Copy 1, Volume 1

Cosmos, a sketch of a physical description of the universe / By Alexander von Humboldt ; translated from the German, by E.C. Otté [B.H. Paul and W.S. Dallas].

  • Humboldt, Alexander von, 1769-1859.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cosmos, a sketch of a physical description of the universe / By Alexander von Humboldt ; translated from the German, by E.C. Otté [B.H. Paul and W.S. Dallas]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    422/462 (page 14)
    Plato, on the heavenly bodies, &c., 51; interpretation of nature, 154; his geognostic views on hot springs, and volcanic igneous streams, 235, 236. Pliny, the elder, his Natural History, 55; on comets, 89; aérolites, 109, 110,118; magnetism, 173; attrac- tion of amber, 182; on earthquakes, 201, 202; on the flame of inflam- mable gas, in the district of Pha- selis, 220; rarity of jasper, 262; on the configuration of Africa, 296. Pliny, the younger, his description of the great eruption of Mount Vesu- vius, and the phenomenon of vol- canic ashes, 233. Plutarch, truth of his conjecture that falling stars are celestial bodies, 122. Poisson, on the vlanet Jupiter, 46; conjecture on the spontaneous igni- tion of meteoric stones, 104, 105; Zodiacal light, 130; theory on the earth's temperature, 165,166, 169. Polarization, chromatic, results of its discovery, 33; experiments on the light of comets, 90, 91. Polybius, 295. stones, 102, Pouillet, on the actuai source of at- mospheric electricity, 343. Prejudices against science, how ori- ginated, 17; against the study of the exact sciences, why fallacious, 20, 33. Prichard, his physical history of Man kind, 362. Pseudo-Plato, 35. Psychrometer, 340, 347. Pythagoras, first employed the word Cosmos in its modern sense, 5]. Pythagoreans, their study of the hea venly bodies, 47; doctrine on co- mets, 88, 89. Quarterly Review, article on Terres- trial Magnetism, 186, Quetelet, on aérolites, 100; their pe- riodic return in Angust, 113. Races, human, their geographical dis- ‘tribution, and unity, 360—369. Rain drops, temperature of, 217; mean annual quantity in the two hemi- spheres, 342, 343. Reich, mean density of the earth, as ascertained by the torsion balance, 162; temperature of the mines in Saxony, 166. Reisch, Gregory, his ‘ Margarita Phi- losophica,’ 39. Rémusat, Abel, Mongolian tradition on the fall of an aérolite, 103; active voleanoes in Central Asia, at great distances from the sea, 244. Richardson, magnetic phenomena at- tending the Aurora, 191 whether accompanied by sound, 194; in- fluence on the magnetic needle of the Aurora, 195, 196. Riobamba, earthquake at, 199, 201, 208, 209, 211. Ritter, Carl, his ‘Geography in rela- tion to Nature and the History of Man, 28, 49. Robert, Eugene, on the ancient sea line, on the coast of Spitzbergen, 300. Robertson, on the permanency of the compass in Jamaica, 174. Rocks, their nature and configuration, 225, 226; geognostical classification into four groups, 247—251; i. rocks of eruption, 247, 251—254; ii. sedi- mentary rocks, 247, 248, 254, 255; iii. transformed, or, metamorphic rocks, 248, 256,—270; iiii. conglomerates, or rocks of detritus, 270 —272; their changes from the action of heat, 259, 260; phenomena of contact, 259— 269; effects of pressure and the ra- pidity of cooling, 259, 268. Rose, Gustave, on the chemical ele- ments, &c. of various aérolites, 119; on the structural relations of vol- canic rocks, 233; on crystals of feld- spar and albite found in granite, 251; relations of position in which gra- nite occurs, 252—270; chemical process in, the formation of various minerals, 267—270. Ross, Sir James, his soundings with 27,600 feet of line, 151; magnetic observations at the South Pole, 181; important results of the Antarctic magnetic expedition in ]839, 186; rarity of electric explosions in high northern regions, 345.