J.

Clerk Maxwell on the History of the Kinetic Theory of Gases, 1871

Author(s): Henry T. Bernstein
Source: Isis , Jun., 1963, Vol. 54, No. 2 (Jun., 1963), pp. 206-216
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science
Society

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J. Clerk Maxwell on the History of
the Kinetic Theory of Gases, 1871
By Henry T. Bernstein *

INTRODUCTION

PROFESSOR Sir William Thomson's summer, spent aboard his yacht,

the " Lalla Rookh," was clouded in 1871 by the need to prepare an
important address. At the Edinburgh meetings in the first week of August
he was slated to succeed T. H. Huxley in the Presidency of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science. For the Inaugural Address,
Thomson - already nearly a quarter of a century in the chair of Natural
Philosophy at Glasgow University, knighted in 1866 (and eventually to be
raised to the peerage as Baron Kelvin) - intended to review recent advances
of physical science. " My B. A. address destroys everything now. I cannot
write a word of it, but it effectually prevents me from writing or doing
anything else " (Thomson, July 11). "I have made some slight beginning
of actual writing for the Address, and have a great mass of matter, greater
than I shall find space for, to bring in. My difficulty will be to get proper
arrangement and condensation, and I feel as if it must necessarily be a very
unsatisfactory thing at best" (Thomson, July 18).1- Quite likely he may
have discussed with a few close friends what should be included. This may
well have been the situation which brought forth two sheets of paper in
James Clerk Maxwell's hand, without address or date, headed simply
" Kinetic Theory of Gases," and ending with a few familiar and personal
remarks, as in a letter, signed with Maxwell's thermodynamic monogram
"dp/dt," and found among Lord Kelvin's papers.2 It appears from internal
evidence that Maxwell wrote these notes to Thomson in the first half of
the year 1871, not long after taking up residence again in Cambridge, on
being called to fill the newly created professorship of Experimental Physics.
Maxwell certainly was one of the most appropriate individuals to whom
to turn for an account of the development of the kinetic theory.3 As one of

* Berkeley, California. which he submitted unsuccessfully for publi-

1Silvanus P. Thompson, The Life of Wil- cation.
liam Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs, Lon- 3 Lewis Campbell and William Garnett, The
don: 1910, II, 598. Life of James Clerk Maxwell, with a selection
2 I am indebted to the late Dr. George Green, from his correspondence and oc
formerly assistant to Lord Kelvin, for drawing ings and a sketch of his contrib
my attention to the significance of this letter ence, London: 1882, pp. 559-57
ISIS, 1963, VOL. 54, PART 2, No. 176.
206

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 J. CLERK MAXWELL ON THE KINETIC THEORY OF GASES 207

those who had done most in recent years to elaborate the theory mathemat
ally and to test it experimentally, he was not only familiar with what othe
had done and were doing, but in his customary lucid manner had pref
his own papers with short historical accounts of the theory's developm
" Illustrations of the Dynamical Theory of Gases," read at the Bri
Association meetings in Aberdeen in 1859, mentioned that Daniel Bern
Herapath, Joule, Kronig, Clausius, " etc." had shown that the relation
tween pressure, temperature and density in a perfect gas can be expl
by supposing the particle to move with uniform velocity in straight l
striking against the side of the containing vessel and thus producing press
This paper also noted that Clausius had determined the mean length of
path in terms of the average distance of the particles, and the dis
between the centers of two particles when collision takes place.4
Maxwell gave a longer pedigree in his paper " On the Dynamical Th
of Gases," read to the Royal Society in May, 1866. He cites Claus
as the source of a list of authors " who have adopted or given counten
to any theory of invisible particles in motion." 5 Clausius' " Uebe
Warmeleitung gasformiger Korper," which the Philosophical Mag
translated into English, "On the Conduction of Heat by Gases," d
contain a footnote in which the author mentions the work of Kronig,
Joule, Bernoulli, Prevost and Lesage. Lesage is quoted as citing similar ideas
by Lucretius, Gassendi, Boyle, Parent and Herman.6 Maxwell's paper of
1866, in addition to repeating his previous mention of Daniel Bernoulli,
Herapath, Joule and Clausius (dropping Kronig), adds (probably on re-
minder from Clausius' footnote) Democritus, Lucretius, Lesage and Prevost,
and also O. E. Meyer, Graham and Gay-Lussac, but does not follow up
Lesage's suggestion concerning Gassendi, Boyle, Parent or Herman. Much
of this information, and a bit more, Maxwell detailed in his 1871 notes to
Thomson on the " Kinetic Theory of Gases."
To consider briefly names for ideas and things in science against the con-
text of thinking out of which they emerged sometimes helps to sharpen
their meaning. What is the origin of the term " kinetic " in connection
with the theory of gases?
In 1859 and again in 1866 Maxwell wrote on the dynamical theory of
gases. The word " kinetic " did not appear in his papers. Having studied
science in the 1850's as a Cambridge undergraduate in the very college of
which Newton had been a Fellow might have been purely coincidental to
Maxwell's thinking in terms of dynamics. Thomson, who had gone up to
Cambridge a decade before Maxwell, was also immersed in the British school
of mathematical dynamical thinking, but together with his colleague Peter

