The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

1894.] Til i: LOCOMOTIV B. 57
The Joule Memorial Statue.
Manchester, England, may well be proud of having been the home of two
famous men of science as John Dalton and James Prescott Joule. A beautiful statue- of
Dalton, win) laid t lie foundation of the atomic theory in chemistry, lias adorned the
vestibule of the town hall of that «
• i t \- for Bome years; and, on December 7. 1898, a
statue of Joule was unveiled in the same place, and the two philosophers now -.land face
to face. The unveiling of the Joule statue was performed by Lord Kelvin (Sir William
Thomson), who \\ as peculiarly fitted for that function, both on account of his ability ami
renown as a scientist, and because lie had worked with .Joule many years before, when
the theory of the conservation of energy was coming out of obscurity and into its pres-
ent form. The Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester had the distinguished
honor of being really the cradle of Joule's work. From very early days he kept con-
stantly in touch with that society. Many of his most important papers were first given to
the world there, and during the last years of Ins life he was an almost constant attend-
ant at its meetings. Joule's life was remarkably replete with discoveries, but undoubt-
edly the one for which he will longest be remembered was his " great fundamental
discovery " of the mechanical equivalent of heat.
ll It was not merely by a chance piece
of measurement that he stumbled on this result, which was afterwards found to be of
great value. It was measurement, rigorous experiment and observation, and philosophic
thought all around the field of physical science that made this discovery possible.
Very early indeed in his working time Joule brought out the mechanical equivalent of
heat, and in a paper read before the British Association at Cork in 1843, and afterwards
' published in the Philosophical Mogazim . he gave the famous number 772.' Six years later
a second determination gave him the same result, and twenty-rive years later he made a
third determination, which gave him the final and corrected result, '772.56.'" Lord
Kelvin went on to say that he could never forget the meeting of the British Association
at Oxford in the year 1847, when, in one of the sections, he heard a paper read by a
very unassuming young man, who betrayed no consciousness in his manner that he had
a great idea to unfold. He (Lord Kelvin) was greatly impressed by the paper. At first
he thought it could not be true, because it was different from Carnot's theory; and,
after the meeting, he had a long and thoroughly discursive talk on the subject with
Joule, and obtained ideas he had never had before. He afterwards had the great pleas-
ure and satisfaction of making experiments along with Joule, which led to some impor-
tant results in respect to the theory of thermodynamics. This, he said, was one of the
most valuable recollections of his life, and was, indeed, as valuable a recollection as he
could conceive in the possession of any man interested in science. Joule's initial work
was the very foundation of our knowledge of the steam engine and steam power. Taken
along with Carnot's work, it had given the scientific foundation on which all the great
improvements since the year 1750 have been worked out, not in a haphazard way, but
on a careful, philosophical basis.
After congratulating the city of Manchester on the proceedings of the day, and expressing
his emotions at beholding once more the face of his old friend (he pronounced
the statue to be "a most admirable likeness"), Lord Kelvin asked to be allowed to con-
gratulate the sculptor also, for the great beauty and the great success of his work. Sir
Henry Roscoe, in moving a vote of thanks to Lord Kelvin for his address, mentioned
that for thirty years he himself sat at the feet of Joule, whom he might, therefore,
claim, in some sense, as his scientific father. Few cities in the world, he said, could
boast of two greater men than Dalton and Joule.*
*For the facts presented in this article we are indebted to Xature.