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fact, the work itself has been long out of date as a scientific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.