The Power That Preserves | My Web Site Page 176 Chapter 03 Page 03

Ovations

Sitemaps

In Switzerland, one of the chief employments of the people is that of herdsmen and shepherds, and nearly the half of the surface of the country is occupied as mountain pastures and meadows. Here you see the woman tending the sheep and goats, and spinning industriously, while her husband is busy with some other part of the duties of tending the sheep. It is often painful to see how much the poor sheep and oxen suffer while being driven through the streets. It is pitiful to see them looking in vain for some place of rest and shelter. Little boys in towns sometimes like to HELP--as they call it--to drive cattle, but they generally increase the terror and confusion of the poor beasts, and little think of the pain they are causing. Sheep and goats are very useful to us; besides serving us for food, they supply our cloth and flannel clothes, blankets, and other warm coverings.

While Papin had neglected his earlier suggestion of a steam and piston engine to work on Savery's ideas, Thomas Newcomen, with his assistant, John Cawley, put into practical form Papin's suggestion of 1690. Steam admitted from the boiler to a cylinder raised a piston by its expansion, assisted by a counter-weight on the other end of a beam actuated by the piston. The steam valve was then shut and the steam condensed by a jet of cold water. The piston was then forced downward by atmospheric pressure and did work on the pump. The condensed water in the cylinder was expelled through an escapement valve by the next entry of steam. This engine used steam having pressure but little, if any, above that of the atmosphere.

Just as the gaseous nebulae radiate heat into space and condense, so must the stars, with this difference: the nebulae are highly rarified bodies, with surfaces enormously large in proportion to the heat contents; and the radiation from them must be relatively rapid. In fact, some of the nebulae seem to be so highly rarified that radiation may take place from their interiors almost as well as from their surfaces. The radiation from a star just formed must occur at a much slower rate. The continued condensation of the star, following the loss of heat, must lead to a change of physical condition, which will be apparent in the spectrum. It should pass from the so-called helium group, to the hydrogen, or Class A group, not suddenly but by insensible gradations of spectrum. In the Class A stars the hydrogen lines are the most prominent features. The helium lines have disappeared, except in a few stars where faint helium remnants are in evidence. The magnesium lines have become prominent and the calcium lines are growing rapidly in strength. The so-called metallic lines, usually beginning with iron and titanium lines, which have a few extremely faint representatives in the last of the helium stars, become visible here and there in the Class A spectra, but they are not conspicuous.

This page is Copyright © Formidable Deuce. All Rights Reserved. The Power That Preserves | My Web Site Page 176 is a production of Formidable Deuce and may not be reproduced electronically or graphically for commercial uses. Personal reproductions and browser or search engine caching are acceptable.

Ovations provided by The Power That Preserves | My Web Site Page 176 are included only for information. The entertainment value of The Power That Preserves | My Web Site Page 176's ovations may vary on the basis of your personal needs. Formidable Deuce and The Power That Preserves | My Web Site Page 176 take no responsibility for the content provided by other Web sites. Links are provided "as is" without liability or warranty.