James Walker

“ POLARIZATION OF LIGHT. A stream of light coming directly from a natural source has no relation to space except that concerned in its direction of propagation, round which its properties are alike on all sides. ”

“ Let us assume, as is commonly the case, that the intrinsic energy of the initial system is greater than that of the final system. When the first system then is transformed into the second, the excess of energy which the former possesses must appear in the shape of heat, light, electrical energy, mechanical energy, &c. It is for the most part a simple matter to obtain the excess of energy entirely in the form of heat, the amount of which is easily susceptible of measurement, and thus the existence of thermochemistry as a practical science is rendered possible. ”

“ Of such loyalty, of such patriotism, there never has been much in this country, and there never will be. The loyal and patriotic States have risen up as one man to maintain the government, because the government represents the great ideas of order and liberty. It is not an excitement of irritation merely, or of wounded vanity, or of a selfish and discomfited ambition. ”

“ The lateral characteristics of a polarized stream lead at once to the conclusion that the stream may be represented by a vector, and since this vector must indicate the direction in which the light travels as well as the plane of polarization, it is natural to infer that it is transverse to the direction of propagation. That this is actually the case is proved by experiments on the interference of polarized light, from which it may be deduced that the polarization-vector of a train of plane waves of plane polarized light executes rectilinear vibrations in the plane of the waves. ”

“ Since the heat of combustion of a hydrocarbon is equal to the heat of combustion of the carbon and hydrogen it contains minus its heat of formation, those hydrocarbons with positive heat of formation generate less heat on burning than the elements from which they were formed, whilst those with a negative heat of formation generate more. ”

“ Hence also our confidence in it,—not as an excitement merely, which a day has made, and a day may unmake, but as an expression of character.
Let us, however, be just to the excitement itself, considered as the sudden and spontaneous uprising of a whole community to sustain the government. We need [5] demonstrations of this kind, from time to time, to reassure us that all men have souls. It is worth a great deal merely as an experiment, on a large scale, to prove that the moral and social instincts are as much a part of human nature as the selfish instincts. ”

“ The path of the extremity of the vector is then in general an ellipse, traversed in a right-handed direction to an observer receiving the light when α−β is between 0 and π, or between −π and −2π, and in a left-handed direction if this angle be between π and 2π, or between 0 and −π. In conformity with the form of the path, the light is said to be elliptically polarized, right- or left-handedly as the case may be, and the axes of the elliptic path are determined by the planes of maximum and minimum polarization of the light. ”

“ Hess, from his work, arrived at the converse conclusion, that when a series of bases were used to neutralize a given amount of an acid, the heat of neutralization was always the same. Both of these statements are correct when the powerful mineral acid and bases are considered, exceptions only arising when weak acids and bases are employed. Again, Andrews discovered that when one metal displaces another from solution of its salts (e.g. zinc with solutions of copper salts) , the thermal effect is practically independent of the nature of the acid radical in the salt employed. ”

“ The sacrifices which the country asks for in time of war are those of property, labor, and life; and she does not ask in vain.
We are continually reminded that this rebellion has taken place at a moment of great national prosperity, to blast it all. The sacrifices of property, in a thousand ways, must be immense; every man, however, from his diminished fortune, is "ready to distribute," and [8] "not grudgingly or of necessity." His public spirit makes him love to give. I doubt whether it is common for rich men to think any better of themselves merely because they are rich ”

“ The polarization of the light transmitted by the pile is never complete, but tends to become more nearly so as the number of the plates is increased and at the same time the angle of incidence for which the polarization is a maximum approaches indefinitely the polarizing angle (Sir G. G. Stokes, Math. and Phys. Papers, iv 145) .
In order to isolate a polarized pencil of rays with a rhomb of Iceland spar, it is necessary to have a crystal of such a thickness that the emergent streams are separated, so that one may be stopped by a screen. ”

“ From the standpoint of the law of conservation of energy, the relation between chemical and thermochemical action bears the following aspect:—A given amount of any substance under given conditions possesses a perfectly definite amount of intrinsic energy, and, no matter what chemical and physical transformations the substance may undergo, it will, when it returns to its original state, possess the original amount of intrinsic energy. ”

“ There is a natural jealousy of wealth, especially when it takes the form of a passion for accumulation, which demagogues and fanatics know how to use for bad ends. One of the incidental benefits resulting from a great national struggle is, that all these social misunderstandings and heart-burnings are suspended, are healed. The people see and feel and acknowledge that a real title to nobility is found, not in wealth itself, but in wealth generously and nobly bestowed.
Others are manifesting their public spirit by sacrifices of time and labor. ”

“ As has already been stated, the heat of formation of 3. compound is the amount (expressed in thermal units) by which its intrinsic energy exceeds or falls short of that of the elements which enter into its composition. Now of the absolute values of intrinsic energy we know nothing; we can only estimate differences of intrinsic energy when one system is compared with another into which it may be directly or indirectly converted. But since the elements cannot be converted one into the other, we are absolutely without knowledge of the relative values of their intrinsic energy. ”

