1777 · Paris :
by SIGAUD DE LA FOND, Joseph-Aignan (1730-1810).
Paris :: chez P. Fr. Gueffier . . . 1777., 1777. Four volumes. 8vo. [iii]-xii, 677, [1], [4] ; [4], 565, [1] ; [4], 550, 29, [1] ; [4], 632 pp. With a total of 25 folding engraved plates [vol. I: 7 pls. ; II: 10 pls. ; III: 4 pls. ; IV: 4 pls.]; vol. I lacking the half-title, front free endpapers lacking in Volumes 1, 2, and 4, some roughness at gutter vol. I. Contemporary quarter flat-backed calf, gilt-bands, dual black and red-orange spine labels on each vol.; label chipped on vol. I. Very good. First collected edition. "The author had planned to reprint his Lecons de physique (1767) with some additions but found so many changes were necessary that a new work was needed. The present work, designed to accompany his Description et usage d'un cabinet de physique experimentale (1775), follows the arrangement of that work. Extensive notes, both mathematical and for applications to chemistry and natural history are found at the end of each volume. / Some of the topics of chemical interest are: vol. I principles of compound bodies and chemical affinities; III fixed air, the effects of air on the animal economy and, in the Supplement, a description and usage of new apparatus for experiments with gases; IV phlogiston and fire." – Cole 1212. / "Although primarily on physics, this work contains much of purely chemical interest and importance: e.g., differences between physical mixtures and chemical compounds, affinity, Paracelsian tria prima, Becher's terra pinguis, Stahl's theory of phlogiston, atoms and molecules, crystallization, double decomposition of salts, sympathetic inks, chemical indicators, precipitation, sublimation, preparation of various gases and their collection over water or mercury, theories of calcination, acids and bases, and the nature of fire. There are many references to the researches of Boyle, Guericke, Hales, Boerhaave, Newton, Macquer, Priestley, Lavoisier, Guyton de Morveau, and others." – Neville. / PROVENANCE: copy of Martin C. Gutzwiller (unmarked) (1925-2014), was a Swiss-American physicist, known for his work on field theory, quantum chaos, and complex systems. He spent most of his career at the Watson Research Center for IBM Research. He was also an adjunct professor of physics at Yale University (1993-2014). Other institutional affiliations included Shell Oil Company. REFERENCES: Cole 1212; Partington, III, 105; Neville, II, pp. 474-5; Poggendorff, II, 927; Wheeler Gift 543. JWRB Cat 302:82.
(Inventory #: S14052)