4J. C. Maxwell, "Illustrations of the Dy- Scientific Papers, II, pp. 26-78.
namical Theory of Gases" in The Scientific 6 R. Clausius, "Ueber die Wirmeleitung
Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, ed. by W. D. gasformiger Korper," Poggendorf's Annalen,
Niven, M.A., F. R. S., Cambridge: 1890, I, p. CXV (Jan. 1862), pp. 1-56; R. Clausius, "On
377. the Conduction of Heat by Gases" in the
5 J. C. Maxwell, "On the Dynamical Theory Phil.
of Gases," Phil. Trans., CLVII, pp. 49-88; note pp. 417-418.

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 208 HENRY T. BERNSTEIN

Guthrie Tait (Professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinbu

adopted in the 1860's, for a badly needed physics textbook th
a special meaning of the term "dynamic" and introdu
unfamiliar word "kinetic" into British usage. Hithert
mortua " and " vis viva " - literally " dead force " and "
been translated into the much less expressive English
energy " and " actual energy." Thomson, in a Friday
before the Royal Institution in 1856 " On the Origin an
of Motive Power " had explained to his audience that " A
or any group of bodies, however connected, which eithe
can get into motion without external assistance, has what is
energy. The energy of motion may be called either 'd
or 'actual energy.' The energy of a material system at
which it can get into motion, is called 'potential energy
Subsequently, in a footnote he wrote to this statement
(1893), Thomson - by then Lord Kelvin - recalled that "
date of this lecture (1856) I gave the name 'kinetic energy
general use. It is substituted for 'actual' and for 'dyn
The preface to the first edition (1867) of Thomson a
on Natural Philosophy announced the authors' decision t
suggestion of using the term " kinematics " for the purely g
of motion in the abstract, and " dynamics " as the scien
the action of force, whether it maintains relative rest (s
acceleration of relative motion (kinetics) .8 Hence what f
dynamical theory of gases became in Thomson's terminology
of gases. The term " dynamical" in this connection did n
come to rest. Such a son of Trinity College as James Jean
in 1904 on The Dynamical Theory of Gases and retained
the thin and thicker of four editions (1916, 1921, and
1940, Sir James capitulated to the Scots and general usa
his book under the new title An Introduction to the
Gases.9 Maxwell had already, by 1871, adopted "kinet
letter of that year to Thomson, though himself the one
for attaching the label " dynamic " to the theory in his
1866.
Before a brilliant audience of the British Association assembled in the
Music Hall beneath the grey battlements of Edinburgh castle, on the n
of August 2, 1871, Professor Thomson rose from his seat to deliver th
traditional Inaugural Address. In the middle of a long rambling surve
progress, he brought in the kinetic theory in a few short paragraphs:

7 Sir William Thomson, Popular Lectures 9 James H. Jeans, The Dynamical Theory
and Addresses, London: 1894, II, 425. Gases, Cambridge: 1904; 2nd ed., 1916; 3rd ed.,
s William Thomson and P. G. Tait, Treatise 1921; 4th ed., 1925. Sir James Jeans, An Intro-
on Natural Philosophy, Oxford: 1867, preface, duction to the Kinetic Theory of Gases, Cam-
vi. bridge: 1940.

