Repeal the Second Law?
There is one major achievement of ninteenth-century science — namely, thermodynamics — that neither had significant practical application of which the public were aware nor penetrated the imagination of HMS [= "l'homme moyen sensuel" i.e., "the average man"]. To HMS the subject seems abstruse, and irrelevant to daily life. Moreover, it lacks visual appeal. One can imagine genes and galaxies, and one can handle electronic equipment. The second law of thermodynamics has as much visual appeal as a hymn, and the only mark it has made outside science is the usually totally inaccurate use of the word entropy whenver the speaker wishes to lend universality and depth to an otherwise prosaic statement. The famous prediction of the eventual thermodynamic death of the universe raised some interest at the time but is not now a topic of conversation in pubs. Even in the Deep South, I doubt whether the second law of thermodaynics will raise enough ire to be repealed by a state senate.
[Brian L. Silver, The Ascent of Science (Soloman Press, New York, 1998) p. 131.]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept.