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Light and Its Phenomena: Cold

The fundamental principles of all physical philosophy are correct conceptions of the construction of gas, of heat, and of the motions which produce the relative affections of bodies, neither of which is embraced by the scholastic philosophy. Cold is the mere absence of the motion of the atoms called heat, or the abstraction of it by the evaporation of atoms, so as to convey away the motion, or by the juxta-position of bodies susceptible of motion. Cold and heat are mere relations of fixity and motion in the atoms of bodies. Heat is repulsive, because it is the motion of atoms, and opposed to their rest or cohesion. Their motion demands space, and hence expansion. Heat is found in all bodies whose atoms can be moved, or excited by ) 346