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 J. CLERK MAXWELL ON THE KINETIC THEORY OF GASES 209

The greatest achievement yet made in molecular theory of the properties

of matter is the Kinetic theory of Gases, shadowed forth by Lucretius,
definitely stated by Daniel Bernoulli, largely developed by Herapath, made
a reality by Joule, and worked out in its present advanced state by Clausius
and Maxwell. Joule, from his dynamical equivalent of heat, and his experi-
ments upon the heat produced by the condensation of gas, was able to
estimate the average velocity of the ultimate molecules or atoms composing
it . . . Clausius took fully into account the impacts of molecules on one
another, and the kinetic energy of relative motions of the matter consti-
tuting an individual atom. He investigated the relation between their
diameters, the number in a given space, and the mean length of path from
impact to impact, and so gave the formulation for estimates of the absolute
dimensions of atoms.... He explained the slowness of gaseous diffusion by
the mutual impact of the atoms, and laid a secure foundation for a complete
theory of the diffusion of fluids, previously a most refractory enigma. The
deeply penetrating genius of Maxwell brought in viscosity and thermal
conductivity, and thus completed the dynamical explanation of all the known
properties of gases, except their electrical resistance and brittleness to electric
force.
No such comprehensive molecular theory had ever been even imagined
before the nineteenth century. Definite and complete in its area as it is,
it is but a well-drawn part of a great chart, in which all physical science
will be represented with every property of matter shown in dynamical rela-
tion to the whole. The prospect we now have of an early completion of this
chart is based on the assumption of atoms. But there can be no permanent
satisfaction to the mind in explaining heat, light, elasticity, diffusion, elec-
tricity and magnetism in gases, liquids, and solids, and describing precisely
the relations of these different states of matter to one another by statistics
of great numbers of atoms, when the properties of the atom itself are simply
assumed. When the theory, of which we have the first installment in Clausius
and Maxwell's work, is complete, we are but brought face to face with a
superlatively grand question, what is the inner mechanism of the atom? 10

Much as Maxwell's letter on the kinetic theory of gases must have inter-
ested Thomson, he was not able to make much use of its information on
that August evening, so great were the other reaches of progress through
which he had to sail. Thomson did however do the important thing; he
underlined the significance of the kinetic theory for fundamental under-
standing of nature and for future physical research.
Maxwell died in 1879, and Clausius in 1888. Thomson, as Lord Kelvin,
lived on until 1907 in the early dawn of atomic physics. Only to the thresh-
old of what may have been its contribution to elucidating the " inner
mechanism of the atom" could Maxwell bring his notes on the kinetic
theory of gases in 1871. A few years later, in 1875, he included much of
the same information, and more, but in quite a different order, in an
Encyclopedia Britannica article on the " atom." 11 Of the names mentioned

10 British Association for the Advancement 11J. C. Maxwell, "Atom," Encyclopedia

of Science, Report, 1871, London: 1872, xciii- Britannica, 9th ed., Edinburgh: 1875, III, pp.
xciv. 36-49; Scientific Papers, II, pp. 445-484.

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210 HENRY T. BERNSTEIN

in the 1871 notes, only Bacon, Cavendish, Bernoulli, He

were left out of the " atom " article. Euler's (1727) and
contributions awaited rediscovery by others at a later t
Maxwell, throughout his sketches of earlier steps tow
theory of gases, shows the utility of the historical mod
scientist as a method of summarizing background info
papers. His prefaces and notes are there to help future
theory to unravel its development, connections, and r
assess its significance for man's emerging picture of nature
The following is a transcription of the unsigned letter
of J. C. Maxwell, found among Lord Kelvin's papers
Department of Natural Philosophy, the University, Gl
to publish was kindly extended by the Principal of the
the courtesy of Professor P. I. Dee, C. B. E., F. R. S.

KINETIC THEORY OF GASES

1 Democritus see Lucretius Lib II. Externa quasi vi: sed ne mens
284 ipsa necessum
2 Lucretius. a [a is written over the
word " His "] His bodies are composed
Intestinum habeat cunctis in rebus
of a finite number of indivisible but in-
agendis,
visible parts. /9 These parts are in con-
stant motion even when the motion of Et devicta quasi cogatur ferre pa-
tique;
the body in mass is not perceived.
Id facit exiguum clinamen princi-
y the direction of this motion is
piorumn
downward and sensibly but not mathe-
Nec regione loci certa, nec tempore
matically uniform. This is a strong certo
point with Lucretius and the weak
point of his theory. 8 irregularity of3the
Catena of upholders of intestine
deflexions of the atoms introduced to motion in hot bodies. Bacon Newton
account for free will &c. This isBoyle
veryCavendish, &c.
important in T. L. Carus.
4 Dan. Bernoulli, not very definite but
Quare in seminibus quoque idemstated the theory of pressure produced
fateare necessest
by impact.
Esse aliam praeter plagas et pondera
causam
5 Lesage of Geneva [the date " 1787"
Motibus, unde haec est nobis innata is crossed out] wrote an essay, Lucrece
potestas; Newtonien, deducing gravity from the
De nihilo quoniam fieri nil posse impact of ultramundane corpuscules
videmus, going in all directions, and maintaining
Pondus enim prohibet, ne plagis that if Lucretius had possessed half the
omnia fiant, mathematical skill of his contemporary

12 R. Hooykaas, " The First Kinetic Theory tion" (received Dec. 11, 1845, read March 5,
of Gases (1727)," Arch. Int. Hist. Sci., XXVII,1846), Phil. Trans., vol. 183 (1892), A, p. 1.
no. 5 (October 1948), pp. 180-184. I am grate- J. J. Waterston, The Collected Papers of John
ful to Dr. Roger Hahn for calling my attentionJames Waterston edited with a biography by
to this article. J. J. Waterston, " On the PhysicsJ. S. Haldane, Edinburgh and London: 1928,
of Media that are Composed of Free and pp. 207-317.
Perfectly Elastic Molecules in a State of Mo-

