— Members of the Royal Dutch-Shell Group, A Petroleum Handbook, issued for private circulation, December 1933.
My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends —
It gives a lovely light!
— Edna St Vincent Millay (1892 – 1950) First
Fig.
The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them
lit again in our lifetime.
— Edward, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon (1862 – 1933), on the eve of World War I
(3 August, 1914).
With a drop of my energy I enter the earth and support all creatures.
— Bhagavad Gita, 15:13, in the translation
of Eknath Easwaran, Arkana Books, 1985.
High and solid mountains guard Rioupéroux
— Small untidy village where the river drives a mill —
— James Elroy Flecker (1884 – 1915), Rioupéroux.
Mine a cot beside the hill;
A bee-hive’s hum shall soothe my ear;
A willowy brook, that turns a mill,
With many a fall shall linger near.
— Samuel Rogers (1763 – 1855), A Wish.
The idea came into my mind, that as steam was an elastic body
it would rush into a vacuum, and if a communication was made between the cylinder
and an exhausted vessel, it would rush into it, and might be there condensed without
cooling the cylinder.
— James Watt (1736 – 1819).
I am selling what the whole world wants; power.
— Matthew Boulton (1728 – 1809), offering to sell steam engines to Catherine the
Great.
The fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same
sense in which Energy is the fundamental concept in physics.
— Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970), Power: A
New Social Analysis.
Energy is Eternal Delight
— William Blake (1757 – 1827), The Marriage
of Heaven and Hell.
In the seventeenth century there were, broadly speaking, two
altogether different views regarding the nature of heat. These have been termed
the energetic and materialistic interpretations respectively …
— A. J. Berry, From Classical to Modern Chemistry,
1954, Dover edition 1968, 19.
Temperature gradients in ordinary [volcanically] quiet areas
range from less than 10 to as much as 50 degrees Celsius per kilometre.
— A. E. Benfield, ‘The Earth’s Heat’, Scientific
American Reader (1953), 71.
Naturally a good deal of thought has been given to how the immense
energy of volcanoes might be harnessed for man’s use. It has been done on a relatively
minor scale in several countries, notably Italy and Iceland.
— A. E. Benfield, ‘The Earth’s Heat’, Scientific
American Reader (1953), 86.
Some address is required in dipping these rushes in the scalding
fat or grease; but this knack also is to be attained by practice.
— Gilbert White (1720 – 1793), The Natural
History of Selborne, (1789), Letter XXVI.
In the case of the K-band radar, as it happened, the middle of
the wave band fell squarely on a strong absorption wave-length for water — 1.33
centimetres. So the invisible molecules of water vapour in the air effectively absorbed
and blocked the radar signals.
— Harry M. Davis, ‘Radio Waves and Matter’, Scientific
American Reader (1953), 129 [invention of microwave cookery].
A clock regulated by microwaves would have as its ultimate standard
the rotation of molecules or atomic nuclei. The question arises: which is a more
reliable timekeeper, the spin of the earth, or the spin of an atomic particle? The
evidence leans towards the fundamental and universal constants of the atom. The
spin of the earth changes; the moon, by gravity and by the friction of the tides,
is gradually slowing it down.
— Harry M. Davis, ‘Radio Waves and Matter’, Scientific
American Reader (1953), 139.
Primary causes are unknown to us; but are subject to simple and
constant laws, which may be discovered by observation, the study of them being the
object of natural philosophy.
Heat, like gravity, penetrates every substance of the universe,
its rays occupy all parts of space. The object of this work is to set forth the
mathematical laws which this element obeys. The theory of heat will hereafter form
one of the most important branches of general physics.
The knowledge of rational mechanics, which most ancient nations
had been able to acquire, has not come down to us, and the history of this science,
if we except the first theorems in harmony, is not traced up beyond the discoveries
of Archimedes. This great geometer explained
the mathematical principles of the equilibrium of solids and fluids. About eighteen
centuries elapsed before Galileo, the
originator of dynamical theories, discovered the laws of motion of heavy bodies.
Within this new science Newton comprised
the whole system of the universe. The successors of these philosophers have extended
these theories and given them an admirable perfection: they have taught us that
the most diverse phenomena are subject to a small number of fundamental laws which
are reproduced in all the acts of nature. It is recognised that the same principles
regulate all the movements of the stars, their form, the inequalities of their courses,
the equilibrium and oscillations of the seas, the harmonic vibrations of air and
sonorous bodies, the transmission of light, capillary actions, the undulations of
fluids …
But whatever may be the range of mechanical theories, they do
not apply to the effects of heat. These make up a special order of phenomena, which
cannot be explained by the principles of motion and equilibrium. We have for a long
time been in the possession of ingenious instruments adapted to measure many of
these effects; valuable observations have been collected; but in this manner partial
results only have become known, and not the mathematical demonstration of the laws
which include them all.
— Jean Baptiste Joseph, Baron de Fourier (1768 – 1830), Theory of Heat, Dover reproduction of an 1878 translation, 1955, pages
1-2.
You will find an index to this blog at the foot of this link. Please be patient: I am pedalling as fast as I can.
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