Unable to retrieve a copy of his paper (he had failed to make a copy for himself before submitting the paper to the Royal Society), he rewrote the work and sought to advertise it elsewhere, attracting little attention other than from William John Macquorn Rankine and Hermann von Helmholtz through whom it may have influenced August Krönig. The theory gained acceptance only when it was proposed by Rudolf Clausius and James Clerk Maxwell in the 1850s by which time Waterston's contribution had been forgotten.