Abstract
The experimental researches of Rumford and Leslie raised the subject of Radiant Heat to an extraordinary pitch of interest and importance. Both of these philosophers occupied themselves with what may be called superficial emission and absorption. Melloni is to be regarded as the founder of our knowledge of the transmission of radiant heat through solids and liquids. Save in a passing inference, to be noticed immediately, Melloni left untouched the gaseous form of matter; thinking, probably, that gases and vapours, though their diathermancy could hardly be supposed theoretically perfect, came in this respect so near perfection as to be placed beyond the grasp of laboratory experiment. It was doubtless the general prevalence of this conviction which caused this field of inquiry to lie fallow for so many years after the discovery of the thermo-electric pile.
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