GRAVISTATIC HEAT 331 



In order to show the reader how near scientists have 

 already come to laying hold upon these truths, had it not 

 been for their obscuration by the doctrine of conserva- 

 tion, let me quote two passages from standard works. 

 The first of these is taken from Ganot's Physics, Art. 465, 

 (Ed. of 1877, retained in that of 1910). 



If a body be so compressed that its density is increased, its 

 temperature rises according as the volume diminishes. Joule has 

 verified this in the case of water and of oil which were exposed 

 to pressures of 15 to 25 atmospheres. In the case of water at 1.2 

 C, increase of pressure caused lowering of temperature, a result 

 which agrees with the fact that water contracts by heat at this 

 temperature. Similarly, when weights are laid on metallic pillars, 

 heat is evolved, and absorbed when they are removed. 



The second of the extracts is to be found in Profes- 

 sor Kichard A. Proctor's Our Place Among Infinities 

 (pp. 117, 118) : 



At exceedingly high temperature, much greater pressure, and 

 therefore much greater density, can be attained without liquefac- 

 tion or solidification. And in considering the effect of pressure 

 on the materials of a solid globe, we must not fall into the mistake 

 of supposing that the strength of such solid materials can protect 

 its substance from compression and its effects. We must extend 

 our conceptions beyond what is familiar to us. We know that 

 any ordinary mass of some strong, heavy solid as iron, copper, 

 or gold is not affected by its own weight so as to change in struc- 

 ture to an appreciable extent. The substance of a mass of iron 

 forty or fifty feet high would be the same in structure at the 

 bottom as at the top of the mass; for the strength of the metal 

 would resist any change which the weight of the mass would 

 (otherwise) tend to produce. But if there were a cubical moun- 

 tain of iron twenty miles high, the lower part would be absolutely 

 plastic under the pressure to which it would be subjected. It 

 would behave in all respects as a fluid, inasmuch that if (for con- 

 venience of illustration) we suppose it enclosed within walls 

 made of some imaginary (and impossible) substance which would 

 yield to no pressure, then, if a portion of the wall were removed 

 near the base of the iron mountain, the iron would flow out like 

 water from a hole near the bottom of a cask. The iron would 

 continue to run out in this way, until the mass was reduced sev- 

 eral miles in height. In Jupiter's case a mountain of iron of 

 much less height would be similarly plastic in its lowest parts, 

 simply because of the much greater attractive power of Jupiter's 

 mass. Thus we see that the conception of a hollow interior, or of 



