A PIONEER-WORK

BIOT, J.-B.

Précis Élémentaire de Physique experimentale. Ouvrage destiné a L'Enseignement Public, par Arrèté de la Commission de L'Instruction publique...Tome I-II. 2 vols.

Paris, deterville, 1817. 2 contemp. blue boards. Gilt lettering to spine. Binding with some scratches along edges. X,576;(4),IV,608 pp. and 14 large folded engraved plates with many figs. A few minor brownspots.

First edition of this important work as it was one of the best textbooks of the period on physics, and in which he reports his investigations on the rotatory dispersion of plane-polarized light. Apart from the physical part, the work also deals with the chemical properties of gases, exothermic reactions, electrolytes, and Voltaic piles. In a long and importent chapter (vol. II, pp.. 397-500), Biot gives the first full exposition of the effect on plane-polarized light of various compounds. "The present pioneer-work led to the later epochal discoveries of such giants as Pasteur, Le Bel and van't Hoff, and Werner. Partington (IV, 750-51) discusses the importence of Biot's work on optical activity." (Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Liobrary, vol. I, p.154.

Order-nr.: 40115