viii PUBLISHERS' NOTE. 



It has seemed to the Editor and to the Pub- 

 lishers that the product of the wonderful genius of 

 Carnot, the great foundation-stone of one of the 

 most marvellous and important of modern sciences, 

 the first statement of the grand though simple laws 

 of Thermodynamics, as illustrated in this one lit- 

 tle treatise, should be made accessible to all who 

 desire to study the work in English, and preserved, 

 so far as its publication in this form could ac- 

 complish it, as a permanent memorial, in a foreign 

 tongue, of such grand truths, and of such a great 

 genius as was their discoverer. It is with this 

 purpose that Publishers and Editor have co- 

 operated in this project. 



The book consists, as will be seen on inspection, 

 of the translation of Carnot's Reflexions sur la 

 Puissance Motrice du Feu, preceded by a notice 

 written by the Editor calling attention to its 

 remarkable features, and its extraordinary char- 

 acter as the product of a most remarkable genius ; 

 and by a biographical sketch of the great author, 

 written by his brother, Mons. Hyppolyte Carnot, 

 which sketch we find in the French copy of the 

 work as published by Gauthier-Villars, the latest 

 reproduction of the book in the original toDgue. 

 To the main portion of the book, Carnot's Re- 

 flexions, is appended the celebrated paper of Sir 



