231 



A Paper was read, entitled, ' Notes on Calorific 

 Phenomena," by J. C. Dyee, Esq., ^ .P. 



The Author states that the essences of matter, their 

 number and their forms, are only known to us by their 

 observed properties and mutations ; that conflicting theories 

 on physics arise from the various interpretations given to the 

 same phenomena ; and if unable to reconcile such differences, 

 further inquiry, with that view, may not be improper, whilst 

 the laws of nature rest on debateable grounds. That 

 practically matter, in its aggregate, is found to consist of two 

 sorts or classes — the " ponderable" and the "imponderable" — 

 gravity and elasticity serving to distinguish their respective 

 inherent properties. That as no tests of weight or measure 

 can apply to the latter, its mutations and action on other 

 bodies are the sole means we have of forming any judgment 

 concerning its agency in the laboratory of nature. That the 

 calorific element, or heat, is assumed to be the o/ie ^^ sole 

 imponderable element which pervades matter and space 

 throughout the universe," and it constitutes the elastic forces 

 reacting upon and halancmg the gravitating forces in all other 

 bodies. This elemental state of heat must be taken as distinct 

 from its other tlwee states of sensible, radiating, and specific 

 heat, commonly recognised. That elemental heat is acted 

 upon by mechanical and chemical forces, and the changes 

 which it undergoes from the one to the other conditions of 

 heat, give rise to atmospherical phenomena, known as 

 electrical, magnetic, and optical ; as also to the entire range 

 of meteorological changes, as set forth in the Paper. That 

 by the mechanical forces of the earth's motion in its orbit 

 and diurnal rotation, acting upon the elemental medium, its 

 equilibrium is disturbed and motions generated which afford 

 rational explanations of the luminous and ordinary electrical 

 and magnetical conditions of the atmosphere, as indicated by 

 their respective meteors. That by the action of chemical 

 forces, great mutations of heat are continually going on ; for 



