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[Illustration: EFFECT of HEAT.

Frontispiece.]


CURIOSITIES OF HEAT.

by

REV. LYMAN B. TEFFT.







Philadelphia:
The Bible and Publication Society,
530 Arch Street.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by
The Bible and Publication Society,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

Westcott & Thomson,
Stereotypers, Philada.




CONTENTS.


                                              PAGE

  CHAPTER I.

    MR. WILTON'S BIBLE CLASS                     7

  CHAPTER II.

    NEW THOUGHTS FOR THE SCHOLARS               26

  CHAPTER III.

    A DIFFICULT QUESTION                        58

  CHAPTER IV.

    HEAT A GIFT OF GOD                          83

  CHAPTER V.

    CONVEYANCE AND VARIETIES OF HEAT           100

  CHAPTER VI.

    MANAGEMENT AND SOURCES OF HEAT             120

  CHAPTER VII.

    PRESERVATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF HEAT      152

  CHAPTER VIII.

    MODIFICATION OF TEMPERATURE                176

  CHAPTER IX.

    THE MINISTRY OF SUFFERING                  190

  CHAPTER X.

    TRANSPORTATION OF HEAT                     213

  CHAPTER XI.

    AN EFFECTIVE SERMON                        233

  CHAPTER XII.

    TRANSFER OF HEAT IN SPACE                  254

  CHAPTER XIII.

    OCEAN CURRENTS AND ICEBERGS                272

  CHAPTER XIV.

    COMBUSTION.--COAL-BEDS                     292

  CHAPTER XV.

    ECONOMY OF HEAT                            305

  CHAPTER XVI.

    A DAY OF JOY AND GLADNESS                  320




CURIOSITIES OF HEAT.




CHAPTER I.

MR. WILTON'S BIBLE CLASS.


"The book of Nature is my Bible. I agree with old Cicero: I count Nature
the best guide, and follow her as if she were a god, and wish for no
other."

These were the words of Mr. Hume, an infidel, spoken in the village store.
It was Monday evening. By some strange freak, or led by a divine impulse,
he had determined, the previous Sunday afternoon, to go to church and hear
what the minister had to say. So the Christian people were all surprised
to see Mr. Hume walk into their assembly--a thing which had not been seen
before in a twelvemonth. Mr. Hume did not shun the church from a dislike
of the minister. He believed Mr. Wilton to be a good man, and he knew him
to be kind and earnest, well instructed in every kind of knowledge and
mighty in the Scriptures. He kept aloof because he hated the Bible. He had
been instructed in the Scriptures when a boy, and many Bible truths still
clung to his memory which he would have been glad to banish. He could not
forget those stirring words which have come down to us from the Lord
Jesus, and from prophets and apostles, and they sorely troubled his
conscience. He counted the Bible an enemy, and determined that he would
not believe it.

At that time there was an increasing religious interest in the church. Mr.
Wilton had seen many an eye grow tearful as he unfolded the love of Christ
and urged upon his hearers the claims of the exalted Redeemer. He found an
increasing readiness to listen when he talked with the young people of his
congregation. The prayer-meetings were filling up, and becoming more
interesting and solemn. The impenitent dropped in to these meetings more
frequently than was their wont. Mr. Wilton himself felt the power of
Christ coming upon him and girding him as if for some great spiritual
conflict. His heart was filled with an unspeakable yearning to see
sinners converted and Christ glorified. He seemed to himself to work
without fatigue. His sermons came to him as if by inspiration of the Holy
Spirit. He felt a new sense of his call from God to preach the gospel to
men, and spoke as an ambassador of Christ, praying men tenderly,
persuadingly, to be reconciled to God, yet as one that has