XXX INTRODUCTION. 



prime applications in advance of any other thinker, but he has 

 done his work under circumstances and in a manner which awa 

 kens the highest admiration for his genius.* 



An eminent authority has remarked that tl ese discoveries open 

 a region which promises possessions richer than any hitherto 

 granted to the intellect of man. Involving as they do a revolution 

 pf fundamental ideas, their consequences must he as comprehen 

 sive as the range of human thought. A principle has been devel 

 oped of all-pervading application, which brings the diverse and 

 distant branches of knowledge into more intimate and harmonious 

 alliance, and affords a profounder insight into the universal order. 

 Not only is science itself deeply affected by the presentation of its 

 questions, in new and suggestive lights, but its method is at once 

 made universal. There is a crude notion in many minds, that it i s 

 the business of science to occupy itself merely with the study of 

 matter. When, hitherto, it has pressed its inquiries into the higher 



* Prof. Tyndall remarks: &quot;Mayer probably had not the means of making experi 

 ments himself, but he ransacked the records of experimental science for his data, and 

 thus conferred upon his writings a strength which mere speculation can never possess. 

 From the extracts which I have given, the reader may infer his strong desire for quan 

 titative accuracy, the clearness of his insight, and the firmness of his grasp. I : 

 ing the recognition which will be ultimately accorded to Dr. Mayer, a shade of trouble 

 or doubt has never crossed my mind. Individuals may seek to pull him down, but 

 their efforts will be unavailing as long as such evidence of hia genius exists, and us 

 long as the general mind of humanity is influenced by considerations of justice; and 

 truth. 



&quot; The paucity of facts in Mayer s time has been urged as if it were a reproach to 

 him; but it ought to be remembered that the quantity of fact necessary to a generaliza 

 tion is different for different minds. A word to the wise is sufficient for them, 1 and 

 a single fact in some minds bears fruit that a hundred cannot produce in others. 

 Mayer s data were comparatively scanty, but his genius went for to supply the lack of 

 experiment, by enabling him to see clearly the bearing of such facts as he possessed. 

 They enabled him to think out the law of conservation, and his conclusions received 

 the stamp of certainty from the subsequent experimental labors of Mr. Joule. In ref 

 erence to their comparative merits, I would say that as Reer and Generalizcr, Mayer, 

 In my opinion, stands first as experimental philosopher &amp;gt; Joule. 1 



