Milestones of Science Books

ALEMBERT, Jean le Rond d'.

Réflexions sur la cause générale des vents. Piece qui a remporte le prix propose par l'Academie Royale des Sciences de Berlin, pour l'annee 1746.

Paris: chez David l'aine, 1747.

1st Edition. Hardcover. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Very Good. Item #002024

Two parts in one volume. 4to (214x162 mm), [8] xxviii 194, 138 pp., including engraved vignette on title, engraved headpiece on dedication, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces and two engraved plates. Contemporary calf, spine gilt in compartments (boards rubbed and damaged, extremities scuffed, spine chipped), red morocco lettering-piece, red-dyed edges. Title page brown-stained at outer margins, text leaves unevenly browned throughout, occasional slight spotting, small wormhole at lower margin of a few leaves not affecting text. Good copy with ample margins. ----

Norman 34; DSB I, p.113; Sotheran 71; Honeyman 806. - First edition. "In 1747 d'Alembert published two more important works, one of which, the Réflexions sur la cause générale des Vents, 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 honored 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'Alemberts's efforts many years later." (DSB I, p.113).

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