Page:A Letter on the Subject of the Cause (1797).djvu/24

 the effect, and not to the act of generation; as whenever the degree of heat is exceeded which keeps water in its denſe ſtate, it inſtantly becomes ſteam; and when the ſteam is reduced by any colder body, it then as inſtantaneouſly becomes water. This is the doctrine of my experiments, and of every ſcientific man. And I will venture to affirm, that were it poſſible to communicate to all the water in the univerſe an evaporating degree of heat at the fame inſtant of time, that it would explode into ſteam, much quicker than gunpowder, or any known denſe fluid capable of expanſion into vapour: if, therefore, the inventor knew any thing contrary to this opinion, ſo long and well eſtabliſhed, he ſhould have declared it in an explicit manner.

Now, my Lord, what ſurpaſſes and crowns the whole comes under the head:

. In this clauſe there appears, to my mind, the moſt miſchievous uncertainty, (ſome perhaps might even term it the moſt dangerous fraud) that ever formed a part of any inſtrument intended for a public guide; and I will preſume to ſay, that, had a Patent been granted, under ſuch a Specification, in either the ſciences of Chemiſtry or Pharmacy, great