Note 27 — III. REFLECTIONS ON THE MOTIVE POWER OF HEAT, AND ON MACHINES FITTED TO DEVELOP THAT POWER.[4]
Robert Henry Thurston translation
We find (Annales de Chimie et de Physique, July, 1818, p. 294) in a memoir of M. Petit an estimate of the motive power of heat applied to air and to vapor of water. This estimate leads us to attribute a great advantage to atmospheric air, but it is derived by a method of considering the action of heat which is quite imperfect.