Recherches sur les causes des principaux faits physiques. 2 vols.
Publisher Information: Paris: Maradan, 1794.
Lamarck, Jean Baptiste (1744-1829). Recherches sur les causes des principaux faits physiques. . . . 2 vols., 8vo. xvi, 375; [4], 412pp. Engraved plate in Vol. I, folding chart in Vol. II. B1 in Vol. I is a cancel, signed “B*”. Paris: Maradan, seconde année de la République [1794]. 211 x 136 mm. Original paste paper wrappers, hand-lettered paper spine labels, spines worn and chipped with some loss, wrappers partly detached. Edges a bit frayed, some toning, but very good.
First Edition of Lamarck’s first major scientific work. “With the publication of the Recherches, Larmarck brought together the various strands of his work in physics and chemistry, and his views on the differences between organic and inorganic beings” (Corsi, pp. 47-48). Lamarck’s chemical theories played an important part in the development of his ideas about the origin of species, as they provided a materialistic definition of life, reproduction and evolution. In opposition to the “new chemistry” established by Lavoisier, Lamarck held that there were only four true elements: Earth, air, fire and water. Fire was the most important of these four elements, and its three states—natural, “fixed,” and a state of expansion (caloric fire)—were central to a great number of chemical and physical phenomena. Lamarck believed that only living beings could produce chemical compounds, with the most complex compounds being produced by those animals with the most highly organized physiological structure; in the absence of life, these compounds would naturally decompose over time into their constituent elements, producing in the process all known inorganic substances. This mineral “chain of being,” with continuous degradation from the most complex to the simplest, is similar to Lamarck’s later theory of the evolution of species: Each stressed the gradual and successive production of forms, while denying the relevance of defined species. Corsi, The Age of Lamarck, pp. 47-53. Duveen, Bibliotheca alchemica et chemica, p. 334. Norman 1260.
Book Id: 43640Price: $1,250.00