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CLAIMS OF JO0LE, GEOVE, AND MAXBE. XXIX

According to the strict rale of science, tliat in all those casea
(vliere esperimenta! proof is posabie, he who first supplies it ia the
ti-uo discoverer, Dr. Jonla mnst be assigned' the foremost place
among the modem iaveatigators of the subject. He dealt with the
whole question upon the basis of experiment. He labored with
great perseverance and skill to (letei-mlne the mechanical equivalent
of heat — the coraer-stoEO of the edifice ; and in aficomplishbg this
I esult in 1850, he may be said to liave matured the work of Eumford,
and finally establislied upon an experimental baas the great law of
thermo-dynamics, to remain a demonstration of science forever.
Professor Grove has also worked out the subject in his own in-
dependent way. Combining ori^al experimental in-resfigationa
of great aeutenesa, with the philosophic employment of the gen-
ei-al results of science, he was the first to give complete and system-
allo espresaon to the new views. Hia able wort, which opens
the present aeries, is an anthoritafive exposition, and an acknowl-
edged classic upon tlie Bubjeot.
