FORCES Of CALORIC. 21 



weather depend chiefly on the direction of winds, 

 they cannot be predicted with invariable accu- 

 racy, without knowing all the circumstances 

 which modify the temperature of different and 

 distant places. It is not therefore surprising that 

 meteorology has never been reduced to the cer- 

 tainty of an exact science. 



Were it possible to compute the aggregate forces 

 of caloric in all the mechanical, chemical, and 

 vital transformations which are for the most part 

 unobserved, we should be astonished at the re- 

 sult.* But men are so accustomed to the regular 

 course of nature, that they are less aroused by the 

 grandeur of the sun, rising in pomp and might, 

 filling the world with beautiful creations, and 

 diffusing everywhere the spirit of gladness, than 

 by a passing meteor of the night. 



That the whole theory of geological dynamics 

 is in some way immediately connected with the 

 agency of caloric, is now generally admitted by 



* It is in the torrid zone that nature exults in the plenitude of 

 her powers in modifying the surface of the earth, where the 

 forces of the volcano, the earthquake, and of universal chemistry, 

 are surpassed only by those which wheel the planets through their 

 orbits. For example, we are informed by Captain Burnes, that 

 during the Cutch earthquake of 1819, the Delta of the Indus was 

 elevated about ten feet, over an area of fifty miles in length, and 

 sixteen in breadth, in some places. We also learn from Mr. Lyell's 

 excellent work on Geology, that during the shocks of 1822 in 

 South America, the coast of Chili was raised about four feet, over 

 an area of 100,000 square miles. And it is well known that 

 similar movements are constantly taking place in different parts 

 of the earth, or beneath the ocean. 



