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COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1
by Alexander von Humboldt
Translated by E C Otte
from the 1858 Harper & Brothers edition of Cosmos, volume 1
--------------------------------------------------
p i
COSMOS
VOLUME I
[p ii is blank]
[p iii - not copied; pertains to reprint series]
p iv [portrait]
p v
COSMOS
A SKETCH
OR
A PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE
BY
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN
BY E. C. OTTE
Naturae vero rerum vis atque majestas in omnibus momentis fides caret, si
quis modo partes ejus ac non totam complectatur animo. -- Plin., 'Hist.
Nat.', lib. vii, c. 1.
VOLUME I
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY NICOLAAS A. RUPKE
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
Baltimore and London
[page vi and Introduction to the 1997 edition not copied]
p 1
COSMOS
VOLUME I
[p 2 is blank]
p 3
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
-----------------------
I CAN not more appropriately introduce the Cosmos than by presenting a brief
sketch of the life of its illustrious author.* While the name of Alexander
von Humboldt is familiar to every one, few, perhaps, are aware of the
peculiar circumstances of his scientific career and of the extent of his
labors in almost every department of physical knowledge. He was born on the
14th of September, 1769, and is, therefore, now in his 80th year. After
going through the ordinary course of education at Gottingen, and having made
a rapid tour through Holland, England, and France, he became a pupil of
Werner at the mining school of Freyburg, and in his 21st year published an
"Essay on the Basalts of the Rhine." Though he soon became officially
connected with the mining corps, he was enabled to continue his excursions
in foreign countries, for, during the six or seven years succeeding the
publication of his first essay, he seems to have visited Austria,
Switzerland, Italy, and France. His attention to mining did not, however,
prevent him from devoting his attention to other scientific pursuits, among
which botany and the then recent discovery of galvanism may be especially
noticed. Botany, indeed, we know from his own authority, occupied him
almost exclusively for some years; but even at this time he was practicing
the use of those astronomical and physical instruments which he afterward
turned to so singularly excellent an account.
[footnote] *For the following remarks I am mainly indebted to the articles
on the Cosmos in the two leading Quarterly Reviews.
The political disturbances of the civilized world at the close
p 4
of the last century prevented our author from carrying out various plans of
foreign travel which he had contemplated, and detained him an unwilling
prisoner in Europe. In the year 1799 he went to Spain, with the hope of
entering Africa from Cadiz, but the unexpected patronage which he received
at the court of Madrid led to a great alteration in his plans, and decided
him to proceed directly to the Spanish possessions in America, "and there
gratify the longings for foreign adventure, and the scenery of the tropics,
which had haunted him from boyhood, but had all along been turned in the
diametrically opposite direction of Asia." After encountering various risks
of capture, he succeeded in reaching America, and from 1799 to 1804
prosecuted there extensive researches in the physical geography of the New
World, which has indelibly stamped his name in the undying records of
science.
Excepting an excursion to Naples with Gay-Lussac and Von Buch in 1805 (the
year after his return from America), the succeeding twenty years of his life
were spent in Paris, and were almost exclusively employed in editing the
results of his American journey. In order to bring these results before the
world in a manner worthy of their importance, he commenced a series of
gigantic publications in almost every branch of science on which he had
instituted observations. In 1817, after twelve years of incessant toil,
four fifths were completed, and an ordinary copy of the part then in print
cost considerably more than one hundred pounds sterling. Since that time
the publication has gone on more slowly, and even now after the lapse of
nearly half a century, it remains, and probably ever will remain, incomplete.
In the year 1828, when the greatest portion of his literary labor had been
accomplished, he undertook a scientific journey to Siberia, under the
special protection of the Russian government. In this journey -- a journey
for which he had prepared himself by a course of study unparalleled in the
history of travel -- he was accompanied by two companions hardly less
distinguished than himself, Ehrenberg and Gustav Rose, and
p 5
the results obtained during their expedition are recorded by our author in
his 'Fragments Asiatiques', and in his 'Asie Centrale', and by Rose in his
'Reise nach dem Oural'. If the 'Asie Centrale' had been his only work,
constituting, as it does, an epitome of all the knowledge acquired by
himself and by former travelers on the physical geography of Northern and
Central Asia, that work alone would have sufficed to form a reputation of
the highest order.
I proceed to offer a few remarks on the work of which I now present a new
translation to the English public, a work intended by its author "to embrace
a summary of physical knowledge, as connected with a delineation of the
material universe."
