Spheroidal State of Bodies—Proof by Fire. 111 
to be inclosed in a crystal envelope ; in the second, it is the 
liquid metal which retires from the moist hand. Again, in 
the first, the metal is active, the water passive ; in the se- 
cond, on the contrary, the moist hand is active, and the 
melted metal passive. It is the same experiment reversed, 
and the two form only one; it is the reaction equal to the 
action ; it is, in short, one of the simplest of equations, namely, 
ab=ba. 
I do not speak here of putting a lighted candle into the 
mouth, and many other experiments of the same kind, which 
are childish feats, unworthy of the attention of the Academy. 
Thus, at an interval of ten years, it has been in my power 
to form ice in a furnace at a white heat, and to bathe my- 
self, with impunity, in red-hot melted metal, and that in 
virtue of the laws which regulate matter in the spheroidal 
state. 
Let individuals deny, if they please, the great importance 
that attaches to the thorough study of matter in the sphe- 
roidal state ; let them deny, if they choose, the part which 
this molecular state must necessary fulfil, sooner or later, in 
science ; of this I do not complain, it is only a question of 
time, and of the future; but this future, which belongs not 
to us, will perhaps judge with severity those of my country- 
men who suppress in the Memoirs des Savants étrangers, be- 
fore printing them in France, passages which are friendly 
to my favourite pursuits.* This is one of those actions which 
are sufficient to tarnish the lustre of the most brilliant scien- 
tific reputations. 
* See the Memoir which I had the honour to address to the Academy on the 
2d of last October (1848). 
It is M. Grove’s Memoir that is here treated of, entitled, “‘ On certain pheno- 
mena of Voltaic Ignition, and the Decomposition of Water into its Constituent 
Gases by Heat.” This memoir has been translated by M. Louyet, and the fol- 
lowing is the passage which has been struck out in France :—“ However, to re- 
turn to more important considerations, the spheroidal state, which has, of late, 
attracted the attention of philosophers, would appear to have thé most intimate 
connection with these phenomena, and, in consequence, the interest which at- 
taches to it is much increased.” (Bulletin du Musée de l’ Industrie Belge, 4th liv. 
1847.) 
