A collection of eighteenth century English science

various places: various publishers, v.d.. First Editions.. full contemporary calf.. A very good copy; joints cracked; Vince is toned throughout; Moyes pamphlets have a stain on the title.. 8vo. There are 3 engraved plates.

A nonce collection of 18th century English science that contains the following: 1] - Thomas Beddoes : Observations on the Nature of Demonstrative Evidence; with an explanation of certain difficulties occurring in the elements of geometry: and reflections on language, London, J Johnson, 1793; 2] - Matthew Young : An Enquiry into the Principal Phaenomena of Sounds and Musical Strings, Dublin, J HIll, 1784, 2 plates; 3] - Samuel Vince : A Plan of a Course of Lectures on the Principles of Natural Philosophy, Cambridge, J Archdeacon, 1793, 1 plate; 4] - Henry Moyes : Syllabus of a Course of Lectures on the Philosophy of Natural History, no place, no date [ London ca 1780 ?] with ms. notes and ink corrections to the title page; 5] - Henry Moyes : Syllabus of a Course of Lectures on the Philosophy of Chemistry, no place, no date [ London ca. 1780 ?] with ms. notes and corrections to the title page. The Beddoes tract is a lengthy exegesis on the philosophy of mathematical proofs. Appended to it are two essays on the Greek language and grammar that comment on Schultens, Hemsterhuis, Monboddo, and Tooke (see Aarsleff, The Study on Language ....). Young's Enquiry is a commentary on one of the propositions in Newton's Principia . Young's book is in two sections. The first deals with the physical nature of sound. The second is on musical strings and an intensive study of the motion of elastic fibers, harmonics, sympathetic tones etc (see Kassler II, 1085 - `87) . Vince's tract was written after he was appointed to give the Plumian Lectures at Cambridge. They pre-date his massive System that appeared over 11 yrs. beginning in 1797. The two syllabi of Moyes are outlines for his private series of lectures. Neville (II, 196) refers to a copy with a similar title calling it 'very rare'. Moyes traveled to England in 1779 and stayed about six years lecturing all the while to earn a living. These outlines are his only publication. The manuscript notations on the title of each denote times, fee, and the place. Given that Moyes was blind and the hand very clear within confined margins it is unlikely that the notes are in his hand.