CALORIFICATION. 



being loosened from its confinement, it then 

 produces the various phenomena of sensation 

 and of illumination, of expansion and of com- 

 bustion. The former state is known by the 

 appellation of sensible heat, the latter of latent 

 heat. If the doctrine, however, of latent fire 

 were admitted (the term latent heat, as it mis- 

 takes the sensation for the body which excites 

 it, appears to me a most objectionable one,) 

 we should be driven to the absurdity of having 

 two different definitions for one and the same 

 substance. A definition of fire in a sensible, 

 and another in a latent state : we should in the 

 one, define fire to be a substance which excites 

 the sensation of heat or warmth in animated be- 

 ings in general, and produces expansion in com- 

 mon matter in particular ; in the other, ih&tjire 

 is a substance which neither excites sensation nor 

 expansion. This is both contradictory and ab- 

 surd. I shall, therefore, proceed to examine 

 the sources from whence fire, caloric, or sensi- 

 ble heat is derived, and the means by which 

 it is produced. 



If we search for the sources from whence fire 

 is derived, it will appear that it does not form 

 any part 'of the essential attributes belonging 

 either to the resistance of solid, or the mobili- 

 ty of liquid matter: neither are there any 

 grounds for supposing that the different rays of 

 light, which flow from the different parts of the 



