97 



salts and the gases found in the air they penetrate between the 

 New Ked Marls and the Carboniferous Limestone; that there 

 being no reason to suppose the Coal measures absent, that they 

 permeate them, aad hence become charged with various other 

 gases which however they do not bring with them to the surface, 

 but combine -with the oxygen of the air, and not only by their 

 union give rise to heat, but also give rise to a degree of low com- 

 bustion in the coal with evolution of heat, which is retained and 

 conveyed away by the water. I think, therefore, that the heat 

 of these waters is an evidence of internal motion, changes now 

 going on under the surface of the earth, — in this particular case 

 in the Coal measures. 



For what is heat '? Is heat a thing, an entity in itself, or is it 

 not rather an evidence of motion 1 I put my finger in the candle 

 and burn it, what has occurred ? The flame has so far destroyed 

 the conservative vitality of the part that chemical decomposition 

 is induced or commenced, that is, a new mode of motion in the 

 parts is set up. 



We have heard it said that the centre of our earth is one 

 molten mass, existing in a passive motionless state. I cannot 

 believe it ! all evidence is against the notion of motionless heat : 

 look at the sun, the great centre of our heat, and what do we 

 find on his surface but the signs of intense activity, the celebrated 

 willow leaves or granules on his body appearing to be bodies 

 some hundreds of miles long, darting about with inconceivable 

 rapidity. In fact, is not heat the life of physical creation t Is it 

 not the evidence to us of the universal presence of the Great 

 Architect of the Universe himself, the grand source of life? 

 Nature's law itself is motion, — change; there is no such thing 

 as permanent rest, and heat we now know is only a mode, an 

 evidence of motion : that it is intermittent we have reason to 

 believe, for as we cannot have heat without motion, and we find 

 that the earth has undergone periods of alternate rest and move- 

 ment, so no doubt it has been subject to periods of heat and cold. 



