Response to “Comment on ‘Reversible work of formation of an embryo of a new phase within a uniform macroscopic mother phase’ ” [J. Chem. Phys. 111, 3769 (1999)]

External constraints are necessary in order to calculate the energetics of embryo formation when the embryo is not a critical nucleus. The expression for the reversible work of formation obtained in by Debenedetti and Reiss [J. Chem. Phys. 108, 5498 (1998)] is rigorous and valid regardless of the relative densities of the embryo and mother phase.