Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1876. Octavo, original brown cloth. pp viii, 51. Moderate wear and rubbing at ends of lightly darkened spine; light foxing to verso of front free endpaper and title page; light sunning to inner margin of front cover; else a VG clean and tight copy, no owner names nor text marks. In the Preface, Watson acknowledges his debt to James Clerk Maxwell, Clausius and to Ludwig Boltzmann. "My great object in the following short treatise is to make the existing state of the theory more widely known by presenting some of the scattered memoirs of the writers I have mentioned in a systematic and continuous form, in the hope that mathematicians may be induced to turn their attention to the theory, and thus assist in removing, if possible, the obstacles which yet remain in the way of its complete establishment. For the most part, I have followed the method of treatment adopted by Dr. Ludwig Boltzmann in some very interesting memoirs conducted by him to the Transactions of the Imperial Academy of Vienna, but in some cases I have varied this treatment for the sake of greater conciseness or greater generality ...To Professor Clerk Maxwell I am indebted for much kind assistance, and especially for access to some of his manuscript notes on the subject, from which I have taken many valuable suggestions." "During his last two years Maxwell returned to molecular physics in earnest and produced two full-length papers, strikingly different in scope, each among the most powerful he ever wrote. The first, 'On Boltzmann's Theorem on the Average Distribution of Energy in a System of Material Points,' following a line of thought started by Boltzmann, who in 1868 had offered a new conjectural derivation of the distribution law based on combinatorial theory. A strange feature of the analysis was that it seemed to be free from restrictions on the time spent in encounters between molecules. Maxwell now gave his own investigation of the problem, based partly on Boltzmann's ideas and partly on an extension of them contained in H. W. Watson's Treatise on the Kinetic Theory of Gases. Following Watson, Maxwell used Hamilton's form of the dynamical equations, and adopted the device of representing the state of motion of a large number n of particles by the location of a single point in a 'phase-space' of 2n dimensions, the coordinates of which are the positions and momenta of the particles. Together with Boltzmann's articles this paper of Maxwell's marks the emergence of statistical mechanics as an independent science." - DSB (in the article on Maxwell).

Philadelphia: Haswell, Barrington, and Haswell, 1838. A bound volume of 11 pamphlets, octavo, bound without covers, in recent rebinding of quarter maroon cloth and marbled boards, edges trimmed, new endpapers. Many of the pamphlets bear the ink & pencilsignatures of E. Baynes Reed in top margins, one dated 1882. Some ofthe signatures are partially cropped. Reed, of London, Ontario, was a member and officer of The Entomological Society of Ontario and was later Superintendent of the Meteorological Office in Victoria, BC when he was elected to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 1907. CONTAINING: GENERAL METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER for the year 1883. pp 6, (2, blank). Toronto, 1883. Findings of the magnetical observatory in Toronto, Ontario, for the year 1883. VG. ++ WELLS, William Charles. AN ESSAY ON DEW, and several appearances connected with it. Philadelphia: Haswell, Barrington, and Haswell, 1838. First US edition of this scientific classic. pp 71. Foxed, nice copy otherwise. Dr.Wells (1757-1817) was born in Charleston, South Carolina, but left America for England at the time of the revolution. He served as physician to St Thomas's Hospital, London, from 1800-17. "In 1812 he began to study dew with great patience...and in August 1814, he published his ESSAY ON DEW, called by the famous physicist JohnTyndall 'a model of wise enquiry and lucid exposition' ...His conclusions can be stated. The cooling of the earth's surface, and of the bodies that accumulate dew, is the result of radiation to space. This radiation is always going on, but can be largely interrupted by clouds; and in the daytime it is overbalanced by the radiation to the earth from the sun. Wells had an extremely clear of what is now called the radiation balance of the atmosphere ..." W.E.K. Middleton, A History of the Theories of Rain, pp 188-91. "For this important work, Wells was awarded the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society. His researches on the subject were of major importance in the development of the science of ventilation, particularly in its relation to relative humidity and the influence of the latter on the comfort of the occupants of factories, ships, theatres, etc..." - Garrison-Morton 1604. ++ H.W. "On the Law of Storms". Article VIII. [from Poggendorf's ANNALEN DER PHYSIK UND CHEMIE, 1841]. No place, no date (late 19thcentury?). pp 197-220. Illustrated. Fine. HeinrichWilhelm Dove (1803-79) was an important meteorologist whose DAS GESETZ DER STURME was published