Mr D: Mr D: clears himself of Mr Burke's reflection on his Partiality but yet advises tenderness; thinks 7 late enough, and desires not ye eldest but the most worthy in ye Censor's accounts, to carry on ye business in the mean while-There followed great disputes with great warmth-Till Mr Buck proposes the following Law which Institun of a was immediately enacted; Mr Dennis first, by consent & conditionally taking ye chair, to give authority & full force to the Law; the form & manner of which follows with a PreambleThe Preamble. From the fatal Disorder that has distracted the Society this night, Prests Absce we feel the sad effects of wanting a Head to guide & direct all publick How hurtful. Proceedings. The shocks which the Roman Republick was divided Vice Prest before that of a essential. & at last overturned by, are not a stronger instance of this Truth, than this night's experience. That Commonwealth long held out & weathered through all the storms that tossed it; and did not founder, while a sound plank stuck to it. But our's would immediately have sunk to ye bottom, & be utterly lost without ye necessary Ballast; Nor would the human frame be better able to subsist, were the body deprived of the governing Principal, Reason; than this Society withThe Preservation out a President. The absence of the President therefore is the greatest of the Society evil can befall it, and as in desperate diseases any cure is gladly single Law that's applied, so it is better to infringe some part of our Constitution than Hazard the life & Existence of it. Wherefore this inconvenience calling for an immediate redress, which can not be had from the general Laws, and custom having made it allowable to establish Decrees, on the ordinary Club nights, we prefer the safety of the Club to the observation of a Law, which though usefull, yet not essential; and notwithstanding the 3rd clause of ye 4th Law, we enact the following Law, For we can be no Society without a President, and since Decrees were introduced to remedy or prevent lighter inconveniences, rather than suffer the Club to decay, we (taking general consent in an affair of such importance, to be good authority) on that venture to make use of the following Law, as being the best and only Remedy we can find. Law 11th. 1. On the absence of the President, a Vice President shall fill Vice Prest the Chair, who shall have the full power till the President comes; to whom He must resign his Place and Power— Who has a right 2. Of the Members Present, the most worthy according to the to ye chair in ye Censor's Accounts for ye proceeding Lustrum shall be ye Vice abs. of Prest Prest who shall be liable to accusation for Breach of Trust in case Concerning ye management of should ye records in ye abs. of Prest Ye adv1ge of ye Law. After some general expressions of satisfaction at this Resolution which though mild, seems to answer the purpose in view; & which, besides, gives such encouragement & invitation to deserve & vie for the Censor's applause. The business went on the rest of the night Mr. D. first in ye following manner. Mr Dennis being most worthy according example of a to the Censor's account, continues as Vice Prest in the chair; wch Vice Prest. was at first permited to him for the enacting of the Law. Prest in his ous to punnt for crimes committed wn Not Prest The Debate on ye Passions defered to the next night. The Papers of the night, and others due, called for. Mr Ardesoif week obnoxi: (who was to make ye Oration, & to bring his paper on Drunkeness corrected, & one also on Love) being absent, there arose a debate, whether the Vice Prest had a right to punish ye absnt Prest. Agreed Mr Ardesoif. that Mr Ardes1: is liable for Punishment for any crime he is guilty of, that does not regard him as ye Prest and accordingly by ye 5th Law He is fined & censured. V. fines. to Mr Dens. Mr Dennis, as ye Author, reads his miscellaneous Paper on History which is approved of, for ye beauty & strength of thought, Ordr of House & ye agreeable method: However he is ordered by ye Society (because of some weak alternatives & some arguments; which were either not mentioned at all, though obvious, or not enough insisted on) to bring it more perfect next night. The abst Members being enquired Debate on Mr. for, there arose a Debate on ye Delay of Mr Hamilton, wch Mr Burke Hamns absce. complained of, because he had told Mr Ham" of ye Important affairs of ye beginning of ye night, & that he wd certainly be accused, if he did not attend. Moreover giving ye Society some hints of a Disaffection in Mr Hmn which he plainly shewed by deserting ye Society to indulge himself in some pleasures, not ye most decent. Mr Ham". Mr Ham" fined V. fines-but his censure defered till his coming. A Question in Mr Buck proposes for matter of Argument, Mr Dennis's remark Astronomy de- on ye figure of the Eclyptick; which (notwithstanding the received hypothesis approved of by all ye Philosophers since its invention) he doubts to be Elyptical, or at least that our place in Summer is in ye Aphelion: The cause of which opinion is the temperature of ye climate of Terra del Fuega whose Latitude differs not much from Mr D's opinion that of our countrey. Mr V. Prest orders that the question be dison ye figure of gussed, & therefore Mr Buck makes use of these arguments, in ye Eclyptic. contradiction to Mr Dennis's