Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow: 1864-1867, Volume 2The Society, 1867 |
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Common terms and phrases
abundant acid appearance arctic Ballagan boulder clay Campbeltown Campsie carbonate of lime Carboniferous Limestone Carluke cent character climate Clyde Coal Measures colour considerable containing Craigenglen CROSSKEY Crustacea Cythere Dalmuir denudation deposits depth district drift Entomostraca Estheria excavation exhibited feet felstone Foraminifera formation fossils fragments genus Geol Geological Society geologists glacial epoch Glasgow glen gneiss gold granite gravel greenstone heat hills igneous rocks inches ironstone James John Young Lanarkshire land Limest Lingula Linn lower M'Coy magnesia mass metamorphism mica mineral nodules numerous obliquity observed occur Old Red Sandstone overlying Paisley paper period peroxide of iron plates portion present quantity quarries quartz rare reefs river sand schist Scotland shale shell bed silica Silurian slate species specimens stone stream surface temperature thickness trap upper valley valves Vincent Street WALLACE YOUNG West of Scotland Windmillcroft WÜNSCH
Popular passages
Page 180 - We must only admit that we are face to face with a problem whose solution in all probability must be attempted and, we doubt not, completed by the astronomer.
Page 180 - This remarkable phenomenon," says Captain M'Clure, " opens a vast field for conjecture, and the imagination becomes bewildered in trying to realize that period of the world's history where the absence of ice and a milder climate allowed forest trees to grow in a region where now the ground-willow and dwarf-birch have to struggle for existence.
Page 185 - I came to the conclusion that the total quantity of water conveyed by the stream is probably equal to that of a stream 50 miles broad and 1000 feet deep,* flowing at the rate of four miles an hour, and that the mean temperature of the entire mass of moving water is not under 65° at the moment of leaving the Gulf.
Page 140 - ... normal temperature for the whole year is 35°. Our mean annual temperature is therefore 15° above the normal, and that of America from 5° to 12° below it. The American winters are excessively cold, owing to the continental character of the climate, and the absence of any benefit from the Gulf-stream, while the summers, which would otherwise be warm, are, in the latitude of Glasgow, cooled down to a great extent by the cold ice from Greenland ; and the consequence is, that the mean annual temperature...
Page 186 - It is stated as a general rule that, if the tracks of the rays follow an arithmetical progression, the diminished force with which the rays reach the ground will form a decreasing geometrical progression. But recent discoveries in regard to the absorption of radiant heat by gases and vapours prove that Tables computed on this principle must be wholly erroneous. The researches of Tyndall and Melloni show that, when a ray passes through any substance, the absorption is rapid at first, but the ray is...
Page 178 - We know," says Sir Charles Lyell, " that Greenland was not always covered with snow and ice ; for when we examine the tertiary strata of Disco Island, we discover there a multitude of fossil plants which demonstrate that, like many other parts of the arctic regions, it formerly enjoyed a mild and genial climate...
Page 186 - There is actually, therefore, nearly as much heat transferred from the tropical regions by the Gulf-stream as is received from the sun by the entire arctic regions ; the quantity conveyed by the stream to that received from the sun by those regions being as 15 to 18. But we have been assuming in our calculations that the percentage of heat absorbed by the atmosphere is no greater in polar regions than it is at the equator, which is not the case. If we make due allowance for the extra amount absorbed...
Page 185 - Consequently the total quantity of heat transferred from the equatorial regions per day by the stream amounts to 154,959,300,000,000,000,000 foot-pounds. From observations made by Sir John Herschel and by M. Pouillet on the direct heat of the sun, it is found that, were no heat absorbed by the atmosphere, about 83 foot-pounds per second would fall upon a square foot of surface placed at right angles to the sun's rays.f Mr.
Page 194 - The density of ice to that of water being taken at -92 to 1, it follows that 25 feet 6 inches of ice melted off the cap would raise the general level of the ocean one foot, and the one mile of ice melted off would raise the level 200 feet. This 200 feet of rise resulting from the melted ice we must add to the rise resulting from the displacement of the earth's centre of gravity. The removal of the two miles...
Page 235 - It has not yet attained anything like the abundance of the shad, nor was this to have been expected from the meagre plants, but there seems to be no reason to doubt that it is only a question of time when it will become one of the most prominent economic fishery products of the region as well as a favorite object of capture by sportsmen. The largest quantities of striped bass are taken for market in San Francisco Bay with seines and gill nets.