Discussions on climate and cosmology / by James Croll.

  • Croll, James, 1821-1890.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Discussions on climate and cosmology / by James Croll. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    36/350 (page 20)
    The question of the temperature of space has been investigated in different ways by Pouillet and Herschel; and the result arrived at was that space has a tempe- rature of —239° F., or an absolute temperature of 222°. The mean absolute temperature of our earth is about 521°. Consequently according to these results, the heat received from the stars is to that received from the sun as 222 to 299. All my determinations of the change of temperature due to changes in the sun's dis- tance were computed on these data, although I believe, for reasons stated, that space must have a much lower temperature. Recent observations of Professor Langley made during the Mount-Whitney expedition confirm the correctness of my belief. Professor Newcomb, however, wholly ignores all that has been done on that subject, for he commences his review by the statement that practically there is but one source from which the surface of the earth receives heat—the sun, since the quantity received from all other sources is quite insignificant in com- parison. He states that he regards the conclusion that the temperature of space is —239° as having no sound basis. This may be perfectly true ; but it is hardly a warrant for affirming that practically there is but one source (the sun) from which the surface of the earth receives heat, without even referring to the researches of these eminent physicists who have arrived at a totally diflferent conclusion. Any one who has read 'Climate and Time' will know that I adopted — 239° as the temperature of space, not because I believed that estimate to be correct, but because at the time I wrote there was no other to adopt. In fact in adopting so high a temperature for space I was doing my theory a positive injury. This is obvious; for the lower the