Page:Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat.djvu/26

4 of bodies, not a substance, and that it is identical, in its nature, with other forms of recognizable energy, as, for example, mechanical energy. A quarter of a century before Carnot wrote, the experiments of Rumford and of Davy had been crucial in the settlement of the question and in the proof of the correctness of the second of the two opposing parties; but their work had not become so generally known or so fully accepted as to be acknowledged as representative of the right views of the subject. The prevalent opinion, following Newton, was favorable to the first hypothesis; and it was in deference to this opinion that Carnot based his work on an inaccurate hypothesis; though, fortunately, the fact did not seriously militate against its value or his credit and fame.

“With true philosophical caution, he avoids committing himself to this hypothesis; how work is produced from heat.”

The results of Carnot's reasoning are, fortunately, mainly independent of any hypothesis as to the nature of heat or the method or mechanism of development and transfer or transformation of its energy. Carnot was in error in assuming no