Observations on different Kinds of Air . . . Read March 5, 12, 19, 26, 1772

London: Printed for Lockyer Davis, in Holbourn, Printer to the Royal Society, 1772. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. In: Philosophical Transactions, Giving Some Account of the Present Undertakings, Studies, and Labours, of the Ingenuious in Many Considerable Parts of the World. Vol. 62, pp. 147-264. London: Printed for Lockyer Davis, in Holbourn, Printer to the Royal Society, 1772. 4to (220 x 163 mm). Entire volume: xiv, 494, [2] pp., 14 folding engraved plates (one illustrating Priestley's contribution), errata leaf at end. 2 plates torn without loss, occasional light spotting and staining. Bound in contemporary calf, spine with two hand-lettered labels, gilt ruling to boards (binding rebacked and recornered, boards rubbed and scratched), red-dyed edges, original endpapers. Provenance: Belfast Society (stamped in gilt on upper board); Peter and Margarete Braune. Very little even browning throughout, occasional minor spotting and dust soiling, small worm hole to fore-edge of first 4 leaves, 2 plates torn without loss. A very good and clean copy in original binding. ---- Dibner 40; Honeyman 2535; PMM 217; Norman 1749. FIRST EDITION of the author's most important work on gas theory, published in the Philosophical Transactions two years before its first appearance in book form under the title Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air in 1774). "The paper here cited, for which the Royal Society awarded Priestley the Copley medal, announced the discovery of hydrochloric acid and nitric oxide, and the use of the latter in measuring the purity of air, which led through the work of Cavendish, Fontana and others to exact eudiometry. Priestley also observed that plants consume carbon dioxide and give out oxygen, thereby purifying air which has been vitiated by combustion, respiration or putrefaction, and that this action takes place only under daylight. This proved of the greatest value for the subsequent work on respiration by Ingenhousz and Senebier." (PMM). "Priestley showed that in air collected after the processes of combustion, respiration or putrefaction, one-fifth of the volume disappeared. He had also observed that mint grew vigorously in air tainted by animal respiration and that evidently plants reversed the process of polluting the air as respiration did. In this paper he also announced two new gases that he had obtained: nitrous oxide and carbonic oxide" (Dibner). - Visit our website to see more images!