SKETCH OF DR. CARPENTER. 745 



out with a view to the economical use of coal, but the two to which we 

 have alluded give up to the present time the best results. Still, with 

 these we allow more than one-half of the heat latent in the coal to es- 

 cape us. The subtle element eludes our grasp our charms are pow- 

 erless to chain the sprite ; he will not be bound to labor for us, but 

 passes off into space, regardless of the human Prospero whose wand of 

 science he derides. 



In conclusion, our philosophy has enabled us to determine the heat- 

 value of our coal-fields, and to prove that all this heat has a solar origin. 

 Our science has shown us that, although we can eliminate all this heat, 

 we cannot use it. There is an immense quantity constantly passing into 

 space as radiant heat which we cannot retain. 



The circle of action between the vegetable and the animal world 

 is a beautiful and a remarkable provision. The animal burns carbon , 

 and sends into the air carbonic acid (a compound of carbon and oxy- 

 gen) ; the vegetable breathes that carbonic acid and decomposes it ; the 

 carbon is retained and the oxygen liberated in purity, to maintain the 

 life and fire-supporting principle of the atmosphere. Changes similar 

 to these may be constantly going forward in the sun, and producing 

 those radiations which are poured forth in volumes, far beyond the re- 

 quirements of all the planets of our system. Although there is prob- 

 ably some circle of action analogous to that which exists upon this 

 earth, maintaining the permanency of the vegetable and animal world, 

 still there must be a waste of energy, which must be resupplied to the 

 sun. 



May it not be that Sir Isaac Newton's idea that the comets trav- 

 ersing space gather up the waste heat of the solar system, and event- 

 ually, falling into the sun, restore its power is nearer the truth than 

 the more modern hypothesis, that meteorites are incessantly raining an 

 iron shower upon the solar surface, and by their mechanical impact 

 reproducing the energy as constantly as it is expended ? Popular Sci- 

 ence, Review. 







SKETCH OF DE. CARPENTER. 



By DANIEL DUNCAN, A. 1L, 



FEOFESSOE OF LOGIC IN THE TTNIVEESITY OF MADE AS. 



YTT1LLIAM BENJAMIN CARPENTER was born in Exeter, 

 VV October 29, 1813. His father, Dr. Lant Carpenter, was a dis- 

 senting minister, favorably known as a writer on theological subjects. 

 More widely known, however, as a zealous worker in the cause of juve- 

 nile reformation, is his sister, Miss Mary Carpenter. Only his earliest 

 childhood was spent in Exeter, for in 1817 the family removed to Bris- 



