Observations on different kinds of air. In: Philosophical Transactions 62 (1772)
Publisher Information: London: 1772.
Priestley, Joseph (1733-1804). Observations on different kinds of air. In: Philosophical Transactions 62 (1772): 147-264, 1 folding copperplate. Whole volume, 4to. xiv, 494, [2, including errata]pp. 12 (of 14) folding copperplates, lacking Plates III and IV* (not affecting the Priestley paper). London: Davis, 1772. 222 x 171 mm. Modern quarter calf, marbled boards in period style. Light foxing and toning, a few small tears in plates repaired, occasional offsetting from plates, but very good. Faint embossed library stamp on title and last few leaves.
First Edition. The first of Priestley's remarkable papers on pneumatic chemistry. "In this essay Priestley showed that in air collected after the processes of combustion, respiration or putrefaction, one-fifth of the volume disappeared. He had also observed that mint grew vigorously in air tainted by animal respiration and that evidently plants reversed the process of polluting the air as respiration did. In this paper he also announced two new gases that he had obtained- nitrous oxide and carbonic oxide; these won him the Royal Society's Copley medal" (Dibner 40). Priestley's hundreds of experiments on different types of "air," carried out over several years, led to the identification of numerous gases, including ammonia, nitrogen dioxide and (most importantly) oxygen, which Priestley obtained in 1774 by heating mercuric oxide. Priestley's experiments with gases led Cavendish and Watt to discover the compound nature of water, and it was this revelation, coupled with Priestley's isolation of oxygen, that formed the experimental basis of Lavoisier's new oxidation chemistry. Printing and the Mind of Man 217.
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