The mean rate of transmission, multiplied by the area of heating surface, gives the area of the shaded portion of the figure, which is the total work which should have been done, that is to say, the work of evaporating 544 lb. of water per hour. The actual work done, however, was only 485 lb. To give the speculations we have indulged in a practical turn, it will be necessary to examine in detail the terms of Carnot's formula. Carnot labored under great disadvantages. He adhered to the emission theory of heat; he was unacquainted with its dynamic equivalent; he did not know the reason of the difference between the specific heat of air at constant pressure and at constant volume, the idea of an absolute zero of temperature had not been broached; but the genius of the man, while it made him lament the want of knowledge which he felt must be attainable, also enabled him to penetrate the gloom by which he was surrounded, and enunciate propositions respecting the theory of heat engines, which the knowledge we now possess enables us to admit as true. His propositions are: 1. The motive power of heat is independent of the agents employed to develop it, and its quantity is determined solely by the temperature of the bodies between which the final transfer of caloric takes place. 2. The temperature of the agent must in the first instance be raised to the highest degree possible in order to obtain a great fall of caloric, and as a consequence a large production of motive power. 3. For the same reason the cooling of the agent must be carried to as low a degree as possible. 4. Matters must be so arranged that the passage of the elastic agent from the higher to the lower temperature must be due to an increase of volume, that is to say, the cooling of the agent must be caused by its rarefaction.