Berlin, 1861, and London, 1862, as THE LAW OF STORMS. ++ SHORT MEMOIRS ON METEOROLOGICAL SUBJECTS. Translated by Cleveland Abbe. Reprinted from the Smithsonian Report for 1877. Washington: GPO, 1878. pp (375)-478. Fine. Contains 11 papers by Hann, Sohncke, Reye, Ferrel, Colding, & Peslin. ++ ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CHIEF SIGNAL OFFICER OF THE ARMY TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR FOR THE YEAR 1884. Washington City, 1884. pp 30. Fine. Includes short report on Arctic expeditions of Lts. Ray and Greely. ++ BAILEY, William O. REPORT OF THE MICHIGAN FOREST FIRES OF 1881, Washington: Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1882. Signal Service Notes no. 1. pp 16 + folding map of the burnt districts in the "thumb" of Michigan at the juncture of Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron, plus 5 diagram maps of the damage at 5 locations. ++ WALDO, Leonard. FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ASTRONOMER IN CHARGE OF THE HOROLOGICAL AND THERMOMETRIC BUREAUS OF THE WINCHESTER OBSERVATORY OF YALE COLLEGE 1880-1881...New Haven Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, Printers, 1881. pp 32. With REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1882-1883 of H.A, Newton, Director, to the Board of Managers of the Observatory in Yale College...pp 6. VG. ++ WALDO. THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ASTRONOMER IN CHARGE OF THE HOROLOGICALAND THERMOMETRIC BUREAUS IN THE OBSERVATORY OF YALE COLLEGE 1882-1883...New Haven Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, Printers, 1883. pp (7)-20. VG. ++ WALDO. SECOND ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ASTRONOMER...in the observatory of Yale College 1882-1883. New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, Printers, 1883. pp (7)-20. VG.++ DIRECTIONS FOR METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, and the registry of periodical phenomena. Washington: GPO, 1872. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 148. pp (ii), 70, including Index. Illustrated, including Green's Standard Barometer. Fine. ++ BELL, Robert. THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE FOREST TREES OF CANADA (From the report of the survey for 1880). Montreal: Gazette Printing Company, 1882. pp 21. Margins trimmed too close, affecting some of the printed margin notes, nice otherwise.

London: Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1817. Octavo, 23 cm. pp iv, 103, untrimmed. Title page printed in red and black. Quarter bound in original boards. Backstrip lacking, hinges and joints repaired with rice paper tape. Lacking the front free endpaper; pastedown scarred from removal of label; name clipped from top edge of front free endpaper, with two inch slit to top margin of title leaf neatly repaired; damp stain to upper inner corner of title leaf; yellowing and light foxing in text; in all, a good, clean copy, text unworn >> Garrison-Morton 1604.1. Carlisle "addressed himself directly to old people and advised the young to adopt a sound regimen early in life in order to secure longevity. He described diseases common to the aging and looked upon the age of 60 as the beginning of senility. His comments on surgical problems of the old were incorporated in one of the first specialty books on this subject. He pointed out that 'dangerous operations are rarely adviseable in advanced age' because of the reduction in vitality and the presence of constitutional disorders". "Carlisle was niether a brilliant anatomist nor physiologist, but was a fairly good surgeon. His introduction of the thin-bladed, straight-edged amputating knife, in place of the old clumsy crooked one, and his use of the simple carpenter's saw make his name chiefly worthy of note." - DNB. Wellcome II p. 301.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989. Grey cloth. pp (xvi), 285. Index. Fine in very nearly fine jacket. "Francis Bacon and the Rhetoric of Nature offers a synthesis of Bacons views about language and nature. John Briggs clarifies the close relation between Bacons famous reform of scientific method and his less well-known conceptions of rhetoric, nature, and religion. He examines traditional views of nature and persuasion that were influential in the intellectual and practical life of early-seventeenth-century England, and shows how Bacon replaces the old nature with is gradual unfolding of organic potential with a new nature of violence, secrecy, and instantaneous revelation rewarding the self-abnegating, assiduous sons of science. Briggs explores Bacons paradoxes and puzzles in the context of the older Aristotelian and cosmological perspective, paying particular attention to the views of persuasion. He points out a remarkable and complex consistency in Bacons use of Solomon, Moses, Paul, and the Greeks, and reveals the depth of Bacons conviction that nature is Gods code, which scientists decipher and exploit. He uncovers, throughout in Bacons work, a darker, more Machiavellian and ingenious Bacon than the twentieth-century admirers of his rationalist facade have identified." - jacket.

