John Gough (natural philosopher) wife and seven of their children. He was buried in the parish churchyard of Kendal. Gough had wide-ranging scientific interests. He published papers in natural history, mechanics, mathematics, chemistry, and experimental physics. One of his most interesting pieces of work was an investigation into the properties of natural rubber or Caoutchouc. He was the first to describe the heat released when a rubber band is quickly stretched, the heat being detected by the lips to which the band is pressed. When stretched rubber is heated, it contracts, a reversal of the normal behaviour of materials when heated. Gough published these
Substance theory which "we can understand nothing else than an entity which "is" in such a way that it need no other entity in order to "be"." Therefore, only God is a substance as "Ens perfectissimus" (most perfect being). Heidegger showed the inextricable relationship between the concept of substance and of subject, which explains why, instead of talking about "man" or "humankind", he speaks about the "Dasein", which is not a simple subject, nor a substance. Alfred North Whitehead has argued that the concept of substance has only a limited applicability in everyday life and that metaphysics should rely upon the concept