I. PAGE THE WORK OF N.-L.-SADI CARNOT. _By the Editor_, 1
II. THE LIFE OF N.-L.-SADI CARNOT. _By Mons. H. Carnot_, 20
III. REFLECTIONS ON THE MOTIVE POWER OF HEAT AND ON MACHINES FITTED TO DEVELOP THAT POWER. _By Mons. N.-L.-Sadi Carnot_, 37
IV. ACCOUNT OF CARNOT’S THEORY. _By Sir William Thomson_ (_Lord Kelvin_), 127
APPENDIX. A. EXTRACTS FROM UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS OF CARNOT, 205 B. CARNOT’S FOOT-NOTES, 237 C. NOTE BY THE EDITOR, 261
PUBLISHERS’ NOTE.
The _raison d’être_ of the following translation of the famous work of Carnot is not the usual one, either with the Publishers or the Editor—expectation of gain in either purse or fame. Neither could reasonably be anticipated from the reproduction of the work of an author of more than a half-century ago, in a field then unrecognized, and to-day familiar to but few; and especially when, as is in this case the fact, the work itself has been long out of date as a scientific authority, even had it ever held such a position. It could not be presumed that a very large proportion of even the men of science of the English-speaking world would be sufficiently familiar with the subject, or interested in its origin, to purchase such a relic of a primitive period as is this little book. Nor could the translation of the work, or the gathering together by the Editor of related matter, be supposed likely to be productive of any form of compensation. The hook is published as matter of limited but most intense scientific interest, and on that score only.
It has seemed to the Editor and to the Publishers that the product of the wonderful genius of Carnot,—the great foundation-stone of one of the most marvellous and important of modern sciences, the first statement of the grand though simple laws of Thermodynamics,—as illustrated in this one little treatise, should be made accessible to all who desire to study the work in English, and preserved, so far as its publication in this form could accomplish it, as a permanent memorial, in a foreign tongue, of such grand truths, and of such a great genius as was their discoverer. It is with this purpose that Publishers and Editor have cooperated in this project.
The book consists, as will be seen on inspection, of the translation of Carnot’s _Réflexions sur la Puissance Motrice du Feu_, preceded by a notice written by the Editor calling attention to its remarkable features, and its extraordinary character as the product of a most remarkable genius; and by a biographical sketch of the great author, written by his brother, Mons. Hyppolyte Carnot, which sketch we find in the French copy of the work as published by Gauthier-Villars, the latest reproduction of the book in the original tongue. To the main portion of the book, Carnot’s _Réflexions_, is appended the celebrated paper of Sir William Thomson, his “Account of Carnot’s Theory,” in which that great physicist first points out to the world the treasure so long concealed, unnoticed, among the scientific literature, already mainly antiquated, of the first quarter of the nineteenth century. The distinguished writer of this paper has kindly interested himself in the scheme of the Editor, and has consented to its insertion as a natural and desirable commentary upon the older work, and especially as exhibiting the relations of the fundamental principles discovered and enunciated by Carnot to the modern view of the nature of thermodynamic phenomena—relations evidently understood by that writer, but not by the leaders of scientific thought of his time, and therefore ignored by him in the construction of his new science.
The Appendix contains a number of Carnot’s own notes, too long to be inserted in the body of the paper in its present form, and which have therefore been removed to their present location simply as a matter of convenience in bookmaking.
The dedication of the work to the grandnephew of the author, who by a singular coincidence happens to-day to occupy the highest position that any citizen can aspire to reach in that now prosperous Republic, will be recognized as in all respects appropriate by every reader of the work of the earlier Sadi Carnot who is familiar with the character, the history, the attainments, the achievements, of the later Sadi Carnot in so many and widely diverse fields. The Carnot talent and the Carnot character are equally observable in both men, widely as they are separated in time and in the nature of their professional labors. Both are great representatives of a noble family, whose honor and fame they have both splendidly upheld.
The Publishers offer this little book to its readers as a small, yet in one sense not unimportant, contribution to the great cause of modern science, as a relic, a memorial, a corner-stone.
