1822.] on Mr. Herapath's Theory. 293 



arrogated to himself the Hberty, on the most trivial grounds, of 

 opposing that great philosopher ; and it must be no little grati- 

 fication to Mr. H. that while his discoveries fully confirm the 

 -views of that illustrious man, they have so stable and inde- 

 structible an authority as that of Bacon and Newton. But since 

 C. opposes Newton to Mr. H. I beg to ask him on what grounds 

 he does it? Is it on the doctrine of heat? If it be, he mu^t 

 e-xcuse me for publicly telling him that Newton's and Mr. \\.*a 

 views of the nature of heat coincide ; they both conceive heat 

 to consist in motion. Perhaps C. who takes great pains to 

 appear to know something of Newton's works, is not aware of 

 this. That he is, by his observations, unacquainted with it^ 

 though one of the commonest of Newton's ideas, is evident ; for 

 we can hardly bring ourselves to believe, if he knew it, that a 

 man so peaceably inclined as to commence a violent contro- 

 versy without cause or provocation, and moreover so modest as 

 to withhold his name from an attack as virulent as it is violent^ 

 could quarrel with Mr. H. for following one, whom he, C. does 

 indeed really profess to admire. 



Let us, however, examine C.'s objections to the theory of heat 

 by motion. He says if two bodies be placed in contact, the one 

 having larger particles than the other, that the temperature of 

 the body with the larger particles, though at first equal to the 

 other, will continually increase from the mere contact and une- 

 qual size of the particles. For, says C. *' it is evident that the 

 atoms of A " (the body having the smaller particles) " may 

 impinge upon the atoms of B, whether they be approaching A or 

 receding from it ; that is, the atoms of A having a greater velo- 

 city may either meet or overtake the atoms of B ; and the proba- 

 bilities will be nearly equal the one or the other." This I grant 

 is nearly correct ; but C. goes on ; " if one atom a, of the body 

 A, having a greater velocity than the atom h, of the body B, 

 overtake the slower atom, the atom a will lose some of its velo- 

 city which will be communicated to the atom h, and thence 

 among the other atoms of the body B. The communication of 

 motion from the atoms of A to the atoms of B will not be com- 

 pensated ; for the atoms of B having less velocity than the atoms 

 of A, loill never overtake them." Hence by this " Beautiful 

 reasoning ! Conclusive argument ! Invincible demonstration ! as 

 self-evident as that two and two make five " (C.'s own words), 

 he concludes, that " the temperature of the body B shall conti-^ 

 nuallij increase.'^ What becomes of the temperature of A, I do 

 not know ; C. has not told us ; but I suppose as " the tempera- 

 ture of B shall contimiaUy increase," that of A increases too. 

 Hence we have another source of heat we did not know of before. 

 It is only to put two bodies in contact wuth unequal particles, 

 and we shall have heat generated without the aid of friction or 

 percussion ; and without chemical, galvanic, or electric action. 

 And all this results, by C.'s mathematics, from a theory fathered 



