CAVALLO, Tiberius.
A Treatise on the Nature and Properties of Air, and other permanently elastic fluids. To which is prefixed, an introduction to chymistry. London: Printed for the author. 1781.
London: Printed for the author. .1781
4to, pp. xii, 835, (9) index and errata, 3 folding plates of apparatus by Basire, 1 folding letterpress table. Gatherings N to P spotted, some foxing and browning elsewhere and some small stains. Good modern half calf antique. Eighteenth century annotations on 3 pages (one of which is somewhat soiled), the first of which gives details of the “Engine at Hawksbery” (a water pump), possibly Hawkesbury Hall, Warwickshire, occupied by the Parrott family who had been operating mines in the neighbourhood from at least 1721.
FIRST EDITION of Cavallo’s large treatise, published as a handsome quarto at his own expense, on the physics and composition of the atmosphere, “a judicious examination of contemporary work, particularly Priestley’s, presented from a nondogmatic phlogistic point of view” (DSB). He gives a short introductory course of chemistry, describes an improved air pump and eudiometer, and gives an account of some extensions of the experiment by Ingenhousz on the influence of light on the growth of plants, among much else. Cole 236. Duveen pp. 127–128. This was the only edition in English.
£800.00
In stock
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