‎RUMFORD, BENJAMIN COUNT (BENJAMIN THOMPSON). - DISCOVERING THE PRINCIPLES OF OCEAN CIRCULATION.‎
‎Mémoire sur la maniere dont la CHALEUR se propage dans les FLUIDES sur une loi remarquable qui s'observe dans la condensation de l'eau par le froid, lorque ce liquide approche du terme de la congélation" & sur les effets surprenans qui sont pro...‎

‎A Geneve, Biblioth. Britannique, 1797. 8vo. Contemp. marbled boards. Paperlabel with handwritten volume- title on spine. Boards rubbed. In: ""Bibliotheque Britannique"", Tome cinquieme. Sciences et Arts. A name cut from titlepage, no loss of letters. Entire volume offered. 392 pp., 4 folded tables a. 3 folded engraved plates. A faint dampstain to foot of titlepage, otherwise clean, printed on good paper. Rumford's paper: pp. 97-200 a. 1 engraved folded plate.‎

Reference : 50776

‎First printing of the founding paper on Oceanography, describing the experiments leading to the discovery of the convection currents in the sea. Cold water at depth in the tropics implies a meriodinal circulation transporting deep water from the polar regions towards the equator. Water cooled at the surface in high latitudes gets denser and hence descends. (Parkinson ""Breakthroughs"" 1797).The volume also contains the first translation of any part (into French) of JAMES HUTTON ""Theory of the Earth, &c. Théorie de la Terre, avec des preuves & des éclaircissemens"" en guatre parties. (1.-2. Extrait)."". Pp. 53-73 a. pp. 262-273.‎