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 J. CLERK MAXWELL ON THE KINETIC THEORY OF GASES 211

Euclid, of Alexandria he would have 10 The great development of the

carried physical science far beyond the
theory is due to Clausius
stage to which Newton advanced it.
Lesage himself would have made a more a The arrangement of the mole-
important contribution to science, if, cules at any instant is perfectly
before calculating the results of the im- general
pact of his corpuscules, he had studied J3 The impacts of the molecules
the few sentences in which Newton against each other are taken
demonstrates the true laws of impact. fully into account
y The relation between their di-
6 Pierre Prevost of Geneva (author ameter, the number in a given
of theory of Exchanges) published space and the mean length of
another treatise of Lesage and one of
path is determined
his own in which he ascribes the pres-
8 Mathematical methods are intro-
sure of gases to the impact of their
duced for dealing statistically
molecules against the sides of the vessel,
with immense numbers of
but introduces the ultramundane cor-
molecules by arranging them
puscules to maintain the motion of the
in groups according to their
gaseous molecules. directions velocities &c
E The slowness of diffusion is ac-
7 Herapath in his Mathematical Phys-
ics, 1874, gives still more extensive counted for, and steps taken
applications of the theory to gases flow- towards a complete theory
ing out of small holes, diffusing through
Theory of evaporation and maxi-
each other 8cc. I think the notion of
mum density of vapours
temperature being as the square of r the
Theory of the change of partners
velocity is his but he makes the " true among the molecules of com-
temperature" the square root of what pound bodies and the theory
we call absolute temperature. This is of electrolytic conduction un-
a mere definition. He also gives - 480? der the smallest electromotive
F or 491? F as the "point of absolute force &c &c
cold.["] It is remarkable that Lesage
0 Internal energy of molecules
and Herapath should have independ-
ently fallen into similar errors11
about
Maxwell, 1860. a Clausius as-
the impact of bodies, those errors being
sumed the velocities of the molecules
I believe unknown in the best equal
(v. r. (This is no essential part of his
text?) books of their day. Thetheory
only but may be regarded as a trial
source from which these errors assumption)
might Maxwell showed that the
have been derived is the Principia of
velocities range through all values,
Descartes.
being distributed according to the same
law which prevails in the distribution
8 Joule in 1848 calculated with great
of errors of observation and in general
exactness the velocity of the molecules
in all cases in which general uniformity
of hydrogen and subjected the theory
to the test of experiment. exists in the mass amid apparent irregu-
larity in individual cases.
9 In 1865 Dr. Kronig directed atten-
p, When there are two or more kinds
tion to the kinetic theory of gases and
showed how the gaseous laws may ofbe
molecules acting on one another by
impact the average vis-viva [the words
deduced from the impact of perfectly
"kinetic
elastic molecules. His conceptions of energy" are inserted just
the arrangements and motions of the above the term " vis viva "] of a mole-
cule is the same whatever its mass.
molecules are deficient in generality.

