Excerpt from Lectures on Some of the Applications of Chemistry and Mechanics to Pathology and Therapeutics
The hypothesis of the constancy of the amount of force in the universe tends so much to promote experimental inquiry in every direction that for this, if for no other reason, it must be regarded as of the utmost importance.
No sooner was the relationship between the different forces of nature perceived than it was applied to the explanation of the action of all machines.
For the working of each mechanical, chemical, or electrical machine - for example, a mill, a steam-engine, or a telegraph - a source of power is necessary, and also provision for the application, direction, and control of that power.
The steam-engine will, perhaps, make the correlation of the forces and the controlling power most easily understood. The source of energy is the chemical attraction of oxygen for hydrogen and carbon. This force is latent until the particles of matter am brought sufficiently close to enable them to act the one on the other. Hence comes heat, and from the heat mechanical motion, and this partly resolves itself again into the agent from which it was produced. In addition to the motive power there is a regulating spring, a directing agency which gives or takes away oxygen or fuel, and by proper contrivances controls the motion of the machine.
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