The idea of such a physical description of the universe had, it appears,
been present to his mind from a very early epoch. It was a work which he
felt he must accomplish, and he devoted almost a lifetime to the
accumulation of materials for it. For almost half a century it had occupied
his thoughts; and at length, in the evening of life, he felt himself rich
enough in the accumulation of thought, travel, reading, and experimental
research, to reduce into form and reality the undefined vision that has so
long floated before him. The work, when completed, will form three volumes.
The 'first' volume comprises a sketch of all that is at present known of
the physical phenomena of the universe; the 'second' comprehends two
distinct parts, the first of which treats of the incitements to the study of
nature, afforded in descriptive poetry, landscape painting, and the
cultivation of exotic plants; while the second and larger part enters into
the consideration of the different epochs in the progress of discovery and
of the corresponding stages of advance in human civilization. The 'third'
volume, the publication of which, as M. Humboldt himself informs me in a
letter addressed to my learned friend and publisher, Mr. H. G. Bohn, "has
been somewhat delayed, owing to the present state of public affairs, will
comprise the special and scientific development of the great Picture of
Nature
p 6
Each of the three parts of the 'Cosmos' is therefore, to a certain extent,
distinct in its object, and may be considered complete in itself. We can
not better terminate this brief notice than in the words of one of the most
eminent philosophers of our own country, that, "should the conclusion
correspond (as we doubt not) with these beginnings, a work will have been
accomplished every way worthy of the author's fame, and a crowning laurel
added to that wreath with which Europe will always delight to surround the
name of Alexander von Humboldt."
In venturing to appear before the English public as the interpreter of "the
great work of our age,"* I have been encouraged by the assistance of many
kind literary and scientific friends, and I gladly avail myself of this
opportunity of expressing my deep obligations to Mr. Brooke, Dr. Day,
Professor Edward Forbes, Mr. Hind, Mr. Glaisher, Dr. Percy, and Mr. Ronalds,
for the valuable aid they have afforded me.
[footnote] *The expression applied to the Cosmos by the learned Bunsen, in
his late Report on Ethnology, in the 'Report of the British Association for'
1847, p. 265.
It would be scarcely right to conclude these remarks without a reference to
the translations that have preceded mine. The translation executed by Mrs.
Sabine is singularly accurate and elegant. The other translation is
remarkable for the opposite qualities, and may therefore be passed over in
silence. The present volumes differ from those of Mrs. Sabine in having all
the foreign measures converted into corresponding English terms, in being
published at considerably less than one third of the price, and in being a
translation of the entire work, for I have not conceived myself justified in
omitting passages, sometimes amounting to pages, simply because they might
be deemed slightly obnoxious to our national prejudices.
p 7
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
-------------------
In the late evening of an active life I offer to the German public a work,
whose undefined image has floated before my mind for almost half a century.
I have frequently looked upon its completion as impracticable, but as often
as I have been disposed to relinquish the undertaking, I have again --
although perhaps imprudently -- resumed the task. This work I now present
to my contemporaries with a diffidence inspired by a just mistrust of my own
powers, while I would willingly forget that writings long expected are
usually received with less indulgence.
Although the outward relations of life, and an irresistible impulse toward
knowledge of various kinds, have led me to occupy myself for many years --
and apparently exclusively -- with separate branches of science, as, for
instance, with descriptive botany, geognosy, chemistry, astronomical
determinations of position, and terrestrial magnetism, in order that I might
the better prepare myself for the extensive travels in which I was desirous
of engaging, the actual object of my studies has nevertheless been of a
higher character. The principal impulse by which I was directed was the
earnest endeavor to comprehend the phenomena of physical objects in their
general connection, and to represent nature as one great whole, moved and
animated by internal forces. My intercourse with highly-gifted men early
led me to discover that, without an earnest striving to attain to a
knowledge of special branches of study, all attempts to give a grand and
general view of the universe would be nothing more than a vain illusion.
These special departments in the great domain of natural
p 8
science are, moreover, capable of being reciprocally fructified by means of
the appropriative forces by which they are endowed. Descriptive botany, no
longer confined to the narrow circle of the determination of genera and
species, leads the observer who traverses distant lands and lofty mountains
to the study of the geographical distribution of plants of the earth's
surface, according to distance from the equator and vertical elevation above
the sea. It is further necessary to investigate the laws which regulate the
differences of temperature and climate, and the meteorological processes of
the atmosphere, before we can hope to explain the involved causes of
vegetable distribution; and it is thus that the observer who earnestly
pursues the path of knowledge is led from one class of phenomena to another,
by means of the mutual dependence and connection existing between them.
