CHAPTER IV
THE VARIOUS STATES OF MATTER
Sec. 1. THE STATICS OF FLUIDS
The division of bodies into gaseous, liquid, and solid, and the
distinction established for the same substance between the three
states, retain a great importance for the applications and usages of
daily life, but have long since lost their absolute value from the
scientific point of view.
So far as concerns the liquid and gaseous states particularly, the
already antiquated researches of Andrews confirmed the ideas of
Cagniard de la Tour and established the continuity of the two states.
A group of physical studies has thus been constituted on what may be
called the statics of fluids, in which we examine the relations
existing between the pressure, the volume, and the temperature of
bodies, and in which are comprised, under the term fluid, gases as
well as liquids.
These researches deserve attention by their interest and the
generality of the results to which they have led. They also give a
remarkable example of the happy effects which may be obtained by the
combined employment of the various methods of investigation used in
exploring the domain of nature.
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