The gases of the atmosphere

London: McMillan & Co., 1896. FIRST EDITION. Frontispiece portrait of Stephen Hales plus 7 additional portraits. Original cloth, spine somewhat faded; from the Norman library with his bookplate; another bookplate on front paste-down presumably removed. First edition. Ramsay wrote this popular history at the request of "persons without any special scientific training." He details the discovery of what he deems the "better known constituents of the atmosphere," concluding with his own discovery of argon in 1895. Later editions of this work were revised to include the discoveries of helium, krypton, neon and xenon.