Remark in his Common-Place Book. Buck on D's The silver stream runs with the more force, & purifies itself by opinion. being opposed, the struggles washing away ye heavy mud that settles Use of argu- at the Bottom. Thus Arts and Sciences receive increase and improvements & Con- ment from Dispute & Controversy; Emulation setting the Brain to questions in ye work for invention, & warming the Heart to a more earnest Study Sciences. & Application. For this Reason Mr Buck chooses to contradict Reason of op- Mr Dennis's opinion; for the Mutual Instruction of Both. His posing Ds bated on. troversy on opinion. affection to his Friend, besides pushing him on, to convince him, if he can, of the Mistake he thinks he has fallen into. And, as the coldness of the Southern Hemisphere is the Foundation, on wch of a clim: owing. climates. Ist Cause Mr D'n opinion is built; first declaring a doubt of the Truth of Mr Dn Information, & afterwards, for argument's sake, allowing it; He purposes to enquire into the causes of Heat or Cold & ye Phenomena of ye Earth's annual Motion, & ye Nature of ye Laws by To wt ye tempre wch it is moved. The Temper of any Particular Climate depends of Whence warmth. ye quantity of Heat it receives from ye Sun; on ye constitution of its soil & on ye quantity of water that surrounds or is interspersed through ye country. For there can be no Heat, but what comes from ye Sun; or what is subterraneous & owing to ye nature of ye Why we can not soil. The latter we must omit, as we know not ye constitution of ye expostulate on Earth, in those remote parts, & as we can not positively deny the Subtn Heat. Assertions concerning a Central Heat, nor determine ye Ratio of it, Causes of differ: tho' we were certain there was really such a thing. Considering then of heat in differ: the Solar heat alone, there are several different causes for a Variety of degrees of warmth in various climates and situations. The principal is Distance: In regard to which the Southern parts of ye Globe have certainly advantages & therefore should be warmer. But the Earth's Eccentricity. Mean Distance is found to be to its Eccentricity as 1000 to 169; so that its greatest distance can exceed ye least, but by 338. it being a Rule that ye Mean Distance & Eccentricity = Aphelion: and consequently ye difference of Heat as to Distance can not be so great, as not to be capable of change from ye other causes. This observation on the small difference between Heat & ye greatest Distance, Experience confirms, for the space of time, from ye Vernal to ye Autumnal Equinox, exceeds that from ye Autumnal to ye Vernal Why dist bodies by 8 days only. There is not a Scullion in Dublin, that does not see may have more the Truth of this. Every kitchen shews how much more Heat, a body receives by Reflection, or other means, than another, which though nearer receives only ye simple heat. And every hill and valley strengthens my argument, the Heights, tho' nearer the Sun, being colder, because the low grounds have warmth communicated from more than barely ye Sun. And that there are concurrent causes enough to make more than Amends for the Different Distance, will appear of on a view of ye other causes of Warmth. The Obliquity or direct Incidence of ye Rays, indeed, makes a mighty change. But as the Ye direction of ye Inclination favours one part, as much as another, we may go to the next. And accordingly I must observe that the vicissitudes of Day 3rd cause of difft & Night, Summer & Winter, begets a like succession of Warmth & Coolness & that each gathers strength & is augmented, in proportion as its time exceeds ye Duration of ye other. Thus we find Autumn though equally near to mid Summer, is yet warmer than ye Spring, and that because in ye height of Summer, the length of ye days so much surpasses that of ye nights, that Night cannot cool what ye day warmed, & to ye Remains of this Heat, the next day gives an addition. Thus what a few minutes can do, in four & twenty hours, that may 8 days produce in a year: and the Southern Winter being longer than ye Sum, there remains till the next Season, a heat. 2nd cause diff: heat. rays. Heat, continu ance. Place warm than Earth. slower to be warm. 4th Cause of part of its cold, which makes ye following Rigour, the severer. But difft heat. this a small assistance. The Nature of ye Place affords much more. Nature of ye Ye Northern Hemisphere has a Constitution more adapted to ye Augmentation of Heat. For as Heat and Light accompany each Water sooner other, where ye one penetrates, ye other will follow. Now, water is a medium that easily transmits light & which therefore heat can easily pervade. Here it may be objected, That if Heat goes so readily through Water, it can as readily leave it. But, consider, when ye Heat has reached ye Bottom, it is stopped there by ye Earth: & returns with ye reflected Light; fresh Heat all ye time pouring in Why Earth & augmenting ye first. Whereas the Resistance ye Earth makes, blunts ye sharpness of ye rays & ye Heat begins to decay, and not come so intense from ye Sun, before it has any effect, or penetrates. So that though Earth be fitter to retain Heat (which I doubt) yet it is not so fit to receive, & therefore ye succeeding cold will not only have little heat to destroy, but will render ye Resistance to ye next Heat ye greater, by continuing to affect ye Earth