Beschreibung:

AVOGADRO, Amadeo (1776-1856). Fisica de' corpi ponderabili ossia trattato della costituzione generale de' corpi del cavaliere. Turin: Stamperia reale, 1837-41.
AVOGADRO, Amadeo (1776-1856). Fisica de' corpi ponderabili ossia trattato della costituzione generale de' corpi del cavaliere. Turin: Stamperia reale, 1837-41. 4 volumes, 8° (222 x 142mm). Half-titles, 18 folding engraved plates, with the blank 58.8 in vol. IV. (A few leaves spotted or lightly browned.) Contemporary panelled calf, sides with wide borders tooled in gilt or blind, flat spine lettered and decorated in gilt (spines a little sunfaded, extremities rubbed, front hinges cracked or broken in all vols. but cords still firmly holding), gilt edges. Provenance: library stamp (mostly faint, one title in vol.II and one leaf of each vol.). FIRST EDITION, THE FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT OF ‘AVOGADRO'S NUMBER’. A major treatise containing Avogadro's famous hypothesis that the number of integral molecules in any gas is always the same for equal volumes, or always proportional to the volumes. This was of great importance for 19th-century chemistry in effectively distinguishing between atoms and molecules. Avogadro first published this hypothesis in 1811, but it was largely ignored for another half century, partly because it was published first in Italian (when Italy was at the periphery of scientific research) and subsequently only in minor French, German and English scientific journals. Norman 89.