I have enjoyed an advantage which few scientific travelers have shared to an
equal extent, viz., that of having seen not only littoral districts, such as
are alone visited by the majority of those who take part in voyages of
circumnavigation, but also those portions of the interior of two vast
continents which present the most striking contrasts manifested in the
Alpine tropical landscapes of South America, and the dreary wastes of the
steppes in Northern Asia. Travels, undertaken in districts such as these,
could not fail to encourage the natural tendency of my mind toward a
generalization of views, and to encourage me to attempt, in a special work,
to treat of the knowledge which we at present possess, regarding the
sidereal and terrestrial phenomena of the Cosmos in their empirical
relations. The hitherto undefined idea of a physical geography has thus, by
an extended and perhaps too boldly imagined a plan, been comprehended under
the idea of a physical description of the universe, embracing all created
things in the regions of space and in the earth.
The very abundance of the materials which are presented to the mind for
arrangement and definition, necessarily impart no inconsiderable
difficulties in the choice of the form under
p 9
which such a work must be presented, if it would aspire to the honor of
being regarded as a literary composition. Descriptions of nature ought not
to be deficient in a tone of life-like truthfulness, while the mere
enumeration of a series of general results is productive of a no less
wearying impression than the elaborate accumulation of the individual data
of observation. I scarcely venture to hope that I have succeeded in
satisfying these various requirements of composition, or that I have myself
avoided the shoals and breakers which I have known how to indicate to
others. My faint hope of success rests upon the special indulgence which
the German public have bestowed upon a small work bearing the title of
'Ansichten der Natur', which I published soon after my return from Mexico.
This work treats, under general points of view, of separate branches of
physical geography (such as the forms of vegetation, grassy plains, and
deserts). The effect produced by this small volume has doubtlessly been
more powerfully manifested in the influence it has exercised on the
sensitive minds of the young, whose imaginative faculties are so strongly
manifested, than by means of any thing which it could itself impart. In the
work on the Cosmos on which I am now engaged, I have endeavored to show, as
in that entitled 'Ansichten der Natur', that a certain degree of scientific
completeness in the treatment of individual facts is not wholly incompatible
with a picturesque animation of style.
Since public lectures seemed to me to present an easy and efficient means of
testing the more or less successful manner of connecting together the
detached branches of any one science, I undertook, for many months
consecutively, first in the French language, at Paris, and afterward in my
own native German, at Berlin (almost simultaneously at two different places
of assembly), to deliver a course of lectures on the physical description of
the universe, according to my conception of the science. My lectures were
given extemporaneously, both in French and German, and without the aid of
written notes, nor have I, in any way, made use, in the present work,
p 10
of those portions of my discourses which have been preserved by the industry
of certain attentive auditors. With the exception of the first forty pages,
the whole of the present work was written, for the first time, in the years
1843 and 1844.
A character of unity, freshness, and animation must, I think, be derived
from an association with some definite epoch, where the object of the writer
is to delineate the present condition of knowledge and opinions. Since the
additions constantly made to the latter give rise to fundamental changes in
pre-existing views, my lectures and the Cosmos have nothing in common beyond
the succession in which the various facts are treated. The first portion of
my work contains introductory considerations regarding the diversity in the
degrees of enjoyment to be derived from nature, and the knowledge of the
laws by which the universe is governed; it also considers the limitation and
scientific mode of treating a physical description of the universe, and
gives a general picture of nature which contains a view of all the phenomena
comprised in the Cosmos.
This general picture of nature, which embraces within its wide scope the
remotest nebulous spots, and the revolving double stars in the regions of
space, no less than the telluric phenomena included under the department of
the geography of organic forms (such as plants, animals, and races of men),
comprises all that I deem most specially important with regard to the
connection existing between generalities and specialities, while it moreover
exemplifies, by the form and style of the composition, the mode of treatment
pursued in the selection of the results obtained from experimental
knowledge. The two succeeding volumes will contain a consideration of the
particular means of incitement toward the study of nature (consisting in
animated delineations, landscape painting, and the arrangement and
cultivation of exotic vegetable forms), of the history of the contemplation
of the universe, or the gradual development of the reciprocal action of
natural forces constituting one natural whole; and lastly, of the special
p 11
branches of the several departments of science, whose mutual connection is
indicated in the beginning of the work. Wherever it has been possible to do
so, I have adduced the authorities from whence I derived my facts, with a
view of affording testimony both to the accuracy of my statements and to the
value of the observations to which reference was made. In those instances
where I have quoted from my own writings (the facts contained in which
being, from their very nature, scattered through different portions of my
works), I have always referred to the original editions, owing to the
importance of accuracy with regard to numerical relations, and to my own
distrust of the care and correctness of translators. In the few cases where
I have extracted short passages from the works of my friends, I have
indicated them by marks of quotation; and, in imitation of the practice of
the ancients, I have invariably preferred the repetition of the same words
to any arbitrary substitution of my own paraphrases. The much-contested
question of priority of claim to a first discovery, which it is so dangerous
to treat of in a work of this uncontroversial kind, has rarely been touched
upon. Where I have occasionally referred to classical antiquity, and to
that happy period of transition which has rendered the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries so celebrated, owing to the great geographical
discoveries by which the age was characterized, I have been simply led to
adopt this mode of treatment, from the desire we experience from time to
time, when considering the general views of nature, to escape from the
circle of more strictly dogmatical modern opinions, and enter the free and
fanciful domain of earlier presentiments.
