7 



produced." I believe I was the first to prove this as a general propo- 

 sition, and, by so doing, laid the foundation of almost all the thermo- 

 chemical researches since carried on ; for, as far as I am aware, no 

 process which took decomposition into account was used before my 

 paper was published. 



In a paper read to the British Association at Belfast, and pub- 

 lished in the Philosophical Magazine for November 1852, I proved 

 that the intensity of chemical affinity might be measured by the 

 quantity of heat produced by the combination. 



As regards the first of these papers, Mr. Joule published in the 

 Philosophical Magazine for June 1852, a memoir proving exactly 

 the same proposition, but giving me the merit of priority in a pre- 

 liminary remark. It is, however, singular that Favre and Silber- 

 mann bring forward hi 1853 (Annales de Chimie et Physique, 

 vol. xxxvii. p. 507) the very same experiments to prove the same 

 fact, and give it as their own. 



As regards the second paper. In six months after its publication, 

 Messrs. Favre and Silbermann (Annales de Chimie et Physique, 

 vol. xxxvii. p. 484) prove the Same truth with the same experi- 

 ments, using exactly the same metals, and give their memoir as 

 producing an original idea. 



I notice these coincidences here as being remarkable, and because 

 the propositions contained in the paper referred to are the ground- 

 work of the present experiments, and also with a view to prevent 

 an unconscious repetition on the part of Messrs. Favre and Silbcr- 



