The possibility of the transference of energy being so gradual cannot be denied, if we also attribute to the ether so little friction that the Earth … - Ludwig Boltzmann

It can never be proved from the alone, that the minimum function H must always decrease. It can only be deduced from the laws of probability, that if the initial state is not specially arranged for a certain purpose, but haphazard governs freely, the probability that H decreases is always greater than that it increases. It is well known that the theory of probability is as exact as any other mathematical theory, if properly understood. If we make 6000 throws with dice, we cannot prove that we shall throw any particular number exactly 1000 times; but we can prove that the ratio of the number of throws in which that number turns up to the whole number of throws, approaches the more to 1/6 the oftener we throw.

I am conscious of being only an individual struggling weakly against the stream of time. But it still remains in my power to contribute in such a way that, when the theory of gases is again revived, not too much will have to be rediscovered. Thus in this book [this Part] I will now include the parts that are the most difficult and most subject to misunderstanding, and give (at least in outline) the most easily understood exposition of them.

If this assumption were correct, our world would return more and more to ; but because the whole universe is so great, it might be probable that at some future time some other world might deviate as far from thermal equilibrium as our world does at present. Then the aforementioned H-curve would form a representation of what takes place in the universe. The summits of the curve would represent the worlds where visible motion and life exist.