It has frequently been regarded as a subject of discouraging consideration,
that while purely literary products of intellectual activity are rooted in
the depths of feeling, and interwoven with the creative force of
imagination, all works treating of empirical knowledge, and of the
connection of natural phenomena and physical laws, are subject to the most
marked modifications of form in the lapse of short periods of time, both
p 12
by the improvement in the instruments used, and by the consequent expansion
of the field of view opened to rational observation, and that those
scientific works which have, to use a common expression, become 'antiquated'
by the acquisition of new funds of knowledge, are thus continually being
consigned to oblivion as unreadable. However discouraging such a prospect
must be, no one who is animated by a genuine love of nature, and by a sense
of the dignity attached to its study, can view with regret any thing which
promises future additions and a greater degree of perfection to general
knowledge. Many important branches of knowledge have been based upon a
solid foundation which will not easily be shaken, both as regards the
phenomena in the regions of space and on the earth; while there are other
portions of science in which general views will undoubtedly take the place
of merely special; where new forces will be discovered and new substances
will be made known, and where those which are now considered as simple will
be decomposed. I would, therefore, venture to hope that an attempt to
delineate nature in all its vivid animation and exalted grandeur, and to
trace the 'stable' amid the vacillating, ever-recurring alternation of
physical metamorphoses, will not be wholly disregarded even at a future age.
'Potsdam, Nov.', 1844.
This material taken from pages 13-22
NB - The page numbers will be properly aligned in Courier 12 font.
COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1
by Alexander von Humboldt
Translated by E C Otte
from the 1858 Harper & Brothers edition of Cosmos, volume 1
--------------------------------------------------
p 13
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
----------------------
Page
The Translator's Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
The Author's Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
INTRODUCTION.
The Results of the Study of Physical Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . 23
The different Epochs of the Contemplation of the external World . .24
The different Degrees of Enjoyment presented by the Contemplation
of Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Instances of this Species of Enjoyment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Means by which it is induced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
The Elevations and climatic Relations of many of the most
celebrated Mountains in the World, considered with
Reference to the Effect produced on the Mind of the
Observer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27-33
The Impressions awakened by the Aspect of tropical Regions . . . . 34
The more accurate Knowledge of the Physical Forces of the
Universe, acquired by the Inhabitants of a small Section
of the temperate Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
The earliest Dawn of the Science of the Cosmos . . . . . . . . . . 36
The Difficulties that opposed the Progress of Inquiry . . . . . . . 37
Consideration of the Effect produced on the Mind by the
Observation of Nature, and the Fear entertained by some of
its injurious Influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Illustrations of the Manner in which many recent Discoveries have
tended to Remove the groundless Fears entertained
regarding the Agency of certain Natural Phenomena . . . . . . 43
The Amount of Scientific Knowledge required to enter on the
Consideration of Physical Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
The Object held in View by the present Work . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
The Nature of the Study of the Cosmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
The special Requirements of the present Age . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Limits and Method of Exposition of the Physical Description of the
Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Considerations on the terms Physiology and Physics . . . . . . . . .58
Physical Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Celestial Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
The Natural Philosophy of the Ancients directed more to Celestial
than to Terrestrial Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
The able Treatises of Varenius and Carl Ritter . . . . . . . . .66, 67
Signification of the Word Cosmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68-70
The Domain embraced by Cosmography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Empiricism and Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
The Process of Reason and Induction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
p 14
GENERAL REVIEW OF NATURAL PHENOMENA.
Connection between the Material and the Ideal World . . . . . . . . 80
Delineation of Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Celestial Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Sidereal Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Planetary Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90
Comets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Aerolites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
Zodiacal Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Translatory Motion of the Solar System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
The Milky Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150
Starless Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Terrestrial Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
Geographical Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
Figure of the Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163
Density of the Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Internal Heat of the Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Mean Temperature of the Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
Terrestrial Magnetism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Magnetism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183
Aurora Borealis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .193
Geognostic Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Earthquakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Gaseous Emanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Hot Springs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221
Salses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224
Volcanoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
Rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247
Palaeontology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .270
Geognostic Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Physical Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Meteorology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .311
Atmospheric Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Climatology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .317
The Snow-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .329
Hygrometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Atmospheric Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .335
Organic Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Motion in Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Universality of Animal Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .342
Geography of Plants and Animals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .346
Floras of different Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .350
Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .352
Races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .353
Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Conclusion of the Subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .359
p 15
SUMMARY.
