BENJAMIN THOMPSON, COUNT RUMFORD 27 



Because the occupations and experiences of Count Rumford's 

 life were remarkably varied, and his mind was incessantly engaged 

 in philosophic thought concerning them, his name is found among 

 the founders of an astonishingly large number of branches of 

 pure applied science. No one can write the history of the develop- 

 ment of our knowledge of heat, light, radiation, convection, cohe- 

 sion, ballistics, cooking, fireplaces, buildings, clothing, traction, 

 bathing, hospitals, barracks, glaciers, meteorology, conservation of 

 energy, gravitation, theory of colors, or lamps, without mention- 

 ing Count Rumford. 



The popularity which Count Rumford's essays obtained was 

 in part due to their literary style. They are clear, logical and 

 direct, although in places too rhetorical for modern taste. He is 

 careful to give the exact figures and observations on which he 

 bases his conclusions, so his results can be checked and recalcu- 

 lated by using the more accurate figures that have been obtained 

 since. 



A good experiment accurately described never loses its value 

 by lapse of time. Count Rumford's own opinion as to the im- 

 portance of literary style in scientific work is given in these words: 



"Too much pains cannot be taken by those who write books 

 to render their ideas clear, and their language concise and easy 

 to be understood. Hours spent by an author in saving minutes 

 and even seconds to his readers, is time well employed." 



Count Rumford could have found no situation better suited to 

 his talents and tastes than this in Bavaria. Here he could play 

 his favorite role of benevolent despot to his heart's content. The 

 army was corrupt and inefficient; the country was poor, wasted 

 by war and neglect, the cities swarmed with beggars; schools were 

 lacking; there were more convents than factories, and industry 

 was not in high repute. It is remarkable that so bigoted a ruler 

 as the Elector Karl Theodor should have placed such confidence 

 and power in the hands of an avowed Protestant and a scien- 

 tist, and that so conservative a community should have allowed a 

 foreigner to carry out radical reforms requiring the cooperation 