“ In every soul that lives there is an untold amount of latent energy and public spirit which only waits for the occasion to call it forth. Read the history of the Netherlands,—a people made up, for the most part, of merchants and manufacturers, of traders and artisans, growing rich and apparently thinking of little else. ”

“ There are many things in the present aspect of our public affairs to fill us with regret and anxiety, but a gleam of light shines through the cloud. Every man and woman and child will be moved to act more unselfishly, more nobly; life will cost more, but it will also be worth more. ”

“ If we consider now the transformation of one system of chemical substances into another system under specified conditions, we shall find that in general the intrinsic energy of the second system is different from the intrinsic energy of the first. ”

“ How often are we to be told that our present troubles are sent upon us in order to lift the whole community out of the mire of money-getting propensities, where every thing like public spirit was in danger of being swallowed up and lost? ”

“ It is only, however, when we deal with comparatively concentrated solutions that the heat-effectof diluting the solutions is at all great, the heat change on diluting an already dilute solution being for most practical purposes negligible. In dealing, therefore, with dilute solutions, it is only necessary to state that the solutions are dilute, the exact degree of dilution being unimportant. It occasionally happens that a change in dilution affects the chemical action that occurs. ”

“ Do these men think that by altering their opinion of right they can alter the nature of things, or make wrong come out right in the great and solemn issues which are before us? We stand where their own great men stood in the best days of the republic. As regards the leading rights and interests at stake, our consciences are but the echo of the conscience of the Christian world. The fathers of the Revolution, one and all, are looking down with sorrow and indignation on this attempt to break up and destroy their work. ”

“ Since the intrinsic energy of a substance varies with the conditions under which the substance exists, it is necessary, before proceeding to the practical application of any of the laws mentioned above, accurately to specify the conditions of the initial and final systems, or at least to secure that they shall not vary in the operations considered. ”

“ To the student of history it is no new thing that a whole community should be given over "to believe a lie,"—not the less mad, because all mad together. The process by which this state of things is brought about is always substantially the same. Egotism, vanity, disappointed ambition, sectional jealousies, a real or supposed interest or expediency induce them to wish that a wrong course were the right one. They try to convince themselves that it is so, and all such efforts to sophisticate the conscience, if persisted in, are punished by entire success. ”

“ The beginnings of modern thermochemistry, though made independently of the doctrine of the conservation of energy, are practically contemporaneous with the recognition of that law, and without it the science could scarcely have reached the degree of development which it rapidly attained. ”

“ A blow is struck at the free institutions which they had inherited from their ancestors; immediately a new spirit reveals itself, and all Europe rings with the story of their heroic daring and suffering. ”

“ Our people have no love for fighting, as a pastime; let it, however, become a serious business, and they will show that their veins are full of the blood that flowed so freely in other days.
These are some of the ways in which a people may manifest their public spirit, and in which our people are manifesting it now. "With such sacrifices God is well pleased." ”

“ Human nature, if it has fair play, will never lead a single individual to think less of a privilege or blessing, merely because it has cost more. When has religion interested men the most, and the most generally? Precisely at those times when men were religious at the greatest sacrifices. Indeed, it is on this principle that we explain the decay of a proper love of country among us for the last twenty or thirty years ”

“ Not a little of what passes for loyalty or patriotism in other countries is blind impulse, growing out of mere attachment to the soil, or the power of custom, or a helpless feeling of dependence on things as they are. ”

“ The necessity for making sacrifices would seem to be founded in this: as we cannot have every thing, we must be willing to sacrifice some things in order to obtain or secure others. Wicked men recognize and act upon this principle. Can you not recall more than one person in your own circle of acquaintances who is sacrificing his health, his good name, his domestic comfort, to vicious indulgences? ”

“ Thus the stop to be put to war is to be expected, not so much by chaining down those irrepressible instincts which lead men to resist wrong, as by eradicating the disposition to do wrong. Wars will cease when all men are Christians, and perfect Christians ”

“ In times of ease, and abundance, and tranquillity, the public takes care of itself. There are few sacrifices on the part of individuals for the public good, because there are few occasions for such sacrifices. ”

“ It is extremely difficult to do justice to this human nature of ours,—capable at once of such mean and little things, of such noble and great things. There is, however, one distinction which all, I suppose, will accord to it: I mean its tendency to rise up and meet great emergencies. ”

“ But there can be no doubt as to the end. A struggle has been forced upon us by a doomed people, if the laws of nature do not fail, if there is any meaning in the moral sentiments of mankind, or any justice in heaven. ”

“ By striking at the principles of all constitutional and free government, and this too avowedly for the purpose of founding society on the servitude of an inferior race, on whose toil the more favored races are to live, they have put themselves in opposition to the settled convictions and the moral sense of good men all over the world. ”