London: Macmillan, 1892. Second edition, with slight corrections, but adding a new 20 page author Preface (first edition was in 1869). Octavo, maroon cloth, black endpapers. pp (xxx), (380), (4, ads). Note: the title leaf is a cancel. Book a little leaned, with small nicks to ends of lightly sunned spine; cracked inner hinge neatly repaired with rice paper coloured to match the endpapers; small spots to verso of front free endpaper; else a VG clean, tight and unworn copy, no owner names. Galton was Charles Darwin's cousin, the originator of eugenic studies, and the pioneer of the classification of finger-prints for identification purposes. "The method used in Hereditary Genius has been described as the first example of historiometry. To bolster these results, and to attempt to make a distinction between 'nature' and 'nurture' (he was the first to apply this phrase to the topic), he devised a questionnaire that he sent out to 190 Fellows of the Royal Society. He tabulated characteristics of their families, such as birth order and the occupation and race of their parents. He attempted to discover whether their interest in science was 'innate' or due to the encouragements of others. The studies were published as a book, English men of science: their nature and nurture, in 1874. In the end, it promoted the nature versus nurture question, though it did not settle it, and provided some fascinating data on the sociology of scientists of the time." - Wikipedia. 1.5 kg parcel

Paris: De Bure, 1785. Second edition (first was 1779-82). Three volumes, quarto, bound in contemporary mottled calf. I: pp (2, blank), (xvi), 751 + 13 folding plates. II: pp (iv), 751 + 5 folding plates. III: pp (2, blank), (iv), 415. Bound-in ribbon markers, marbled page edges, red page edges. Half-titles present, woodcut head and tail pieces. The engraved plates show geometrical constructions, star maps, instruments. Spines worn, with one titling piece perished, others chipped at edges, gilt ornamentation mostly worn away, shallow chips at spine tips. Bit of wear to outer corners and fore edges; joints and hinges neatly repaired; crease to lower outer corner of first few leaves of Vol. I; offset browning to margins of fly leaf and half-title of Vol. I and II; text clean and fresh, no tears to plates, Holland House bookplate (with red pencil shelf mark) at front of each volume. In all, good externally, text near fine, now tight in the bindings. >>>Bailly, a French orator, poet, playwright and astronomer, was one of the early leaders of the French Revolution, but like so many, was guillotined during the Reign of Terror. "Born in Paris, he was originally intended for the profession of a painter, but preferred writing tragedies, until attracted to science by the influence of Nicolas de Lacaille. He calculated an orbit for Halley's Comet when it appeared in 1759, reduced Lacaille's observations of 515 zodiacal stars, and was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1763. His Essai sur la theorie des satellites de Jupiter (Essay on the theory of the satellites of Jupiter, 1766), an expansion of a memoir presented to the Academy in 1763, showed much original power; and it was followed up in 1771 by a noteworthy dissertation Sur les inegalites de la lumiere des satellites de Jupiter (On the inequalities of light of the satellites of Jupiter). Meantime, he had gained a high literary reputation by his Éloges of King Charles V of France, Lacaille, Molière, Pierre Corneille and Gottfried Leibniz, which were issued in collected form in 1770 and 1790; he was admitted to the Académie française on 26 February 1784, and to the Académie des Inscriptions in 1785, when Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle's simultaneous membership of all three Academies was renewed in him. From then on, he devoted himself to the history of science, publishing successively: Histoire de l'astronomie ancienne (A history of ancient astronomy, 1775); Histoire de l'astronomie moderne (A history of modern astronomy, 3 vols., 1779-1782); Lettres sur l'origine des sciences (Letters on the origin of the sciences, 1777); Lettres sur l' Atlantide de Platon (Letters on Plato's Atlantide , 1779); and Traite de l'astronomie indienne et orientale (A treatise on Indian and Oriental astronomy, 1787). The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica remarks that ‘Their erudition was… marred by speculative extravagances.’ The Revolution interrupted his studies. Elected deputy from Paris to the Estates-General, he was elected president of the Third Estate (5 May 1789), led the famous proceedings in the Tennis Court (20 June), and - immediately after the storming of the Bastille - became the first mayor of Paris under the newly adopted system of the Commune (15 July, 1789 to 16 November 1791). One of his actions in this position was to secure, with others, and in the face of threats and ridicule, the passage of a decree of Sept. 27, 1791 (confirmed Nov. 30 of the same year), which declared Jews to be French citizens, with all rights and privileges. This decree repealed the special taxes that had been imposed on the Jews, as well as all the ordinances existing against them. The dispersal by the National Guard, under his orders, of the riotous assembly in the Champ de Mars (17 July 1791) made him unpopular, and he retired to Nantes, where he composed his Mémoires d'un témoin (published in 3 vols. by MM. Berville and Barrière, 1821-1822), an incomplete narrative of the extraordinary events of his public life. Late in 1793, Bailly left Nantes to join his friend Pierre Simon Laplace at Melun, but was there recognized, arrested and brought (10 November) before the Revolutionary Tribunal at Paris. On 12 November he was guillotined amid the insults of a howling mob. In the words of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, 'He met his death with patient dignity; having, indeed, disastrously shared the enthusiasms of his age, but taken no share in its crimes.' The lunar crater Bailly was named in his honor." - Wikipedia. This was perhaps the most important history of astronomy published in the 18th century. Holland house, built in 1605 and mostly destroyed during WWII, was one of the first great houses in Kensington (London). Under the third Lord Holland it was a celebrated centre of literary, political, and social activity. Note: 5 kg parcel, please enquire for shipping rate.