Expériences et observations sur différentes branches de la physique, avec une continuation des observations sur l'air

Work translated from English by M. Gibelin.
French first edition. A third volume will appear in 1783 and a 4th in 1787. The copy from the Sainte Geneviève library indeed comprises 2 volumes dated 1782.
Full brown marbled calf bindings. Smooth decorated spine. Red morocco title and volume labels. Rubbing. A tear with a small loss at the foot of volume II. Red edges.
English chemist and theologian, who isolated numerous gases, such as oxygen. He is considered one of the founders of modern chemistry through his contributions to experimentation.
Priestley (1733-1804), minister, theologian and chemist, was encouraged to publish his History of Electricity by the scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin, whom he had met in 1766. Priestley discovered among other things that charcoal conducts electricity. In 1767, he realized that the electrification of conductors remains superficial. The same year, he became minister in Leeds, Yorkshire, where he began to take interest in research in the field of gases. Thanks to his innovative experimental work, he was elected to the Academy of Sciences in 1772, the year he published his Observations on Different Species of Air. His greatest contribution is the isolation of oxygen in 1774.