And yet this book is not so cold as the table on which it lies, though both are at an equal distance from the fire, and actually in contact with each other, so that, according to your theory, they should be exactly of the same temperature.
CAROLINE.
And the hearth, which is much nearer the fire than the carpet, is certainly the colder of the two.
MRS. B.
If you ascertain the temperature of these several bodies by a thermometer (which is a much more accurate test than your feeling), you will find that it is exactly the same.
CAROLINE.
But if they are of the same temperature, why should the one feel colder than the other?
MRS. B.
The hearth and the table feel colder than the carpet or the book, because the latter are not such good conductors of heat as the former. Caloric finds a more easy passage through marble and wood, than through leather and worsted; the two former will therefore absorb heat more rapidly from your hand, and consequently give it a stronger sensation of cold than the two latter, although they are all of them really of the same temperature.
CAROLINE.