-----------
Translator's Preface.
Author's Preface.
Vol I.
GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS.
Introduction. -- Reflections on the different Degrees of Enjoyment presented
to us by the Aspect of Nature and the scientific Exposition of the Laws of
the Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . .Page 23-78
Insight into the connection of phenomena as the aim of all natural
investigation. Nature presents itself to meditative contemplation as a
unity in diversity. Differences in the grades of enjoyment yielded by
nature. Effect of contact with free nature; enjoyment derived from nature
independently of a knowledge of the action of natural forces, or of the
physiognomy and configuration of the surface, or of the character of
vegetation. Reminiscences of the woody valleys of the Cordilleras and of
the Peak of Teneriffe. Advantages of the mountainous region near the
equator, where the multiplicity of natural impressions attains its maximum
within the most circumscribed limits, and where it is permitted to man
simultaneously to behold all the stars of the firmament and all the forms of
vegetation -- p. 23-33.
Tendency toward the investigation of the causes of physical phenomena.
Erroneous views of the character of natural forces arising from an imperfect
mode of observation or of induction. The crude accumulation of physical
dogmas transmitted from one country to another. Their diffusion among the
higher classes.
Scientific physics are associated with another and a deep-rooted system of
untried and misunderstood experimental positions. Investigation of natural
laws. Apprehension that nature may lose a portion of its secret charm by an
inquiry into the internal character of its forces, and that the enjoyment of
nature must necessarily be weakened by a study of its domain. Advantages of
general views which impart an exalted and solemn character to natural
science. The possibility of separating generalities from specialties.
Examples drawn from astronomy, recent optical discoveries, physical
geognosy, and the geography of plants. Practicability of the study of
physical cosmography -- p. 33-54. Misunderstood popular knowledge,
confounding cosmography with a mere encyclopedic enumeration of natural
sciences. Necessity for a simultaneous regard for all branches of natural
science. Influence of this study on national prosperity and the welfare of
nations; its more earnest and characteristic aim is an inner one, arising
from exalted mental activity. Mode of treatment with regard to the object
and presentation; reciprocal connection existing between thought and speech
-- p. 54-56.
The notes to p. 28-33. Comparative hypsometrical data of the elevations of
the Dhawalagiri, Jawahir, Chimborazo, Aetna (according to the measurement of
Sir John Herschel), the Swiss Alps, etc. -- p. 28. Rarity
p 16
of palms and ferns in the Himalaya Mountains -- p. 29. European vegetable
forms in the Indian Mountains -- p. 30. Northern and southern limits of
perpetual snow on the Himalaya; influence of the elevated plateau of Thibet
-- p. 30-33. Fishes of an earlier world -- p. 46.
Limits and Method of Exposition of the Physical Description of the Universe
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .
Page 56-78
Subjects embraced by the study of the Cosmos or of physical cosmography.
Separation of other kindred studies -- p. 56-62. The uranological portion
of the Cosmos is more simple than the telluric; the impossibility of
ascertaining the diversity of matter simplifies the study of the mechanism
of the heavens. Origin of the word 'Cosmos', its signification of adornment
and order of the universe. The 'existing' can not be absolutely separated
in our contemplation of nature from the 'future'. History of the world and
description of the world -- p. 26-73.
Attempts to embrace the multiplicity of the phenomena of the Cosmos in the
unity of thought and under the form of a purely rational combination.
Natural philosophy, which preceded all exact observation in antiquity, is a
natural, but not unfrequently ill-directed, effort of reason. Two forms of
abstraction rule in the whole mass of knowledge, viz.: the 'quantitative',
relative determinations according to number and magnitude, and
'qualitative', material characters. Means of submitting phenomena to
calculation. Atoms, mechanical methods of construction. Figurative
representations; mythical conception of imponderable matters, and the
peculiar vital forces in every organism. That which is attained by
observation and experiment (calling forth phenomena) leads, by analogy and
induction, to a knowledge of 'empirical laws'; their gradual simplification
and generalization. Arrangement of the facts discovered in accordance with
leading ideas. The treasure of empirical contemplation, collected through
ages, is in no danger of experiencing any hostile agency from philosophy --
p. 73-78.
[In the notes appended to p. 66-70 are considerations of the general and
comparative geography of Varenius. Philological investigation into the
meaning of the words [Greek word] and 'mundus'.]
