September, 191:; 



KNOWLEDGE. 



361 



THE ROTATION OF VENUS. 



To the Editors of "' Knowledge.'" 



Sirs, — By .in error of reduction the period determined by 

 Mr. J. McHarg is given on page J05 as 23'" 28" 13'- 595, he 

 however, has liindly pointed out that it should be -9776803 

 days, or 23"" 27™ Sl'oS. I should, therefore, be glad if you 

 would kindly insert the correction. 



FR.\NK C. DENNETT. 



THE SECOND L.WV OF THERMODYNAMICS AND 



PROFESSOR HICKERTON'S THEORY. 



To the Editors of " Knowledge." 



Sirs, — The English Mechanic, of August 2nd, reprints 

 an article from The General Electric Review, by C. P. 

 Steininetz, Chief Consulting Engineer of the General Electric 

 Company, on " The Death of Energy." This article confirms 

 Professor Bickerton's views published in the December 

 number of " Knowledge," in which he shows that the 

 second law of thermodynamics is not of cosmic application, 

 and that the eternity of life is physically possible. 

 Steininetz's article commences by a very full and varied 

 series of illustrations of dissipation of energy. He then goes 

 on to say : — " The second law of thermodynamics is well 

 founded on our experience. The reasoning from this law as 

 to the death of the universe is logical. At the same time, the 

 conclusion that the universe must run down is not reasonable. 

 If the universe is eternal, has existed since infinite time, 

 then it should have run down an infinite time ago. But 

 if it is not eternal, but had a beginning, what was before ? 

 Thus, in the final reasoning, we arrive at a contradiction. 

 The explanation may be either that we have attempted to 

 reason beyond the limits of the capacity of the human mind, 

 which, being finite, always fails in the attempt to reason into 

 the infinite, or it may be that the second law of thermodynamics 

 is not of universal application ; is not a general law of nature, 

 but is of limited application only. In the following pages I 

 wish to show that the latter is the case. A single exception, 

 obviously, would be suflficient to show that the second law of 

 thermodynamics is not a universal law. and that the con- 

 clusions regarding the death of the world, based on this law, 

 are thus not justified. .\s the thermodynamics of gases is far 

 simpler and more completely known than any other branch of 

 thermodynamics, it would offer the most promising field of 

 study. The kinetic theory of gases is probably as fully and 

 conclusively proven as anything can be, by the inductive 

 method of science." The author then discusses Clark Maxwell's 

 demons, and says "Now, these demons exist in Nature. Every 

 cosmic body is such a demon, and separates the fast from the 

 slow molecules, keeping the latter and sending the former out 

 into space, and thereby causing heat energy to flow into space, 



at a temperature far above its own temperature 



If, however, the upward velocity of the molecule is sufficiently 

 high — above a certain critical value — then this molecule 

 escapes from the attraction of the earth into space, and 

 never comes back." Then Steinmetz shows, as Bickerton has 

 previously done, that molecular motion may cease to be heat. 

 He says: ''We may ask, however, whether the kinetic energy of 

 a molecule which, due to its high velocity, has escaped into 

 cosmic space, can still be considered as heat energy. Heat 

 energy is the kinetic energy of irregular molecular motion. 

 The difference between the heat energy of a gas and mechanical 

 energy thus lies in the irregularity of the motion and the 

 size of the moving particles, which is such that only the 

 resultant effect of the mechanical motions of large numbers of 

 moving particles can be perceived. Irregularity of motion, 

 however, is relative ; for if we consider a single molecule which 

 has escaped into space, by reason of its high velocity, we 

 cannot attribute any irregularity to its motion. That is to 

 say, its kinetic energy cannot further be considered as heat 

 energy ; but the kinetic energy of the molecule, which has heat 

 energy, while the molecule moved in a mass of gas together 



with other molecules, is mechanical energy of cosmic motion, 

 and the molecule is a cosmic body traversing space under the 

 laws of gravitation, but not subject any more to the law of 

 probability of mass action — i.e., to the second law of ther- 

 modynamics." He then shows by very lengthy argument that 

 this new energy is not heat, and says — " When, however, the 

 kinetic molecular energy ceases to be heat energy, the second 

 law of thermodynamics, which is the application of the law of 

 probability, also ceases." 



He then gives a long discussion showing that this new 

 energy clearly does not conform to Kelvin's law, and concludes 

 by saying — " We are thus led to the conclusion that the 

 second law of thermodynamics is not a universal law of 

 Nature, but applies only within the limited range of ther- 

 modynamic engines from which it has been derived. It docs 

 not apply to the universe as a whole ; and the conclusions 

 derived from it, that the universe must finally come to a 

 standstill, are not jilstified." 



Clearly Steinmetz has been led to this view by his own 

 independent reasoning, his terms being wholly different from 

 Bickerton's. When it is considered that Bickerton used the 

 term, " selective molecular escape " and showed that it 

 overcame dissip.ation of energy, a third of a century ago, it is 

 obvious he has the priority of the idea. It will be observed 

 also that Steinmetz says nothing of the " aggregating power 

 of the position of high potential " which Bickerton shows to be 

 a cosmic collecting agent for light elements in contrast to 

 gravitation, which tends to collect and concentrate heavy 

 elements. In this way Bickerton shows that both sides of the 

 doctrine of physical death, namely, the degradation of energy 

 and the concentration of matter, have each of them agents 

 acting in the opposite direction. So that the whole cosmic 

 scheme is like the differential governor of a steam engine, 

 constantly tending to equilibrium. 



In the .August, 1911, '' Knowledge," in Physics notes, you 

 gave Kapteyn's observations that tended to confirm Bickerton's 

 theory of the origin of the universe. In the June meeting of 

 the B..4.A., fully reported in their journal, Bickerton shows 

 that the Cambridge series of the spectrograms not merely 

 demonstrated that Nova Geminorum was actually a third body 

 struck from grazing suns, but that these spectra also exhibited 

 most clearly the action of axial extrusion of selective molecular 

 escape, and the pulsation of the nucleus, described in the 

 September number of " Knowledge." Thus it seems that 

 all the essential facts of the New Astronomy are demonstrated 

 by independent observations and reasoning. 



SYLVESTER N. E. O'HALI.ORAN. 



Gray's Inn. 



FERTILIZATION OF THE FIG. 



To the Editors of " Knowledge." 



Sirs. — I should be very grateful if Professor Cavers 

 would point out how far his very interesting paper on '' The 

 F-ertilisation of the Fig " is applicable to the fig of our English 

 gardens. As far as 1 have been able to observe there are no 

 small wasps frequenting the trees, nor have I seen apertures 

 at the top of the pear-shaped receptacle large enough to 

 admit any but the very smallest insect. Neither can I find 

 the three crops of inflorescence spoken of. I am sure any 

 information on the subject would be welcomed gratefully by 

 all interested in such a branch of botany. 



I. L. J. 



DISCAL FLORETS OF COMI'OSITAE. 



To the Editors of" Knowledge." 



Sirs, — Sir W. W. Strickland" appears to be endeavouring 

 to construct a theory of the arrangement of disc florets on a 

 basis of concentric circles, but Nature really knows nothing of 

 circles, only spiral K-horls. resulting from the projection of 

 portions of a continuous spiral on to a plane. For example, 

 the aestivation of the lobes of gamopetalous corollas reveals 



'Knowledge," .\ugust, 1912. 