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212 HENRY T. BERNSTEIN

Hence follows the dynamical interpre-

published a revised theory of gases in
tation of which the molecules are not regarded
as hard elastic spheres but as acting on
1 Gay Lussacs law of equivalent one another at various distances so as
volumes of gases to produce an effect similar to that of
2 Dulong & Petits law of specific a repulsive force varying inversely as
heats of gases the square [sic] of the distance. Mathe-
matical methods altered and systema-
I claim No 1 but am willing to dis- tized.
tribute as regards No 2
y Theory of internal friction of 15 Prof. J. Loschmidt of Vienna 12
gases and calculation of the mean Oct 1865 communicated to the Imp.
length of path of the molecules from Acad. of Vienna a speculation on the
size of the molecules of air deduced
Stokes theory of Baily's pendulum expts
from Clausius relation between the
8 Development of Clausius theory of
diffusion with errors and failures and
mean path, the diameter and the num-
ber in unit of volume combined with
a deduction of length of path from
an estimate of the volume occupied by
Graham's expts the molecules themselves from a con-
E Theory of conduction of heat in
sideration of the volumes of various
gases obvious probably due to ever so
substances in the liquid state. Diameter
many people, but comparison of ofcon-
a molecule of air one millionth of a
ductivity of air and lead (erroneous)
millimetre.
is my own.
16 Stoney in 1868 independently made
12 Clausius made objection No 1 an toestimate of the same kind founded
an integration founded on his theory
onofthe same [sic] data and leading to
a similar
uniform velocity of molecules (This is result.
the first commitment of Clausius to
such a theory) As he was sure 17to W.
be Thomsons stereoscopic view of
theOb-
converted & I was lazy, I said 0. same thing from several different
directions.
jection No 2 cc to theory of diffusion
and conduction were well founded, and
18 Loschmidt 1870 describes expts on
in his paper on Conduction Clausius
diffusion of pairs of gases much more
greatly advanced the methods of treat- accurate than those of Graham.
ment and caused me to go through the
subject still in the old style but im- 19 Gustav Hansemann of Eupen pub-
proved (Not published) lishes 1871 "Die Atome und ihre Be-
wegungen, ein Versuch zur Verallge-
13 Oscar Emil Meyer made extensive
meinerung der Kronig-Clausiusichen
experiments on internal friction and in
Theorie der Gase " pp. 191 and ranging
1865 made a more extensive theory of
from elastic spheres to the formation
friction of gases, still on Maxwell's of the Tast-Geschmacks-und Geruchs-
framework.
Organen and general theory of life in-
14 Maxwell in 1865 made experiments tellect and intellectual progress. But I
on viscosity of gases proving that it is got this as a gift from the author a
only
independent of the pressure and pro- week ago and I have not looked it in
the mouth yet.
portional to absolute temperature, and
that the ratios of the viscosity of air,
I hope to see & hear you at Edinburgh.
carbonic acid and hydrogen agree withThe printers are rather slow about Elec-
those given by Graham. In 1866 he tricity and I have given up sending you

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 J. CLERK MAXWELL ON THE KINETIC THEORY OF GASES 213

proofs till you have served as an Ass. Have you got anything about Sir B.
Tait has been very useful about it. You Brodie or do you leave that to the
should let the world know that the true Chemists?, They have no right to it.
source of mathematical methods ap- Did you get my letters and proofs at
plicable to physics is to be found in thethe Athenaeum? I want to know if I
Proceedings of the Edinburgh F.R.S.E.'s. may publish Ts theorem as I have
The volume- surface- and line-integrals printed it.
of vectors and quaternions and their
properties as in the course of being dp
Yours
worked out by T' is worth all that is dt
going on in other seats of learning.

Notes to J. Clerk Maxwell's letter on the history of the Kinetic Theory of Gases, 1871
(numbers refer to Maxwell's own paragraph numeration)

1 Democritus of Abdera (born 470 or 460 matics academy in 1815 near Bristol and after
B. C.) . 1820 was a mathematics tutor near London.
2 Titus Lucretius Carus, more familiarly When railways started he became editor of the
Lucretius (c: 99-55 B. C.), De Rerum Natura. Railway Magazine, and later devoted himself
3 Cf. John Tyndall, Heat considered as a once more to mathematics.
Mode of Motion, being a course of twelve lec- Cf. John Herapath, " On the Physical Prop-
tures delivered at the Royal Institution of erties of Gases," Annals of Philosophy, VII
Great Britain in the Season of 1862, London: (1816), pp. 56-60; "A Mathematical Inquiry
1863, Lecture II, pp. 23-58. into the Causes, Laws and principal Phe-
4 Daniel Bernoulli (1700-1782), Hydrody- nomena of Heat, Gases, Gravitation, &c,"
namics sive de Viribus et Motibus Fluidorum Annals of Philosophy, (new series) I (1812),
Commentarii, Argentorati: 1738, Sectio decima:
pp. 273-293, pp. 340-351, pp. 401-416; Mathe-
" De affectionibus atque motibus fluidorum
matical Physics: or the Mathematical Prin-
elasticorum, praecipue auctem aeris," pp. 200 ff. of Natural Philosophy: with a develop-
ciples
5 Georges Louis Lesage (1724-1803), private
ment of the causes of heat, gaseous electricity.
mathematics teacher at Geneva, F. R. S., corre-gravitation and other great phenomena of na-
spondent of the Academie des Sciences, Paris,ture, London: 1847.
devoted himself to the problem of gravity 8 James Prescott Joule (1818-1889), "On the
which he explained as resulting from " cor- Mechanical Equivalent of Heat and on the
puscules ultramondaines " arriving continually Constitution of Elastic Fluids," B.A. A.S. Re-
from all directions in space, and by their im- port 1848, II, pp. 21-22; "Some Remarks on
pact pushing bodies against each other. Heat, and the Constitution of Elastic Fluids,"
Cf. George Louis Lesage, " Lucrece New- Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical
tonien," Nouveaux Memoires de l'Acaddemie Society of Manchester, 2nd series IX (1851),
Royale des Sciences et Belles-Lettres, Berlin: pp. 107-114.
1782, pp. 404-432. 9 August Karl Kronig (1822-1879), teacher
Cf. William Thomson, " On the Ultramon- at a Berlin gymnasium, then at the K6nigliche
daine Corpuscules of Lesage," Royal Society of Realschule, Berlin. Editor of Die Fortschritte
Edinburgh, Proceedings, VII (1872), pp. 577- der Physik, 1855-1858.
589; Philosophical Magazine, XLV (May, 1873), Cf. A. K. Krbnig, " Grundzuge einer Theorie
pp. 321-332; William Thomson, Mathematical der Gase," Poggendorf's Annalen, XCIX (1856),
and Physical Papers, V, pp. 64-76. pp. 315-22.
6 Pierre Prevost (1751-1839), professor of 10 Rudolf Clausius (1822-1888), teacher of
philosophy at Berlin, and from 1784 at Geneva,physics at the Artillerie-Schule, Berlin, then
where he also held a chair of physics after Privat-dozent at the University of Berlin; in
1810.
1855 professor of physics at the Zurich Poly-
Cf. Pierre Prevost, Deux Traites de Physique
technic School, and after 1857 professor of
Mecanique, Geneva, Paris: 1818. The " pre- physics at the University of Zurich.
mier traite'" is George Louis Le Sage, " Physi- Cf. R. Clausius, " Ueber die Art der Be-
que Mecanique" and the second is Pierre Pre-wegung welche wir Warme nennen," Poggen-
vost, " Quelques Nouvelles Applications des dorf's Annalen, C (1857), pp. 353-380; " On
Principes exposes dans le premier traite 1. au the Nature of the Motion which we call Heat,"
gaz. 2. A la lumiere."
Philosophical Magazine, 4th series, XIV (July-
7 John Herapath (1790-1868), born in Bris- December, 1857), pp. 108-127.
tol, entered his father's malt business, supple- 11 James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879), " Illus-
menting a scanty education by his own studytrations of the Dynamical Theory of Gases,"
of mathematics and physics, opened a mathe- read at the B. A. A. S. meeting, Aberdeen, Sept.