Delineation of Nature. General Review of Natural Phenomena. . . . . p.
79-359
Introduction -- p. 79-83. A descriptive delineation of the world embraces
the whole universe ([Greek words]) in the celestial and terrestrial spheres.
Form and course of the representation. It begins with the laws of
gravitation, and with the region of the remotest nebulous spots and double
stars, and then, gradually descending through the starry stratum to which
our solar system belongs, it contemplates this terrestrial spheroid,
surrounded by air and water, and finally, proceeds to the consideration of
the form of our planet, its temperature and magnetic tension, and the
fullness of organic vitality which is unfolded on its surface under the
action of light. Partial insight into the relative dependence existing
among all phenomena. Amid all the mobile and unstable elements in space,
'mean numerical values' are the ultimate aim of investigation, being the
expression of the physical laws, or forces of the Cosmos. The delineation
of the universe does not begin with the earth, from which a merely
subjective point of view might have led us to start, but rather with the
objects comprised in the regions of space. Distribution of matter, which is
partially conglomerated into rotating
p 17
and circling heavenly bodies of very different density and magnitude, and
partly scattered as self-luminous vapor. Review of the separate portions of
the picture of nature, for the purpose of explaining the reciprocal
connection of all phenomena.
I. Celestial Portion of the Cosmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page
83-154
II. Terrestrial Portion of the Cosmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p.
154-359
a. Form of the earth, its mean density, quantity of heat, electro-magnetic
activity, process of light -- p. 154-202.
b. Vital activity of the earth toward its external surface. Reaction of
the interior of a planet on its crust and surface. Subterranean noise
without waves of concussion. Earthquakes dynamic phenomena -- p. 202-217.
c. Material products which frequently accompany earthquakes. Gaseous and
aqueous springs. Salses and mud volcanoes. Upheavals of the soil by
elastic forces -- p. 217-228.
d. Fire-emitting mountains. Craters of elevation. Distribution of
volcanoes on the earth -- p. 228-247.
e. Volcanic forces form new kinds of rock, and metamorphose those already
existing. Geognostical classification of rocks into four groups. Phenomena
of contact. Fossiliferous strata; their vertical arrangement. The faunas
and floras of an earlier world. Distribution of masses of rock -- p.
247-384.
f. Geognostical epochs, which are indicated by the mineralogical difference
of rocks, have determined the distribution of solids and fluids into
continents and seas. Individual configuration of solids into horizontal
expansion and vertical elevation. Relations of area. Articulation.
Probability of the continued elevation of the earth's crust in ridges -- p.
284-301.
g. Liquid and aeriform envelopes of the solid surface of our planet.
Distribution of heat in both. The sea. The tides. Currents and their
effects -- p. 301-311.
h. The atmosphere. Its chemical composition. Fluctuations in its density.
Law of the direction of the winds. Mean temperature. Enumeration of the
causes which tend to raise and lower the temperature. Continental and
insular climates. East and west coasts. Cause of the curvature of the
isothermal lines. Limits of perpetual snow. Quantity of vapor.
Electricity in the atmosphere. Forms of the clouds -- p. 311-339.
i. Separation of inorganic terrestrial life from the geography of vital
organisms; the geography of vegetables and animals. Physical gradations of
the human race -- p. 339-359.
Special Analysis of the Delineation of Nature, including References to the
Subjects treated of in the Notes.
I. Celestial Portion of the Cosmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.
83-154
The universe and all that it comprises -- multiform nebulous spots,
planetary vapor, and nebulous stars. The picturesque charm of a southern
sky -- note, p. 85. Conjectures on the position in space of the world. Our
stellar masses. A cosmical island. Gauging stars. Double stars revolving
round a common center. Distance of the star 61 Cygni -- p. 88 and note.
