6 THE WORK OF SADI CARNOT. 



it has been thought wise to reproduce with the 

 translation of Carnot's book. In making the 

 translation, also, this later text has been -followed ; 

 and now, for the first time, so far as is known to 

 the writer, the work of Carnot is made accessible 

 to the reader in English. 



The original manuscript of Carnot has been de- 

 posited by his brother in the archives of the 

 French Academy of Sciences, and thus insured 

 perpetual care. The work of Carnot includes not 

 only the treatise which it is the principal object of 

 this translation to give to our readers, but also a 

 considerable amount of hitherto unpublished mat- 

 ter which has been printed by his brother, with 

 the new edition of the book, as illustrative of the 

 breadth and acuteness of the mind of the Founder 

 of the Science of Thermodynamics. 



These previously unpublished materials consist 

 of memoranda relating to the specific heats of 

 substances, their variations, and various other 

 facts and data, and principles as well ; some of 

 which are now recognized as essential elements of 

 the new science, even of its fundamental part. 

 The book is particularly rich in what have been 

 generally supposed to be the discoveries of later 

 writers, and in enunciations of principles now 

 tecognized as those forming the base and the sup- 



