization, 224.
- Explosive substances, 261, 264, 266.
- Eye, the, wonderful construction of, 87.
- Fire-damp not inflammable by red heat, 273;
- rapidly explodes at white heat, 274;
- explosible only when mixed with atmospheric air, 303.
- Flame, subterranean, 125.
- Flame, nature of, 285, 293;
- of a candle hollow, 298;
- experiments with, 301.
- Fluids, expansive power of, 202.
- Fulminates of the precious metals, 267;
- gold, 268;
- mercury, 268;
- silver, 269;
- platinum, 270.
- Gas, its first application to illumination, 109.
- Glass absorbs artificial, but transmits solar heat, 159.
- Hastings, French coast sometimes visible from, by refraction, 358.
- Heat, natural sources of, 116;
- celestial, 118;
- subterraneous, 120-124;
- mechanical production of, 129;
- chemical, 130;
- combustion, 132;
- respiration, 131;
- communication of, 134;
- radiation, 137;
- reflexion, 148;
- difference between solar and terrestrial, 158;
- transmission of, 158-161;
- absorption of, 163;
- degrees of, in the spectrum, 162;
- relative absorbing and radiating powers of surfaces, 165;
- radiation by different colours, 166;
- solar more powerful reflected than direct, 168;
- conduction, 169;
- wonderful effects of, 193;
- expansive power of, 196;
- latent, 212;
- white, 244;
- artificial, curious changes in its character at high rates of temperature, 244;
- then assumes all the properties of solar, 244.
- Hot-springs and wells, 125.
- Ignes fatui, how produced, 260.
- Jack-o’-lanterns, causes of, 260.
- Land’s End described, 41.
- Lens, magnifying power of the, how determined, 391.
- Light, electric, 296;
- artificial, dependent on heat, 297;
- rays of, travel in straight lines, 344, 419;
- refraction of, 350, 357;
- experiments, 351;
- rays of, assume the colour of objects from which they are reflected, 367;
- reflexion of, 407;
- compound nature of a ray of, 422;
- composed of seven colours, 423.
- Lightning, varieties of, 128.
- Liquids imperfect conductors of heat, 177;
- merely solids whose particles are kept apart by heat, 212.
- Lucifer-matches, why so readily inflammable, 272.
- Luminosity, temperature at which bodies assume, 243.
- Magician’s mirror, the, explained, 412.
- Mail-coaches, the first, 109.
- Metals, their relative power of conducting heat, 172;
- expansion and contraction of, 197;
- practical application of this power, 198;
- cooling of, 239.
- Microscope, principle of the, 395, 401;
- the single, 397;
- the compound, 400.
- Mirage, an optical illusion caused by refraction, 357.
- Mirrors, concave, experiments with, 148;
- wonders produced by, 413;
- different effects produced by metallic and glass, 154.
- Mont Blanc, ascent of, 110;
- ebullition on summit of, 230.
- Objects, why they diminish in size in proportion to distance, 386;
- magnifying of, by lenses, 388.
- Oceanic currents, direction of the, 190.
- Oils, lamp, philosophy of the combustion of, 275, 295.
- Palissy, Bernard, his discoveries in pottery, 333.
- Pendulum, compensation, principle of the, 200.
- Phlogiston, an imaginary principle, 245.
- Photography, first experiments in, 335, 433;
- practice of, 435.
- Prism, the spectrum produced by, merely an oblong figure of the sun, 421;
- its colours the decomposition of the sunbeam into its elementary tints, 422.
- Pyramids of Egypt, size of the, 110.
- Pyrophorus, how produced, 261.
- Radiation, power of, in different substances, 142.
- Ramsgate, Dover Castle rendered visible from, by refraction, 360.
- Refraction of light, curious property of, 357;
- illusions caused by extraordinary instances of, 358, 360.
- Respiration, philosophy of, 86.
- Safety-lamp, first glimmer of the, 93;
- experiments with, 285;
- completion of the first, 305;
- its perfected form, 311;
- value and importance of the invention, 303.
- St. Michael’s Mount, Cornwall, 73.
- Science, true, its nature, 87.
- Scoresby’s, Captain, observation of a distant ship by refraction, 365.
- Secretion, marvels of, 85.
- Spectrum, proportions of prismatic tints in the, 426;
- circular, 427.
- Spontaneous combustion, 262, 272.
- Steam, difference of heat in high and low pressure, 178.
- Steam-boat, the first, 107.
- Sun-pictures, the earliest, 335.
- Talbot, Mr. Fox, his curious experiment of photographing a rapidly revolving wheel, 443.
- Talbotype process of photography, 436.
- Telescope, principle of the, 393, 400.
- Temperature, rate of increase below the surface of the earth, 122.
- Vaporizable liquids readily explosible, 274.
- Vision, range of, 386.
- Volcanoes, 126.
- Will-o’-the-wisp, philosophy of, 260.
- Wire-gauze, its power of resisting flame, 310.
THE END.