Our solar system more complicated than was conjectured at the close of the
last century. Primary planets with Neptune, Astrea, Hebe, Iris, and Flora,
now constitute 16; secondary planets 18; myriad of comets of which many of
the inner ones are inclosed
p 18
in the orbits of the planets; a rotating ring (the zodiacal light) and
meteoric stones, probably to be regarded as small cosmical bodies. The
telescopic planets, Vesta, Juno, Ceres, Pallas, Astrea, Hebe, Iris and
Flora, with their frequently intersecting, strongly inclined, and more
eccentric orbits, constitute a central group of separation between the inner
planetary group (Mercury, Venus, the Earth, and Mars) and the outer group
(Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune). Contrasts of these planetary
groups. Relations of distance from one central body. Differences of
absolute magnitude, density, period of revolution, eccentricity, and
inclination of the orbits. The so-called law of the distances of the
planets from their central sun. The planets which have the largest number
of moons -- p. 96 and note. Relations in space, both absolute and relative,
of the secondary planets. Largest and smallest of the moons. Greatest
approximation to a primary planet. Retrogressive movement of the moons of
Uranus. Libration of the Earth's satellite -- p. 98 and note. Comets; the
nucleus and tail; various forms and directions of the emanations in conoidal
envelopes, with more or less dense walls. Several tails inclined toward the
sun; change of form of fixed stars by the nuclei of comets. Eccentricity of
their orbits and periods of revolution. Greatest distance and greatest
approximation of comets. Passage through the system of Jupiter's
satellites. Comets of short periods of revolution, more correctly termed
inner comets (Encke, Biela, Faye) -- p. 107 and note. Revolving aerolites
(meteoric stones, fire-balls, falling stars). Their planetary velocity,
magnitude, form, observed height. Periodic return in streams; the November
stream and the stream of St. Lawrence. Chemical composition of meteoric
asteroids -- p. 130 and notes. Ring of zodiacal light. Limitation of the
present solar atmosphere -- p. 141 and note. Translatory motion of the
whole solar system -- p. 145-149 and note. The existence of the law of
gravitation beyond our solar system. The milky way of stars and its
conjectured breaking up. Milky way of nebulous spots, at right angles with
that of the stars. Periods of revolutions of bi-colored double stars.
Canopy of stars; openings in the stellar stratum. Events in the universe;
the apparition of new stars. Propagation of light, the aspect of the starry
vault of the heavens conveys to the mind an idea of inequality of time -- p.
149-154 and notes.
II. Terrestrial Portion of the Cosmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page
154-359
a. Figure of the earth. Density, quantity of heat, electro-magnetic
tension, and terrestrial light -- p. 154-202 and note. Knowledge of the
compression and curvature of the earth's surface acquired by measurements of
degrees, pendulum oscillations, and certain inequalities in the moon's
orbit. Mean density of the earth. The earth's crust, and the depth to
which we are able to penetrate -- p. 159, 160, note. Threefold movement of
the heat of the earth; its thermic condition. Law of the increase of heat
with the increase of depth -- p. 160, 161 and note. Magnetism electricity
in motion. Periodical variation of terrestrial magnetism. Disturbance of
the regular course of the magnetic needle. Magnetic storms; extension of
their action. Manifestations of magnetic force on the earth's surface
presented under three classes of phenomena, namely, lines of equal force
(isodynamic), equal inclination (isoclinic), and equal deviation (isogonic).
Position of the magnetic pole. Its probable connection with the poles of
cold. Change of all the magnetic phenomena of the earth. Erection of
magnetic observatories
p 19
since 1828; a far-extending net-work of magnetic stations -- p. 190 and
note. Development of light at the magnetic poles; terrestrial light as a
consequence of the electro-magnetic activity of our planet. Elevation of
polar light. Whether magnetic storms are accompanied by noise. Connection
of polar light (an electro-magnetic development of light) with the formation
of cirrus clouds. Other examples of the generation of terrestrial light --
p. 202 and note.
b. The vital activity of a planet manifested from within outward, the
principal source of geognostic phenomena. Connection between merely dynamic
concussions or the upheaval of whole portions of the earth's crust,
accompanied by the effusion of matter, and the generation of gaseous and
liquid fluids, of hot mud and fused earths, which solidify into rocks.
Volcanic action, in the most general conception of the idea, is the reaction
of the interior of a planet on its outer surface. Earthquakes. Extent of
the circles of commotion and their gradual increase. Whether there exists
any connection between the changes in terrestrial magnetism and the
processes of the atmosphere. Noises, subterranean thunder without any
perceptible concussion. The rocks which modify the propagation of the waves
of concussion. Upheavals; eruption of water, hot steam, mud mofettes,
smoke, and flame during an earthquake -- p. 202-218 and notes.
c. Closer consideration of material products as a consequence of internal
planetary activity. There rise from the depths of the earth, through
fissures and cones of eruption, various gases, liquid fluids (pure or
acidulated), mud, and molten earths. Volcanoes are a species of
intermittent spring. Temperature of thermal springs; their constancy and
change. Depth of the foci -- p. 219-224 and notes. Salses, mud volcanoes.
While fire-emitting mountains, being sources of molten earths, produce
volcanic rocks, spring water forms, by precipitation, strata of limestone.
Continued generation of sedimentary rocks -- p. 228 and note.
d. Diversity of volcanic elevations. Dome-like closed trachytic mountains.
