484 Life of Count Rumford. 



sharply charge upon Rumford that he has assumed an 

 original discovery which does not belong to him, and 

 that he plagiarized from Leslie. Rumford had at the 

 time a bitter controversy with Leslie, and it is alto- 

 gether probable that the latter was the source of the 

 imputation against Rumford of making an unacknowl- 

 edged use of his thoughts and apparatus. 



The records of scientific research, experiment, and 

 discovery do not contain any more lucid or creditable 

 communication in the higher interests of philosophy 

 than that which is so admirably set forth in this last- 

 mentioned essay of Count Rumford. It secures to him 

 an honorable distinction and fame as a prime and emi- 

 nently successful guide in that new path of experimental 

 philosophy which has developed the principles of the 

 mutual relation and the indestructibility of forces. Pro- 

 fessor Tyndall, in his work on Heat, has but moder- 

 ately recognized the claims and merit of Rumford when, 

 after largely quoting from his Essay, he adds: "When 

 the history of the dynamical theory of heat is written, 

 the man who in opposition to the scientific belief of his 

 time could experiment and reason upon experiment, as 

 did Rumford in the investigation here referred to, can- 

 not be lightly passed over." 



The most appreciative recent estimate of Count Rum- 

 ford's actual experimental discoveries and philosophical 

 genius is that made by Edward L. Youmans, M. D., 

 in his compilation of essays on The Correlation and 

 Conservation of Forces : A Series of Expositions, by 

 Professor Grove, Professor Helmholtz, Dr. Mayer, 

 Dr. Faraday, Professor Liebig, and Dr. Carpenter.* 

 The editor and commentator upon some of the essays 



* New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1865. 



' 



