Excerpt from The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell The gaseous form of matter is distinguished by the great simplification which occurs in the expression of the properties of matter when it passes into that state from the solid or liquid form. The simplicity of the relations between density, pressure, and temperature, and between the volume and the number of molecules, seems to indicate that the molecules of bodies, when in the gaseous state, are less impeded by any complicated mechanism than when they subside into the liquid or solid states. The investigation of other properties of matter is therefore likely to be more simple if we begin our research with matter in the form of a gas. The viscosity of a body is the resistance which it offers to a continuous change of form, depending on the rate at which that change is effected. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.