lxvi., p. 271-312.
Never before has so noble and cheerful a spirit presided over the inquiry
into the 'quantitative' relations of the laws of the phenomena of nature.
We are, therefore, justified in hoping that these laws, when compared with
those which govern the atmosphere and the remoter regions of space, may, by
degrees, lead us to a more intimate acquaintance with the genetic conditions
of magnetic phenomena. As yet we can only boast of having opened a greater
number of paths which may possibly lead to an explanation of this subject.
In the physical science of terrestrial
p 193
magnetism, which must not be confounded with the purely mathematical branch
of the study, those persons only will obtain perfect satisfaction who, as in
the science of the meteorological processes of the atmosphere conveniently
turn aside the practical bearing of all phenomena that can not be explained
according to their own views.
Terrestrial magnetism, and the electro-dynamic forces computed by the
intellectual Ampere,* stand in simultaneous and intimate connection with the
terrestrial or polar light, as well as with the internal and external heat
of our planet, whose magnetic poles may be considered as the poles of cold.**
[footnote] *Instead of ascribing the internal heat of the Earth to the
transition of matter from a vapor-like fluid to a solid condition, which
accompanies the formation of the planets, Ampere has propounded the idea,
which I regard as highly improbable, that the Earth's temperature may be the
consequence of the continuous chemical action of a nucleus of the metals of
the earths and alkalies on the oxydizing external crust.
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