‎FONTANA (F.)‎
‎Opuscules physiques et chymiques traduits de l'italien par M. GIBELIN -- PREMIERE EDITION FRANCAISE -- BEL EXEMPLAIRE‎

‎P., Nyon, 1784, un volume in 8 relié en pleine basane marbrée, dos orné de fers dorés, tranches rouges (reliure de l'époque), (petites piqures de vers sans gravité dans les marges inférieures), (4), 264pp.‎

Reference : 21350

‎---- PREMIERE EDITION FRANCAISE ---- BEL EXEMPLAIRE ---- "Contains several letters of the author on physical and chemical subjects, especially on combustion published préviously in various journals. The topics covered include respiration, compressibility of gases, solidity and fluidity of bodies, heat, calcination, thermometers, etc. Lettera II, to A. Murray, gives experiments and arguments critical of the respiration theories of Bergman and Scheele". ( Cole N° 449/450 - Duveen p. 224) ---- "In 1765 FONTANA was appointed to the chair of logic and, in 1766, to the chair of physics at the University of Pisa. Also in 1766, Leopold I summoned Fontana to Florence to organize and develop the court's physics laboratory... FONTANA belongs, together with Spallanzani among the major microcospists of the eighteenth century... The exploration of FONTANA's chemical works begun by Icilio Guareschi, also interesting in its applicative aspects. Also noteworthy are Fontana's model of the eudiometer (for measuring the salubrity of air), an apparatus for oxygen therapy, and his studies on the absorbent powers of coal...". (DSB V pp. 55/57) ---- "FONTANA's most outstanding work was a series of experiments on respiration, the calcination of metals, absorption of gases by charcoal, the production of inflammable gas from water and heated charcoal, etc, in which he showed that the weight remains constant in chemical reactions and that different gases follow Boyle's law". (Partington III p. 323/324) ---- Cole N° 450**2135/21350/o3-2133/cart.7‎