Page:Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat.djvu/15



raison d'être of the following translation of the famous work of Carnot is not the usual one, either with the Publishers or the Editor—expectation of gain in either purse or fame. Neither could reasonably be anticipated from the reproduction of the work of an author of more than a half-century ago, in a field then unrecognized, and to-day familiar to but few; and especially when, as is in this case the fact, the work itself has been long out of date as a scientific authority, even had it ever held such a position. It could not be presumed that a very large proportion of even the men of science of the English-speaking world would be sufficiently familiar with the subject, or interested in its origin, to purchase such a relic of a primitive period as is this little book. Nor could the translation of the work, or the gathering together by the Editor of related matter, be supposed likely to be productive of any form of compensation. The book is published as matter of limited but most intense scientific interest, and on that score only. vii