on the Subject of Heat. 235 



ance of a book coming from England, and containing 

 a description of a number of experiments and discov- 

 eries in many respects not dissimilar to my own, could 

 not fail to create a certain feeling of surprise among the 

 philosophers of Paris, as I could plainly enough per- 

 ceive. I find myself, therefore, compelled, although 

 against my will, to explain as far as possible an occur- 

 rence which it is highly important for me should appear 

 in its true light. 



I am far from intending to assert that Mr. Leslie had 

 any knowledge of those experiments of mine which 

 bore a resemblance to those which he announced pub- 

 licly in print. It is, however, equally certain that I 

 did not know, and could not have known, the least 

 thing about his. It will not be difficult for me to prove 

 this. 



It might, perhaps, be just as easy for Mr. Leslie to 

 bring forward proofs that he knew absolutely nothing 

 about my experiments. This would be all the more 

 readily believed as he (in the course of certain remarks 

 made in a note with regard to the observations which 

 I offered in explanation of the propagation of heat in 

 liquids) speaks of me as of a man already dead* at the 

 time when he made these remarks. 



It is certain that we are perfect strangers to each 

 other, that we do not know each other even by sight, 

 and that we never had any sort of correspondence with 

 each other. 



As regards the priority of the public announcement of 

 our discoveries, this point can be easily made clear by 



tional Institute five different memoirs on this subject. They will probably be printed 

 in the " Memoires de 1'Institut." 



* See the thirty-ninth note at the end of his work, beginning with the following 

 words : " A late ingenious experimenter." 



