Page:Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat.djvu/79

Rh in the bodies employed to realize the motive power of heat there should not occur any change of temperature which may not be due to a change of volume. Reciprocally, every time that this condition is fulfilled the maximum will be attained. This principle should never be lost sight of in the construction of heat-engines; it is its fundamental basis. If it cannot be strictly observed, it should at least be departed from as little as possible.

Every change of temperature which is not due to a change of volume or to chemical action (an action that we provisionally suppose not to occur here) is necessarily due to the direct passage of the caloric from a more or less heated body to a colder body. This passage occurs mainly by the contact of bodies of different temperatures; hence such contact should be avoided as much as possible. It cannot probably be avoided entirely, but it should at least be so managed that the bodies brought in contact with each other differ as little as possible in temperature. When we just now supposed, in our demonstration, the caloric of the body A employed to form steam, this steam was considered as generated at the temperature of the body A; thus the contact took place only between bodies of equal temperatures; the change of temperature occurring afterwards in the steam was due to dilatation,