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214 HENRY T. BERNSTEIN

21, 1859 printed in Philosophical Magazine, \/72 in his own calculations from Loschmidt's
XIX (Jan.-June, 1860), pp. 19-32, XX (July- diffusion experiments.
Dec., 1860), pp. 21-37; re-printed in The Scien- 6 Clausius on receipt of a "Molecule" re-
tific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, ed. by turns thanks, but claims " 8" as his own
W. D. Niven, M. A., F. R. S., 2 vols., Cambridge:
1890, I, pp. 377-409. 7 Maxwell ever after gives Clausius, as he
deserves, the credit of the number 8
12 R. Clausius, " On the Dynamical Theory
of Gases," Philosophical Magazine 4th series,8 T' discovers that V72 is not far from 8?
XIX (Jan.-June, 1860), pp. 434-436. A letter toa number better adapted for popular exposi-
the editor in reply to Maxwell's article. dp
R. Clausius, " Ueber die Warmeleitung gas- tion dt- was actuated by the same motive
formiger Korper," Poggendorf's Annalen, CXVwhen at Bradford he mentioned 8, without
(Jan., 1862), pp. 1-56; " On the Conduction ofthe fraction, holding that the surd should be
Heat by Gases," Philosophical Magazine, (June, witheld from the knowledge of the people
1862) pp. 417-435. according to the principle of " reserve ". . . .
Clausius had previously, in a paper trans-
I am grateful to A. D. I. Nicol, Ph. D., Secre-
lated into English and published in the Philo-
tary, University of Cambridge Department of
sophical Magazine in 1859 (Vol. 17, p. 85)
Physics, for permission to publish this extract,
considered a molecule n of a gas moving with and to Professor Derek Price for information
a certain velocity in a space which already
that he dated this letter by matching it to a
contained many other molecules m, mn, mn2
postmarked envelope.
. . . and occasionally striking and rebounding
fronm the latter. In his solution for the num-
13 Oskar Emil Meyer (1834-1909), younger
brother of the chemist Julius Lothar Meyer,
ber of collisions made by n in a unit of time,
studied medicine at Heidelberg, Zirich, then
or the magnitude of the mean length of path
physics at K6nigsberg, became Privat-dozent
between two consecutive points of collision,
he confined himself to the case where the mole-
at G6ttingen, 1862, and from 1864 professor
of physics at Breslau.
cule n moves, and the others mn, mn, . . . remain
Cf. 0. E. Meyer, " Ueber die Innere Reibung
at rest. In the case where the latter also move
der Gase" read at the Naturforscher-Samm-
" with the samne velocity as n," the number of
lung, Stettin, 23 Sept., 1863, Poggendorf's
collisions, he asserted, increases in the ratio of
1:4,. Maxwell, in his treatment of the same
Annalen, CXXV (1865), pp. 177-209, 401-420,
564-599.
subject, arrived at the ratio of 1:\/2. Thus,
14 J. C. Maxwell, "On the Dynamical
Clausius felt himself called upon to "prove Theory of Gases," Philosophical Transactions,
the accuracy of my former statement." CLVII (1866), pp. 49-88; Scientific Papers, II,
Maxwell's hypothesis, however, was that the pp. 26-78; Philosophical Magazine, XXXII
collisions between molecules in a gas tended to (1866), pp. 390-393. Like the second half of
produce a variety of velocities whose statistical Professor Polya's absent-minded mathematician
distribution had a known probability. Cf. S. G. who says A, thinks B, writes C, when it should
Brush, " The Development of the Kinetic be D, Maxwell's pen must have slipped in
Theory of Gases, IV. Maxwell," Annals of Sci- giving the repulsive force as a function of the
ence, Vol. 14, No. 4, December, 1958, p. 243. distance. Not square but inverse fifth power
Cf. a letter from Maxwell to Peter Guthrie forces appear in " On the Dynamical Theory
Tait, to which the date 14/2/76 has been at- of Gases." " In the present paper the action
tributed, in the collection of Maxwell corre- between the molecules is supposed to be that
spondence preserved in the Rayleigh Library, of bodies repelling each other at a distance,
Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge: rather than elastic bodies acting by impact;
O T'! and the law of force is deduced, from experi-
ments on the viscosity of gases, to be that of
1 Clausius' " Ueber die mittlere Lange" the inverse fifth power of the distance, any
1858 assumes uniform velocity and gets the other law of force being at variance with the
number 8.
observed fact that the viscosity is proportional
2 Maxwell Phil Mag, 1860, ascertained the to the absolute temperature." Philosophical
law of distribution of velocities and gives a Transactions, CLVII, p. 51, Scientific Papers,
result corresponding to \/72 remarking that II, p. 27, Philosophical Magazine, XXXII, p.
Clausius makes it different. 391.

