202 0N TKS MATERIALITY OF CALORIC; 



latent more caloric than'anoi&civ bccaufe it actuall 

 Jefs; as certain, cby.faks attract more water. from the atmbl* 

 phere than others containing much water of cryftaiiizaliou. 

 ngt probable. If lie commonly employed, mode of afcei tainm<* the.:lpetiflt 

 ric of bodies, is four.. lei, the;; art ailiimption, 



which is deficient in the character of a tfatu.m, and which ltfeif 

 requires proof. 

 Theorem for jf t h e f e objections be valid, they w£tt apply alfri to fhew the 



lute zero, falla- fallacy of (he theorem, for finding. the. abtolute zero of bodies. 

 cious. J3y this term foine p&lofophers; appear to ondertiand the point 



of abfolute privation of caloric, both free an<l combined. I 

 apprehend, however, that in if riefc. propriety it can only bc>nfed 

 to hgnify the negation of unconibinsd calorie, or, as Dr. Craw- 

 ford exprelTes hinafel'f, the point of abfolute cold. As applied, 

 however, to wafer, it is evident' that the whole quantity of 

 The method. heat is understood. In ascertaining the zero, fay •thefe calcu- 

 lators, the- capacity of ice to that of v.r.ier is as 9 to 10. It is 

 plai*i> therefore, that when water, freezes, it muft give out-j^th 

 of its whole heat, and thus 10i.li pert is found to anfwer to 146° 

 ef Fahrenheit. Consequently its whole iwat is 10 times 146, 

 or 1 460° ; and hence the natural zero is 1 4c>'0 *rf 32 or 1 428°. 

 Now of this eftimate it is a datum, that the capacities of ice 

 and water have prceifely the above ratio. But if the general 

 formula, for afoertaiiiing the Specific caloric of bodies, be 

 founded on erroneous principles, it cannot ferve. as the ground- 

 work of any fol id eonclu lions. 

 Arguments in- The materiality of caloric may, I apprehend, be maintained, 

 doftrme^therc- w * tnout admitting. that we have matte any Steps towards 

 fore prove no- mining- its quantify in bodies ; and the arguments of Comic 

 thing either way. K inn ford and Mr. Davy are not- deraOnirrative, becaule they- 

 affume, that this part of the doctrine of' caloric cannot be relin- 

 quitted', without abandoning it in t<yio. I may be permitted, 

 therefore, to flate my reatonsfor believing caloric to be matter; 

 which would have been unneeeljarv, had the contrary been 

 proved, with all tlie force of mathematical demoriftration. 

 That caloric is Avoiding all metaphyfical reaibning on the nature 6i' matter, 

 er * and atfuming the generally received definition, as iuflieiently 



characterizing it, I mall examine how. far this general charac- 

 becaufeitex- ter of matter' applies to the individual — caloric. Caloric oc- 

 '^therelbreoc iU P ,es fp ace or i- s extended, becaufe it enlarges tlve dimeniions 

 cupiesfpace, and of other bodies ; and, for the Same reaSon, it is impenetrable, 

 is impenetrable: fince 



