78 LATENT CALORIC OF WATER. 



This view of the subject is in accordance with 

 the hypothesis of Dulong and Petit, to be noticed 

 further on, who inferred from their experiments 

 that the atoms of all bodies contain equal quan- 

 tities of caloric. 



Still, we are left in the dark in regard to the 

 amount of caloric which is retained around the 

 atoms of oxygen and hydrogen, after their con- 

 densation into the liquid form the knowledge of 

 which would constitute a valuable addition to the 

 present stock of physical science.* 



When we consider the vast abundance and im- 

 portance of oxygen and hydrogen in the economy 

 of nature, it becomes obvious, that a correct mode 

 of ascertaining the relative quantities of caloric 

 which they contain, would throw new light on all 



abled to comprehend why those bodies which contain much of it, 

 are so highly volatile and combustible, as, the different aethers, 

 alcohol, volatile oils, tallow, wax, turpentine, bituminous coal, 

 and nearly all other light bodies. 



* If the volume of water were diminished in the same ratio at 

 all temperatures, by the abstraction of caloric, we might arrive at 

 a proximate estimate of the absolute quantity of caloric which it 

 contains. For example, it is known that water is diminished 

 about ^ of its volume on reducing its temperature 180, viz. 

 from 212 to 32. If then it be assumed that the pores of water 

 are 20 times greater than its solid atoms, (and Newton supposed 

 that they were double this estimate,) it would require the abstrac- 

 tion of 3,600, to deprive it of all its caloric, provided the volume 

 continued to diminish in the same ratio. But as it has been 

 found that below the freezing point of mercury, its volume con- 

 tracts in a greater ratio than at higher temperatures, it is pro- 

 bable that the same thing may be true of other bodies. 



