Autograph letter signed to an unidentified correspondent.
Publisher Information: 1813.
Cadell, William Archibald (1775-1855). Autograph letter signed to an unidentified recipient. N.p., n.d. (1813 or after). 1 page. 198 x 160 mm. Mounted. Very good.
Letter with good geological content from Scottish mathematician and antiquary W. A. Cadell, discussing the recent work of French mineralogist René-Just Hauy (1743-1822), famous for "Hauy's law" stating that every crystal of precise chemical structure and purity has a specific and characteristic shape:
"I send you Lucas's work it may be interesting to your mineralogical acquaintances as it contains the alterations which M. Hauy has made in his method since the publication of his work. . . .
"Some analysis of fer spath[…] [iron spar?] have shewn that it often contains no lime this contradicts the classification which Mr. Hauy has given of that substance for he places it under the head of carbonate of lime. . . ."
"Lucas's work" refers to Jean-André-Henri Lucas's Tableau méthodique des espèces minérales, extraite du Tableau cristallographique publié par M. Hauy en 1809 (1813). Dictionary of National Biography.
Book Id: 32327Price: $950.00