Practical Meteorology, Vol. 1 of 10: Being a Guide to the Phenomena of the Atmosphere, and the Practical for Registering and Recording Atmospheric Changes (Classic Reprint) - Tapa blanda

Excerpt from Practical Meteorology, Vol. 1 of 10: Being a Guide to the Phenomena of the Atmosphere, and the Practical for Registering and Recording Atmospheric Changes

The change of common oxygen into ozone, furnishes an illustration of one of the most remarkable discoveries of modern science. It displays what is, perhaps, the most extraordinary example of the condition of allotropism, or the existence of one body under two different aspects; it promises to render evident some of these occult atmospheric causes which determine the progress of epidemics, and promote the existence of endemic diseases.

A summary of our know ledge relative to ozone may be briefly stated as follows z - Oxy gen gas is susceptible of undergoing a change, the nature of which 1s altogether veiled In mystery. It Is susceptible of becoming odorous corrosive, and irritating when breathed, its chemical action is susceptible of being exalted and modified, so that whilst ordinary oxygen gas neither bleaches nor corrodes silver, nor decomposes iodide of potassium, the allotropic, or second form of oxygen gas, will accomplish all these results, and many more too numerous for mention here. The general conclusion to which it is de sired to bring the reader is this if causes can be proved to exist capable of changing atmospheric oxygen gas in its ordinary state to oxygen gas in its extraordinary State, how vast, how complicated must be the meteoric results determined thereby! That such natural causes do exist will be readily inferred from a consideration of the artificial methods to which the chemist has recourse for changing ordinary oxygen into ozone.

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Excerpt from Practical Meteorology, Vol. 1 of 10: Being a Guide to the Phenomena of the Atmosphere, and the Practical for Registering and Recording Atmospheric Changes

Meteorology, in its most common and restricted sense, may be considered synonymous with knowledge of the weather. It therefore involves a full acquaintance with the nature and composition of the atmosphere; with the laws of gaseous and vapourous elasticity; with the conditions determining the production of fogs, dew, snow, and hail; also with the laws of atmospheric, optical, and electrical phenomena. It is the province of meteorology also to study the phenomena of aerolites, and the relations which subsist between atmospheric conditions and the development of organic species.

The above is a general outline of the scope and limits of meteorology. Its successful study will be seen to involve a pre-acquaintance with many sciences, more especially those of chemistry and electricity. There does not, indeed, exist any science having limits so undefined as meteorology. From a consideration of the theory of shooting stars to a contemplation of the mutual alliance subsisting between certain forms of disease and atmospheric conditions, or the relation between certain animal and vegetable tribes and given atmospheric conditions, the divergency is wide. Nevertheless, all these branches of study are intimately allied with meteorology; and perhaps the most delightful part of botanical science is that which seeks to establish connections between the localization of certain vegetable families in districts characterized by some peculiarity of meteorologic condition. Horticulturists have been too ready to overlook the influence of remote atmospheric conditions on certain vegetable families. Too frequently it has been considered that a vegetable surrounded by an atmosphere of temperature similar to that of its native region, and planted in a soil of similar chemical composition, must necessarily thrive. There are, nevertheless, meteoric conditions beyond these. Why is it that many species of the palm tribe refuse to grow very far away from their native regions, although transplanted to localities seemingly identical in all respects? Why is it that the cocoa-palm refuses to grow in regions very far distant from the sea? These questions involve meteorologic considerations of great interest; and not less interesting to a meteorologist is the partiality evinced to a restricted region by the cinchona tribe. An atmosphere very much rarefied and perpetually moist are so essential to their existence, that they cannot live without it.

The natural approach to meteorology is the study of the atmosphere, which admits of being contemplated under many aspects. It may be contemplated either as the atmosphere proper or theoretical, composed of two gases, oxygen and nitrogen; or as the practical atmosphere or mixture of the gaseous theoretical atmosphere with numerous vapours, extraneous gases, and fleeting undetermined miasmata. The atmosphere, too, admits of being regarded statically, i.e. at rest, and dynamically, i.e. in motion, the latter involving a study of the causes of winds. The atrrosphere, lastly, may be considered in relation to the imponderable agents, to heat, light, electricity, and magnetism. I shall begin by investigating the nature of our atmosphere regarded chemically.

Chemical Constitution of the Atmosphere. - By the ancients air was considered to be an elementary substance. Chemistry at length demonstrated it to consist of two gases, oxygen and nitrogen combined, or rather mixed in the proportions of about eighty parts, by measure, of nitrogen, and twenty of oxygen; or, in other words, one volume of oxygen to four of nitrogen.

Considerable difference of opinion once existed on the question, whether the atmosphere be a chemical or a mechanical compound. To adduce evidence bearing on this discussion, would be foreign to the subject of meteor.