These variations of temperature really mean the source of all life and vegetation. In order that we human beings live the globe must revolve on its axis, and as the year grows on apace we receive the heat rays from another planet--the Sun--in different angles and positions and in the variations of temperature ranging from extreme heat to extreme cold.
From heat comes all power. When the latent forces of Nature were first set aflame by primitive man he touched the spring of civilization. Since that time fire has been working for human progress. It is one of the most powerful agents in the development of civilization.
Our rude ancestors long ago discovered its great utility, and they cudgeled their brains to aid the flame of fire and obtain a still fiercer heat. The bellows was the result--the wind pointed the way to this invention.
Then followed by slow degrees the acquirement of further knowledge concerning fire and its uses. Our forefathers learned the processes of melting and smelting--later were established various metallurgical operations.
The path was thus prepared for Tubal Cain and other artificers in metals. Man eventually became exceedingly skilled in applying heat forces in his many requirements in articles of brass, tin, zinc, steel, etc.
From an article by J. Gordon Ogden, Ph.D., in “Popular Mechanics,” September, 1910, we quote:
“Expansion is one of the most remarkable of the phenomena to be reckoned with in the natural world. Practically every bit of matter from the Great Brooklyn Bridge to the tiny hairspring in one’s watch is under its imperial domination. It is a tremendous force, and the world of mechanics has to treat it with the deference and respect due to its gigantic power. Unlike gravity, and other forces of nature, it is whimsical and takes sudden fits and starts, now acting one way, now another. It affects different bodies in different ways, and seems to be at variance with the time-honored forces whose action can be predicted under all circumstances. At least that is what it apparently does. In our meagre knowledge of the great underlying laws that control the universe it is possibly unwise to speak so unkindly of expansion, as though it were a spoiled child in need of correction; its behavior, however, is so contrary to what one might expect that one is at a loss to say anything else.
