Excerpt from Journal of the Franklin Institute, Vol. 183: Devoted to Science and the Mechanic Arts; January June, 1917 Now since we have investigated such a relatively small part of the whole subject - matter, it is hardly surprising that we Should have been unable to detect many thorough-going regularities in the properties of matter; because to discover such regularities it is Obviously necessary to make our Observations at some kind of corresponding temperatures and pressures - at equal fractions of the critical constants, or whatever may prove to be the correspond ing conditions. In any oase it is unsafe to assume that ordinary temperature and pressure are anything but arbitrary conditions for comparison. Consequently, to take an example, it is um reasonable to expect that what is known as the law of Dulong and Petit - namely, that the product of specific heat as ordinarily Ob tained and atomic weight of the elements in constant - should hold for all the elements; indeed, it is surprising that this law holds so well as it does. And, indeed, there is now no question that ex tended investigation in this sense will increase greatly the scope and utility of chemical generalizations. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.