  The construction of a microthermodynamic formalism for isolated systems based
on the concept of adiabatic invariance is an old but seldom appreciated effort
in the literature, dating back at least to P. Hertz [Ann. Phys. (Leipzig) 33,
225 (1910)]. An apparently independent extension of such formalism for systems
bearing additional first integrals of motion was recently proposed by Hans H.
Rugh [Phys. Rev. E 64, 055101 (2001)], establishing the concept of adiabatic
invariance even in such singular cases. After some remarks in connection with
the formalism pioneered by Hertz, it will be suggested that such an extension
can incidentally explain the success of a dynamical method for computing the
entropy of classical interacting fluids, at least in some potential
applications where the presence of additional first integrals cannot be
ignored.
