bitter controversy was carried on by the partisans of Watt and
Cavendish. The two principals, however, seem. never to have
entered into this controversy with anything like the same ardor
as some of their successors, as they remained on the best of
terms.[1] It is certain, at any rate, that Cavendish announced
his discovery officially before Watt claimed that the
announcement had been previously made by him, "and, whether right
or wrong, the honor of scientific discoveries seems to be
accorded naturally to the man who first publishes a demonstration
of his discovery." Englishmen very generally admit the justness
of Cavendish's claim, although the French scientist Arago, after
reviewing the evidence carefully in 1833, decided in favor of
Watt.

It appears that something like a year before Cavendish made known
his complete demonstration of the composition of water, Watt
communicated to the Royal Society a suggestion that water was
composed of "dephlogisticated air (oxygen) and phlogiston
(hydrogen) deprived of part of its latent heat." Cavendish knew
of the suggestion, but in his experiments refuted the idea that
the hydrogen lost any of its latent heat. Furthermore, Watt
merely suggested the possible composition without proving it,
although his idea was practically correct, if we can rightly
interpret the vagaries of the nomenclature then in use. But had
Watt taken the steps to demonstrate his theory, the great "Water
Controversy" would have been avoided. Cavendish's report of his
discovery to the Royal Society covers something like forty pages
of printed matter. In this he shows how, by passing an electric
spark through a closed jar containing a mixture of hydrogen gas
and oxygen, water is invariably formed, apparently by the union