THE STEAM ENGINE - PRESENTATION-COPY

COLDING, A(UGUST LUDVIG).

Undersøgelse over Vanddampene og deres bevægende Kraft i Dampmaskinen [Investigation of the Water Steams and their Moving Power in the Steam Engine]. (Særskilt aftrykt af det Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskabs Skrifter, 5te Række, naturvidenskabelig og Matematisk Afdeling, 3die Bind.).

Kjöbenhavn (Copenhagen), 1852.

4to. Original blue-green blank glitted gift-binding. Wear to spine with loss of paper, otherwise just a bit of wear to extremities. Internally a bit of occasional brownspotting. Stamps to title-page. 35 pp.

First edition, off-print (separately paginated), presentation-copy, of Colding's major contribution to the development of the steam engine.

The hand-written presentation on front free end-paper reads as thus: "Høivelbaarne/ Hr. General-Major Schlegel C. af D. pp./ med høiagtelse/ fra/ Forfatteren." [Honoured/ Mr. General v. Schlegel C. of D. pp. (honorary title)/ with high estimation/ from/ the author.].

Ludvig August Colding is primarily remembered today for, together with Meyer, Joule, and Helmholtz, having determined the principle of Conservation of Energy. His final major contribution to this discovery consists in the publication of his elaborated experiments which once and for all determined the accuracy of his assumption (that no amount of energy gets lost, since what is apparently lost in energy will be found in other places or in different forms, e.g. heat) (1850). Two years after that seminal publication, he publishes his main contribution to the development of the steam engine, namely his "Investigation of the Water Steams and their Moving Power in the Steam Engine" (1850), which is obviously based on his determination of the principle of conservation and alteration of energy.

Colding was a famous Danish engineer and physicist. He was originally educated as a carpenter but graduated as mechanical engineer in 1841. In 1845 he became water-inspector in Copenhagen and in 1847 he was also given the responsibility of the gas- and waterworks. Together with the famous chemist Julius Thomsen, he proved that the cholera spread throughout Copenhagen through the drinking water (1853) - a most significant discovery. After this he was responsible replacing much of the sewer-system of Copenhagen. In 1857 he became state engineer. He was also a member of the Academy of Sciences and honorary doctor at the University of Edinburgh.

His work on the power of water-stem in the steam engine is considered one of his most significant.

Order-nr.: 41484