3 Clausius supposing Maxwell's knowledge 15 Joseph Loschmidt (1821-1895), teacher at

of the integral calculus is imperfect writesthe
to Realschule, Wien-Leopoldstadt, then pro-
Phil. Mag. showing how to do the integra- fessor at the University of Vienna.
Cf. J. Loschmidt, "Zur Gr6sse der Luft-
tion on the assumption v = const.
molecuile," Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserliche
4 Maxwell in 1866, going in for forces at
Akademie der Wissenschaften (Vienna) Mathe-
a distance became hazy as to what constitutes mnatisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe, Band
a collision and ignores collisions in favour
LII, Heft I (June, 1865), II Abteiling, pp. 395-
of encounters of various degrees of closeness. 407.
5 Maxwell in 1873 attributed to Loschmidt 16 George Johnstone Stoney (1826-1911).
by mistake the number 8, using, however Born in Ireland, student at Trinity College,

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 J. CLERK MAXWELL ON THE KINETIC THEORY OF GASES 215

Dublin, B.A. 1848. Lord Rosse appointed him

Cf. G. Hansemann, "Innere Beschaffenheit
der Gase," Poggendorf's Annalen, CXLIV
first astronomical assistant at Parsonstown ob-
servatory; 1852 to 1857 he held the professor- (1871).
ship of Natural Philosophy at Queens College, "Edinburgh ": i.e. Edinburgh meeting of
Galway, and from 1857 to 1882 was Secretary the British Association, scheduled for August,
of the Queen's University, Dublin. He was 1871.
very active in the Royal Society, Dublin.
"Electricity": Maxwell's Treatise on Elec-
Cf. G. J. Stoney, " The Internal Motions of
tricity.
Gases compared with the Motions of Waves of
Light," Philosophical Magazine, XXXVI (July- "Tait": Peter Guthrie Tait, known as
Dec., 1868), pp. 132-141. Loschmidt based his"T'" to distinguish him from Thomson who
estimate on the formulae of Clausius as revised was " T ".

