These researches have dealt with a certain number of
different bodies. Those relating to carbonic acid and ethylene take in
the critical point. Others, on hydrogen and nitrogen, for instance,
are very extended. Others, again, such as the study of the
compressibility of water, have a special interest, on account of the
peculiar properties of this substance. M. Amagat, by a very concise
discussion of the experiments, has also been able to definitely
establish the laws of compressibility and dilatation of fluids under
constant pressure, and to determine the value of the various
coefficients as well as their variations. It ought to be possible to
condense all these results into a single formula representing the
volume, the temperature, and the pressure. Rankin and, subsequently,
Recknagel, and then Hirn, formerly proposed formulas of that kind; but
the most famous, the one which first appeared to contain in a
satisfactory manner all the facts which experiments brought to light
and led to the production of many others, was the celebrated equation
of Van der Waals.
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