a longer time than ye Heat did. Nor let any one say that as water easily admits Heat so will it cold too, for if it did the great quantity of Heat, which first entered, must be destroyed, before cold can enter; & besides, cold Wt cold is. is nothing but absence of Heat; Heat, ye effect of actual matter Wt Heat. impinging; for 'tis ye Particles that fly off from fire, & strike ye body, that occasion Heat by their influence. So that Cold entering is an Absurdity, & shd be called a Decay of Heat, caused by ye want of fresh Particles from ye Sun & by those that did come from it, having wasted themselves & spent their force. And Again, we find Heat created by motion & friction, & that ye Axis of a Chariot in rapid speed will take fire, unless ye friction be destroyed, which is ye reason why coach-men grease their wheels; but nothing can prevent the Axis being very hot. When clouds clash we have lightening, & ye clouds are more unfit for retaining Heat than Water, because less Dense, nor are they more subject to Motion, than ye fluctuating deep. Why water Thus is water not only susceptable of Heat than ye Sun, but also able to beget some little quantity of it, by its Activity. In ye severest Season, ye springing well smoakes & is warm; the stagnant lake is frozen. But how small a portion of water is at rest. Rivers ever keep their courses to the Sea, while there's a drop to supply ye stream, & ye great Ocean never sleeps. So that Water is more easily warmed by ye Sun than Earth, retains Heat as long, very nearly, being very little, if at-all, less dense, (& I believe its compactness gives ye whole ye advantage over Earth, though a single particle be lighter) & begets Heat itself. Hence we may conclude that where most Water is, there ye greatest Heat will be, & therefore it is reasonable ye Northern part be warmer; because there the earth lies in less vast tracts; & if there be less water it is yet more interspersed, & so better able to communicate Heat to ye Land. But I have hopes that Posterity will be convinced that ye North has not so far less water by ye Discovery Friction creates Heat warmer than Earth. & Cold. the 5th cause of difft heat. The temper of the body may of more land in ye South. The Northern Oceans are very large, besides Seas, which are not taken so much notice of, because beset with Islands. But though there be less water in ye North, yet from its disposition and situation, it is more able to give warmth (as is said above) to ye land. Besides what it does, by ye warmth, that is Vapours in it, water still helps to warm ye land, by ye vapours it emits; which communicate Heat to ye air, being Bubbles of Water filled with rarified air, & thrown off by Heat & Motion: And, it is Heat that rarifies ye Air. But where ye Land lies in vast continents, ye vapours can be of use only to ye Coasts; which small benefit is thrown away, by ye cold winds, which blow from ye Land & by ye Tradeswinds, Wind. that sweep ye Shoar. Wind is a flood of air which must be set in Motion by Heat & Cold, ye one rarifying, ye other condensing ye Air & making it Heavy: and as air is a fluid, the lighter will yield to ye heavier, & so a flux be set in motion. Hence the chilling Eastern breezes, which England feels more than we, because more exposed to them, as nearer ye Continent: and thus it is, that such cold blasts Locke of Heat may be expected towards ye shoar from ye in-lands. Mr Locke very justly observes, that Hot & Cold are meerly Relative Terms which we bestow on things, according to ye temper & complexion of our bodies. Let any man plunge himself into ye Liffey, even in ye Hottest Summer-day; when Exercise or Wine has fermented his Blood; and he will perceive he can less bear it, than in a cooler day, when he is temperate & not in a Heat. The Hardy Plowman laughs at ye tender Beau, that shivers at ye Healthfull morning-air; and, persons not inured to Heat wonder how the labouring Smith can grip ye Hot Bar & bear ye fury of ye Furnace. Apply this to ye case Voyage to the before us. In ye beginning of ye Summer's warmth we embark for ye South; but, by ye time we get thither, we just overtake their Winter; & see his grisly locks as he leaves them. We land there when all ye Rigour of ye Season still remains; & ye Snow is still in heaps upon ye ground, & ye Inhabitants have retired to their woods & shelter. Because we see no people, we rashly pronounce it uninhabited; we feel ye Winter's pinch; & forgetting it is their Winter, when we have Summer here we fancy it is ever thus uncomfortable; & our stores not allowing us to wait for a more tolerable season, we come home crying out against ye Place. Oh he is a silly cur that attacks a Mastiff in his fury & frighted if he but snarls, runs yelping away. Besides though we should get there in ye height of their Summer, I fancy, after feeling ye air of ye torrid Zone, it would afford us but cold comfort. As to the Phenomena of Earth's Motion; I have made some mention of them already in ye other arguments. I hinted at ye length of ye Southern Winter, in the Aphelion; at ye Rigour of that Season there, which a short Summer could not soften: for 8 days excess of cold remaining every year, makes it some time before ye Sun can pierce into the Earth; and in a much more temperate country we find a long Summer has not force enough to make a clim: seem warmer or colder South. |