COUNT RUMFORD 165 



could really be present in this body ? But even this supposition would 

 be by no means sufficient for the explanation of the fact in question, as 

 I have shown by a decisive experiment that the capacity of the metal 

 for heat has not sensibly altered. 



Whence, then, came the caloric which the apparatus furnished in 

 such abundance ? 



I leave this question to be answered by those persons who believe 

 in the actual existence of caloric. 



In my opinion, I have made it sufficiently evident that it was im- 

 possible for it to come from the metallic bodies which were rubbed 

 together, and I am absolutely unable to imagine how it can have come 

 from any other object in the neighborhood of the apparatus, for all 

 these objects received their heat constantly from the apparatus itself. 



