temperature of the interior of the earth. 131 



REMARKS. 



A correspondent inquires, is it not possible that Cordier 

 may have deduced untenable conclusions from his own ex- 

 periinents ? By numerous trials, he seems to have shewn, 

 that if a point be assumed at the greatest depth to which 

 solar influence penetrates, the heat increases upwards and 

 downwards from that point. He assumes the increase of 

 heat to the depth of a few thousand feet as the ratio of in- 

 crease to the centre of the earth. By this principle of cal- 

 culriiion, he infers that ail the interior of the earth is in a state 

 of fusion, at a depth considerably less than one hundred 

 miles. But if the earth was, at the beginning, highly heated 

 throughout, would it cool in that uniform ratio assumed by 

 Cordier; so that the remaming heat may be represented by 

 a four-sided pyramid whose sides are isosceles triangles? 

 Ought not the remaining heat to be represented by a four- 

 sided pyramid whose sides are the areas of Gothic arches 

 with sides nearly parallel towards the base? The latter 

 would certainly be the true figure for representing the re- 

 maining heat of a red hot cannon ball, after it had been sus- 

 pended by a chain, until its superficial heat should be so far 

 reduced that it could be borne by the hand. According to 

 this method of calculation, the increased temperature de- 

 monstrated by Cordier's experiments, would not require the 

 greatest heat, even at the centre of the earth, to be above 

 the red heat of iron. 



NOTICE. 



Before closing this article, we deem it proper to mention, 

 that a translation of the entire essay of M. Cordier, (in the 

 form of a neat pocket volume,) has just been handed to us. 

 It is from the Junior Class at the College of Amherst, who, 

 under the direction of the able and active Professor of Che- 

 mistry, Mineralogy, &,c. in that institution, have favored the 

 American public with the whole of this singular and interest- 

 ing production. As far as we have been able to observe, 

 the translation is executed with fidelity and in good taste 

 and will, we trust, command the attention of those who are 

 disposed to inquire into the physical condition of the in- 

 terior of our planet. — Ed. 



