Preface. v 



In beginning the work, the first care of the committee was 

 to prepare a complete list of Count Rumford's publications so 

 far as known to them, and to distribute this list to the various 

 learned societies with which the Academy was in correspond- 

 ence, accompanied by a request for aid in correcting and com- 

 pleting the catalogue. The labor of collecting and collating 

 the numerous publications of Count Rumford devolved chiefly 

 on Professor JOSEPH WINLOCK, who succeeded Professor Lov- 

 ering as chairman of the committee ; and under his immediate 

 supervision the first catalogue was made, the general arrange- 

 ment of the work determined, and the first volume printed. 

 The catalogue, as subsequently amended, will be found at the 

 close of this volume ; and opposite to each title are given the 

 volume and page of the Academy's edition of Rumford's 

 Works, where the same paper, or the substance of the 

 paper, has been reprinted. The Rumford Committee have 

 spared no pains to make the edition complete in every detail, 

 hoping that it might be accepted by scholars as a worthy 

 memorial of the great services which Count Rumford rendered 

 to mankind both in science and in philanthropy. They have 

 sought, however, to avoid needless repetition ; and where, as 

 was the case in several instances, the same matter appeared 

 in different publications, and even under a changed title, they 

 have only reproduced those parts which seemed to be the 

 more mature or the more complete. The selection, however, 

 has not always been without difficulty, owing to the circum- 

 stance that Count Rumford published his papers in three 

 different languages, and those originally published in one 

 were generally subsequently translated into the other two, 

 not unfrequently with emendations and additions by the 

 Count himself. Hence it has sometimes been necessary in 

 carrying out the proposed plan to reproduce different portions 

 of the same paper from versions in different languages, but 

 in every case the sources have been indicated, and, other things 

 being equal, preference has always been given to the English 

 version ; for, although so long a resident both at Munich and 

 at Paris, Count Rumford always wrote in English with greater 