by Maxwell and O. E. Meyer, and data on "F. theR. S. E.": Fellows of the Royal Society
of Edinburgh.
specific volumes of gases at different tempera-
tures given by H. Kopp. Stoney, however, "Sir B. Brodie": Sir Benjamin Collins
tested the compatibility of Clausius' and Max-(1817-1880), studied chemistry at
Brodie
well's conclusions againsf spectrographic evi- under Liebig, built a private chemistry
Giessen
dence of the interaction of light waves laboratory
with in London, and served as Waynflete
gases, and arrived at the same estimate as Professor of Chemistry at Oxford, 1855-1876.
Loschmidt without mentioning the kind of ,,dp dp
data which Loschmidt used.
dt: C. G. Knott
17 William Thomson (1824-1907), Baron well's initials), come
Kelvin of Largs. W. Thomson, "The Size of
the Second Law of
Atoms," Nature, March 31, 1870, pp. 551-553;
by Thomson in his
reprinted in Thomson and Tait, Treatise on in his Historic Sket
Natural Philosophy, Vol. I, part II, 2nd ed., lent, C Carnot's function, and M the rate at
Cambridge: 1883, appendix F.
which heat must be supplied per unit increase
18 J. Loschmidt, " Experimental-Untersu-
of volume, the temperature being constant."
chungen fiber die Diffusion von Gasen Ohne Cargill G. Knott, Life and Scientific Works of
porose Scheidewinde, I," Sitzungsberichte der
Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften Peter Guthrie Tait, Cambridge: 1911, p. 101,
note 2.
(Vienna), LXI, II Abth, Heft I-V (1870), pp.
367-380; "Experimental-Untersuchungen . . . "Ass": cf. James Clerk Maxwell's poem
II," Ibid., LXII, II Abth, Heft VI-X, pp. 468-"Report on Tait's Lecture on Force:-B.A.,
1876 "
478.
19 Gustav Hansemann (1829-1902), A Rhine- Ye British Asses, who expect to hear
land industrialist, author (1863) of a book on Ever some new thing,
the economic relations of the Zollverein; in I've nothing new to tell, but what, I fear,
1871 began publishing a series of works on May be a true thing.
physics, living as a private scientist-scholar in
Berlin after 1873.
Cf. G. Hansemann, Die Atome und Ihre in Lewis Campbell and William Garnett, The
Life of James Clerk Maxwell, London: 1882,
Bewegung, Leipzig: 1871 (preface dated Eupen,
June, 1870). p. 646.

Bibliography on the History of the Kinetic Theory of Gases *

Interesting histories of the theory are given in:

Klaus, Alfred, i. e., Paul Wilhelm Alfred. Uber die Entwicklung der kinetischen
Gastheorie und ihre Bedeutung fiir die moderne Physik. Dissertation,
Druck von Karl Henn, Freiburg i. Fr.: 1904 (Library of Congress, QC
175.K63).
Mendoza, E. "A Sketch for a History of the Kinetic Theory of Gases," Phy.
Today, XIV, No. 3, March 1961, pp. 36-39.
Dr. S. G. Brush, to whom I am grateful for many kindnesses, has written an
important series of papers on the kinetic theory:
Brush, S. G. " The Development of the Kinetic Theory of Gases, I. Herapath,"
Annals of Science, XIII, No. 3 (Sept. 1957, published April 1959), pp.
188-198; " The Development of the Kinetic Theory of Gases, II. Waters-

* Listed in chronological order.

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216 HENRY T. BERNSTEIN

ton," Ann. Sci., XIII, No. 4 (Dec. 1957, published Dec

282; " The Development of the Kinetic Theory of Ga
Ann. Sci., XIV, No. 3, Sept. 1958, pp. 185-196; " The Dev
Kinetic Theory of Gases, IV. Maxwell," Ann. Sci., XIV
pp. 243-255; "Development of the Kinetic Theory of
Equation of State," Amer. J. Phys., XXIX, No. 9, Sept. 1
" The Development of the Kinetic Theory of Gases, V
versity of California, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
fornia, January 25, 1961, UCRL-6316, printed repo
Waterston and the Kinetic Theory of Gases," Amer.
No. 2, June 1961, pp. 202-214; "The Royal Society's F
the Kinetic Theory of Gases (1821)," University of Calif
Radiation Laboratory, Livermore, California, mimeograp
Short chronologies are to be found in:
Meyer, Oskar Emil. Die Kinetische Theorie der Gase in e
lung mit mathematischer Zusdtzen. Breslau: 1877; Th
of Gases, elementary treatise with mathematical appe
from the second revised edition by Robert E. Bayn
1899.
Jeans, J. H. The Dynamical Theory of Gases. Cambridg
Loeb, Leonard H. Kinetic Theory of Gases, Being a Text
whose Purpose is to Combine the Classical Deductions with Recent Ex-
perimental Advances in a Convenient Form for Student and Investigator.
New York: 1927.
Kennard, Earle H. Kinetic Theory of Gases, With an Introduction to Sta
tical Mechanics. New York and London: 1938.
Jeans, Sir James. An Introduction to the Kinetic Theory of Gases. Cam
1940.
Chapman, Sidney, and T. G. Cowling. The Mathematical Theory of
uniform Gases; an account of the kinetic theory of viscosity, th
conduction, and diffusion in gases. 2nd ed. Cambridge: 1952.

This content downloaded from

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All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms