With the report of Montgolfier's balloon ascent
Dictionnaire raisonné de toutes les parties de la physique, par M. Brisson... Nouvelle édition, augmentée des nouvelles découvertes aérostatiques, et ornée de 90 planches, représentant plus de mille instrumens, servant à toutes sortes d'expériences et de récréations physiques
Paris: chez Desray libraire, quai des Augustins, n°35. Avec approbation, et privilege du Roi, 1790. 3 volumes, 4to, 90 full-page copper engravings; bound with, as issued: Observations sur les nouvelles découvertes aërostatiques, et sur la probabilité de pouvoir diriger les ballons (title and 34 pages), Paris: Boucher, Lamy, 1784. Full contemporary calf a bit scuffed and worn, but generally a very good set. This copy of the work contains the sheets of the first edition with canceled titles with variant imprint and date. Bound in at the back of vol. II is the 1784 report of Montgolfier's balloon ascent that achieved a height of 6000 feet. This was one of the earliest and most extensive reports on the experiments of the Montgolfier brothers, taking into consideration not only their success but the future of manned flight. Mathurin Jacques Brisson (1723-1806) a zoologist and natural philosopher was the author of Le Regne Animal (1756) and Ornithologie (1760). He was assistant to R. A. F. Ramur (1683-1757) and after the latter's death was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at Navarre and later at Paris. A highly regarded teacher, his Dictionnaire was designed to be a course of study in the natural sciences. The topics are wide ranging. Horology is covered in several articles including two on automata. He quotes most of the rare 1738 text describing the mechanism of the Fluteur Automate of Jacques de Vaucanson. There are articles on contemporary efforts to solve the longitude problem and an introduction to astronomy. Most of the commonly used scientific instruments are also described. Brisson's most important contribution to the scientific literature was his Poids specifiques des Corps (1787) which provided specific gravity data on a variety of materials. The Dictionnaire includes an abbreviated table of his measurements under the heading pesanteurs specifiques. He describes the standard method to compare equal volumes of solid and pure water to derive their relative densities. He was aware that the same relationship held between various liquids and by extension gases. The practical application of the latter was the aerostat or hot air balloon. Item #3825
Price: $1,800.00
