Physico-Mechanical Experiments On Various Subjects. Containing An Account of several Surprizing Phenomena touching Light and Electricity, Producible on the Attrition of Bodies. With many other Remarkable Appearances, not before observ'd. Together with the Explanations of all the Machines, (the Figures of which are Curiously Engrav'd on Copper) and other Apparatus us'd in making the Experiments. by HAUKSBEE, Francis (1666-1713) - 1709

London:: R. Brugis, 1709., 1709. Small 4to. (201 x 160 mm) [14], 194 pp. 8 plates (7 folding); foxing to some sections, plates 3 and 4 bound in reverse order, 1 plate facing p. 160, margins of two plates reinforced. Full modern speckled olive calf, raised bands, gilt-stamped spine title, by Johanna Rojgard [Sweden]. Bookplate of Andras Gedeon, ink ownership marks of James William Heath (1869) on front endleaf. Very good. FIRST EDITION. THE DISCOVERY OF NEON LIGHTING. By 1705, Hauksbee had discovered that if he placed a small amount of mercury in the glass of his modified version of Otto von Guericke's generator and evacuated the air from it, and then he caused a charge to be built up on the ball, a glow was visible if he placed his hand on the outside of the ball. This glow was bright enough to read by. This effect later became the basis of Neon lighting and mercury vapor lights. "Hauksbee's important experiments on electroluminescence, static electricity, and capillarity, described in the present work, mark the beginning of sustained experimentation in the field of electricity. He was the first to demonstrate the optical effects produced by the passage of electricity through rarified air. His demonstration of the efficacy of glass in producing frictional electricity opened the way from the work of Gray, Dufay and Franklin, and his discoveries in capillarity (he was the first adequately to explore the subject) influenced Laplace nearly one hundred years later. Hauksbee performed many of his experiments at the suggestion of Isaac Newton, from whom Hauksbee learned the theoretical import of some of his discoveries; in turn, Hauksbee's results influenced Newton's revisions and additions in the new editions of his Principia and Optiks." [Norman]. PROVENANCE: [Undetermined owner, 1854] –James William Heath (1869) – Dr. Andras Gedeon [Sweden] [c.2008]. References: DSB Vol. VI, pp. 169-175; Duveen, p. 282; ESTC T60574; Gedeon pp. 92-93 [this copy]; Norman 1020; Wheeler Gift 232.