Note 21 — III. REFLECTIONS ON THE MOTIVE POWER OF HEAT, AND ON MACHINES FITTED TO DEVELOP THAT POWER.[4]
Robert Henry Thurston translation
The law of Mariotte, which is here made the foundation upon which to establish our demonstration, is one of the best authenticated physical laws. It has served as a basis to many theories verified by experience, and which in turn verify all the laws on which they are founded. We can cite also, as a valuable verification of Mariotte’s law and also of that of MM. Gay-Lussac and Dalton, for a great difference of temperature, the experiments of MM. Dulong and Petit. (See Annales de Chimie et de Physique, Feb. 1818, t. vii. p. 122.)
The more recent experiments of Davy and Faraday can also be cited.
The theories that we deduce here would not perhaps be exact if applied outside of certain limits either of density or temperature. They should be regarded as true only within the limits in which the laws of Mariotte and of MM. Gay-Lussac and Dalton are themselves proven.