Actual volcanoes which are formed from craters of elevations or among the
detritus of their original structure. Permanent connection of the interior
of our earth with the atmosphere. Relation to certain rocks. Influence of
the relations of height on the frequency of the eruptions. Heights of the
cone of cinders. Characteristics of those volcanoes which rise above the
snow-line. Columns of ashes and fire. Volcanic storm during the eruption.
Mineral composition of lavas -- p. 236 and notes. Distribution of volcanoes
on the earth's surface; central and linear volcanoes; insular and littoral
volcanoes. Distance of volcanoes from the sea-coast. Extinction of
volcanic forces -- p. 246 and notes.
e. Relation of volcanoes to the character of rocks. Volcanic forces form
new rocks, and metamorphose the more ancient ones. The study of these
relations leads, by a double course, to the mineral portion of geognosy (the
study of the textures and of the position of the earth's strata), and to the
configuration of continents and insular groups elevated above the level of
the sea (the study of the geographical form and outlines of the different
parts of the earth. Classification of rocks according to the scale of the
phenomena of structure and metamorphosis, which are still passing before our
eyes. Rocks of eruption, sedimentary rocks, changed (metamorphosed) rocks,
conglomerates -- compound rocks are definite associations of
cryctognostically simple fossils. There are four phases in the formative
condition; rocks of eruption,
p 20
endogenous (granite, sienite, porphyry, greenstone, hyperathene, rock,
euphotide, melaphyre, basalt, and phonolithe); sedimentary rocks (silurian
schist, coal measures, limestone, travertino, infusorial deposit);
metamorphosed rock, which contains also, together with the detritus mica
schist, and more ancient metamorphic masses. Aggregate and sandstone
formations. The phenomenon of contact explained by the artificial imitation
of minerals. Effects of pressure and the various rapidity of cooling.
Origin of granular or saccharoidal marble, silicification of schist into
ribbon jasper. Metamorphosis of calcareous marl into micaceous schist
through granite. Conversion of dolomite and granite into argillaceous
schist, by contact with basaltic and doleritic rocks. Filling up of the
veins from below. Processes of cementation in agglomerate structures.
Friction conglomerates -- p. 269 and note. Relative age of rocks,
chronometry of the earth's crust. Fossiliferous strata. Relative age of
organisms. Simplicity of the first vital forms. Dependence of
physiological gradations on the age of the formations. Geognostic horizon,
whose careful investigation may yield certain data regarding the identity or
the relative age of formations, the periodic recurrence of certain strata,
their parallelism, or their total suppression. Types of the sedimentary
structures considered in their most simple and general characters; silurian
and devonian formations (formerly known as rocks of transition); the lower
trias (mountain limestone, coal measures, together with 'todilegende' and
zechstein); the upper trias (butter sandstone, muschelkalk, and keuper);
Jura limestone (lias and oolite); freestone, lower and upper chalk, as the
last of the flotz strata, which begin with mountain limestone; tertiary
formations in three divisions, which are designated by granular limestone,
lignite, and south Apennine gravel -- p. 269-278.
The faunas and floras of an earlier world, and their relations to existing
organisms. Colossal bones of antediluvian mammalia in the upper alluvium.
Vegetation of an earlier world; monuments of the history of its vegetation.
The points at which certain vegetable groups attain their maximum; cycadeae
in the keuper and lias, and coniferae in the butter sandstone. Lignite and
coal measures (amber-tree). Deposition of large masses of rock; doubts
regarding their origin -- p. 285 and note.
f. The knowledge of geognostic epochs -- of the upheaval of mountain chains
and elevated plateaux, by which lands are both formed and destroyed, leads,
by an internal causal connection, to the distribution into solids and
fluids, and to the peculiarities in the natural configuration of the earth's
surface. Existing areal relations of the solid to the fluid differ
considerably from those presented by the maps of the physical portion of a
more ancient geography. Importance of the eruption of quartzose, porphyry
with reference to the then existing configuration of continental masses.
Individual conformation in horizontal extension (relations of articulation)
and in vertical elevation (hypsometrical views). Influence of the relations
of the area of land and sea on the temperature, direction of the winds,
abundance or scarcity of organic products, and on all meteorological
processes collectively. Direction of the major axes of continental masses.
Articulation and pyramidal termination toward the south. Series of
peninsulas. Valley-like formation of the Atlantic Ocean. Forms which
frequently recur -- p. 285-293 and notes. Ramifications and systems of
mountain chains, and the means of determining their relative ages. Attempts
to determine the centre of gravity of the volume of the lands upheaved above
the level
p 21
of the sea. The elevation of continents is still progressing slowly, and is
being compensated for at some definite points by a perceptible sinking. All
geognostic phenomena indicate a periodical alteration of activity in the
interior of our planet. Probability of new elevations of ridges -- p.
293-301 and notes.