Denis Diderot and Jean d'AlembertBiblio.com
D'ALEMBERT, Jean le RondBiblio.com
REFLEXIONS SUR LA CAUSE GENERALE DES VENTS.
17472082<p>4to pp. viii xxviii 194 138; with two folding leaves of plates; engraved vignette on title-page and engraved headpiece both by Eisen; prelims misbound but complete tear to lower corner of b1 not affecting text and some spotting and foxing mainly marginal; in contemporary calf spine gilt in compartments with raised bands gilt morocco lettering-piece; some wear especially to joints and extremities.</p><p>First Paris printing in the same year as the Berlin first but unlike the Berlin issue also including the original Latin text of d'Alembert's prize essay of this important essay on wind patterns and tides.</p><p>"In 1747 d'Alembert published two more important works one of which the <em>Réflexions sur la cause générale des Vents</em> won a prize from the Prussian Academy. In it appear the first general use of partial differential equations in mathematical physics. Euler later perfected the techniques of using these equations . D'Alembert's treatise on winds was the only of his works honoured by a prize and ironically was later shown to be based on insufficient assumptions. D'Alembert assumed that wind patterns were the result of tidal effects on the atmosphere and he relegated the influence of heat to a minor role one that caused only local variations from the general circulation. Still as a work on atmospheric tides it was successful and Lagrange continued to praise d'Alembert's efforts many years later." <em>DSB</em> I p.113.</p><p>Norman 34.</p> Chez David l’aîné
Edmund Brumfitt Rare Books Ltd · Royaume-Uni850,00 £GB≈ 970,53 €
