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210
The Fairy-Land of Science
·
Arabella B. Buckley
74
Let
us
for
a
moment
imagine
that
we
can
see
all
that
we
know
exists
between
us
and
the
sun.
First,
we
have
the
fine
ether
across
which
the
sunbeams
travel,
beating
down
upon
our
earth
with
immense
force,
so
that
in
the
sandy
desert
they
are
like
a
burning
fire.
Then
we
have
the
coarser
atmosphere
of
oxygen
and
nitrogen
atoms
hanging
in
this
ether,
and
bending
the
minute
sun-
waves
out
of
their
direct
path.
But
they
do
very
little
to
hinder
them
on
their
way,
and
this
is
why
in
very
dry
countries
the
sun's
heat
is
so
intense.
The
rays
beat
down
mercilessly,
and
nothing
opposes
them.
Lastly,
in
damp
countries
we
have
the
larger
but
still
invisible
particles
of
vapour
hanging
about
among
the
air-atoms.
Now,
these
watery
particles,
although
they
are
very
few
(only
about
one
twenty-fifth
part
of
the
whole
atmosphere),
do
hinder
the
sun-waves.
For
they
are
very
greedy
of
heat,
and
though
the
light-waves
pass
easily
through
them,
they
catch
the
heat-waves
and
use
them
to
help
themselves
to
expand.
And
so,
when
there
is
invisible
vapour
in
the
air,
the
sunbeams
come
to
us
deprived
of
some
of
their
heat-waves,
and
we
can
remain
in
the
sunshine
without
suffering
from
the
heat.
This
is
how
the
water-vapour
shields
us
by
day,
but
by
night
it
is
still
more
useful.
During
the
day
our
earth
and
the
air
near
it
have
been
storing
up
the
heat
which
has
been
poured
down
on
them,
and
at
night,
when
the
sun
goes
down,
all
this
heat
begins
to
escape
again.
Now,
if
there
were
no
vapour
in
the
air,
this
heat
would
rush
back
into
space
so
rapidly
that
the
ground
would
become
cold
and
frozen
even
on
a
summer's
night,
and
all
but
the
most
hardy
plants
would
die.
But
the
vapour
which
formed
a
veil
against
the
sun
in
the
day,
now
forms
a
still
more
powerful
veil
against
the
escape
of
the
heat
by
night.
It
shuts
in
the
heat-
waves,
and
only
allows
them
to
make
their
way
slowly
upwards
from
the
earth
-
thus
producing
for
us
the
soft,
balmy
nights
of
summer
and
preventing
all
life
being
destroyed
in
the
winter.
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