On the correlation of physical forces: Being the substance of a course of Lectures delivered in the London Institution in the year 1843
by GROVE, WILLIAM ROBERT
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good
- Seller
-
New York, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Charles Skipper. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. FIRST EDITION, FIRST STATE of Grove's proposal of the conservation of energy: "the earliest general account of the principle." In 1842, "Sir W.R. Grove, English judge and man of science, known by his invention of a voltaic cell, explained in a lecture the idea of the interrelation of natural powers, an elaborated it in a book published in 1846 under the title of The Correlation of Physical Forces. This and the independent study in 1847 by the great German physiologist, physicist and matematician H.L.F. von Helmholtz, Ueber die Erhaltung der Kraft, contained the earliest general account of the principle now known as the 'conservation of energy'" (Dampier, A History of Science). "In this essay... Grove argued that all physical forces such as electricity, heat, light, magnetism, and so forth, should be regarded as being correlated, or mutually inter-related. Any one of these forces could be used to produce any of the others such that no particular force could be said to be the particular cause of another. Under particular circumstances any one of them might be the cause and any of the others the effect. In many ways, the essay was an argument against traditional notions of causality. Grove advanced a large number of experimental examples from the various branches of the physical sciences to substantiate his claims. He suggested that the main task of the natural philosopher was to demonstrate how this principle of correlation operated universally" (Oxford DNB). First state: Regarded as the offprint or "unpublished" state, with "by order of the managers of the London Institution, at the request of the proprietors" on title. Contained in a sammelband with a large collection of physics and engineering texts about electricity, electro-magnetism, and telegraphy (22 papers total) in various languages, with a very interesting booklet on the use of the first telegraphic cable between Europe and United-States. Grove's work is complete, with title, Preface, and 52 pages of text. London: Charles Skpper, 1846. Octavo, nineteenth-century half-red morocco over marbled boards. With cropped inscription (from Grove?) on title. A little scuffing to binding, otherwise fine. RARE.
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- The Manhattan Rare Book Company (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 1435
- Title
- On the correlation of physical forces: Being the substance of a course of Lectures delivered in the London Institution in the year 1843
- Author
- GROVE, WILLIAM ROBERT
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Publisher
- Charles Skipper
- Place of Publication
- London
- Keywords
- physics, science, conservation of energy
Terms of Sale
The Manhattan Rare Book Company
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
The Manhattan Rare Book Company
Biblio member since 2010
New York, New York
About The Manhattan Rare Book Company
The Manhattan Rare Book Company offers fine books in all fields, specializing in the important, beautiful, and hard-to-find.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Offprint
- A copy of an article or reference material that once appeared in a larger publication.
- Morocco
- Morocco is a style of leather book binding that is usually made with goatskin, as it is durable and easy to dye. (see also...
- First State
- used in book collecting to refer to a book from the earliest run of a first edition, generally distinguished by a change in some...
- Marbled boards
- ...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...