XV.—<i>On the Dynamical Theory of Heat, with numerical results deduced from</i> Mr Joule's <i>Equivalent of a Thermal Unit, and</i> M. Regnault's <i>Observations on Steam</i>

Abstract

Sir Humphrey Davy, by his experiment of melting two pieces of ice by rubbing them together, established the following proposition:—“The phenomena of repulsion are not dependent on a peculiar elastic fluid for their existence, or caloric does not exist.” And he concludes that heat consists of a motion excited among the particles of bodies. “To distinguish this motion from others, and to signify the cause of our sensation of heat,” and of the expansion or expansive pressure produced in matter by heat, “the name repulsive motion has been adopted.”