III. An essay on the cohesion of fluids

Abstract

It has already been asserted, by Mr. Monge and others, that the phenomena of capillary tubes are referable to the cohesive attraction of the superficial particles only of the fluids em­ployed, and that the surfaces must consequently be formed into curves of the nature of lintearias, which are supposed to be the results of a uniform tension of a surface, resisting the pressure of a fluid, either uniform, or varying according to a given law. Segner, who appears to have been the first that maintained a similar opinion, has shown in what manner the principle may be deduced from the doctrine of attraction, but his demonstration is complicated, and not perfectly satisfactory; and in applying the law to the forms of drops, he has neglected to consider the very material effects of the double curvature, which is evidently the cause of the want of a perfect coinci­dence of some of his experiments with his theory. Since the time of Segner, little has been done in investigating accurately and in detail the various consequences of the principle. It will perhaps be most agreeable to the experimental phi­losopher, although less consistent with the strict course of logical argument, to proceed in the first place to the comparison of this theory with the phenomena, and to inquire afterwards for its foundation in the ultimate properties of matter. But it is necessary to premise one observation, which appears to be new, and which is equally consistent with theory and with experiment; that is, that for each combination of a solid and a fluid, there is an appropriate angle of contact between the surfaces of the fluid, exposed to the air, and to the solid. This angle, for glass and water, and in all cases where a solid is perfectly wetted by a fluid, is evanescent: for glass and mer­cury, it is about 140°, in common temperatures, and when the mercury is moderately clean.