Philosophical Experiments and Observations of the late Eminent Dr. Robert Hooke . . . and Other Eminent Virtuoso's in his Time. Published by William Derham F.R.S.

HOOKE, Robert

Editore: London: W. & J. Innys, 1726

First edition of this collection of 42 of Hooke's previously unpublished papers. Shortly after Hooke died in 1703, his miscellaneous papers and unpublished manuscripts were entrusted to Richard Waller, who edited and published some of them in 'The Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke' (1705). Waller himself died, however, before he was able to complete the task of publishing Hooke's papers, and they were eventually handed to William Durham, who finally pushed this volume in 1726. Derham "found [Hooke's papers] to be in great confusion and many imperfect. He accordingly gives Hooke's papers as far as possible in chronological order, interspersed with papers by others" (Keynes, pp. 63-65). We can only briefly mention a few of the most important. 'Dr Hook's Invention of Reflecting Telescope' (pp. 269-270) describes a telescope constructed by Hooke in 1673. "Hooke's telescope followed [James] Gregory, and differed from Newton's, in that it allowed the observer to look directly at the object being viewed. The eyepiece was set in the middle of the large speculum, and the observer saw an image reflected from this object speculum onto a smaller concave mirror set in the middle of the tube. On 5 February 1674 . Hooke presented his reflecting telescope to the Royal Society . [It was] the first practical Gregorian telescope, in which the observer looked directly at the object, that had ever been constructed" (Inwood, The Curious Life of Robert Hooke, p. 172). 'Dr Hook's Discourse of Carriages .' (pp. 150-67) "placed the study of friction in vehicle and road design on a scientific footing for the first time . Hooke's advice, that hard roads were more important than smooth ones, and that it was more efficient for wheels to have a large diameter than a wide rim, was sound, but generally ignored" (ibid., p. 357). 'Dr Hook's Method of Making Experiments" (pp. 26-8) are Hooke's notes made as curator of experiments at the Royal Society. They stipulate that the curator was to make the demonstrations "with Care and Exactness", then to be "diligent, accurate, and curious" in "shewing to the Assembly of Spectators, such Circumstances and Effects . as are material." 'Dr Hook's Description of some Instruments for Sounding the great Depths of the sea, and bringing Accounts of several Kinds from the Bottom of it' (pp. 225-248) laid the foundations of the science of oceanography. "Scientists and mariners took little interest in the subject for the next hundred years, and when oceanographic study intensified in the mid-nineteenth century, mainly because of the laying of submarine telegraphic cables, hardly anyone remembered the debt that was owed to Robert Hooke" (ibid., p. 412). The collection naturally reflects Hooke the controversialist [pp. 388-91]. "The discovery of the variation in the time of a pendulum swing in different parts of the world, which Cassini attributed to France, had been announced by Hooke to the Royal Society '32 or 33 years since', in December 1664. England had been well ahead of France and Italy in making good seventy-foot telescopes, thanks to the work of Sir Christopher Wren and Richard Reeve, and Hooke had been the first to use such object lenses in tubeless telescopes. Cassini had even claimed the application of telescopic sights and micrometers to astronomical instruments, and Hooke's well-known invention, the clockwork-driven telescope, for France, when in every case they had been pioneered in England. Hooke was especially hurt by Cassini's claim that Huygens had invented the watch with a spring-regulated balance" (ibid., pp. 429-430). In addition to Hooke's own papers, this collection contains important correspondence, perhaps most notably three letters from Leeuwenhoek on his microscopical observations (pp. 55-7, 61-4 & 65-74). 8vo, pp. [viii], 391, [9], with 4 engraved plates (faint stamp and call no. to title verso, light browning). Modern calf. Codice articolo ABE-1726069068875

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Titolo: Philosophical Experiments and Observations ...
Casa editrice: London: W. & J. Innys
Data di pubblicazione: 1726
Legatura: Hardcover
Condizione: Very Good
Edizione: 1st Edition