562 oN A NEW METHOD FOR ASCERTAINING 
When any body, capable of conducting the vol- 
taic electricity, is placed in the circuit of a battery, 
the quantity of heat evolved by it in a given time 
is proportional to its resistance to conduction and 
the square of the quantity of transmitted electri- 
city. Consequently, if a wire, traversed by a 
voltaic current, be made to communicate to any 
body the heat which it evolves, the capacity for 
heat of that body and the wire taken together, 
will le directly proportional to the square of the 
quantity of electricity transmitted in a given time, 
to the resistance of the wire, and to the time; 
and inversely proportional to the increase of tem- 
perature of the body. Hence we derive the 
general equation, 
where y is put for the capacity, c for the voltaic 
current, 7 for the resistance of the wire, ¢ for the 
time, and h for the increase of temperature. 
If we make the time and the resistance of the 
wire constant, the above equation becomes 
simplified to 
eeoeeereseesoeesereoee ee 
