Cavallo, Tiberius; Brosius, F. X. The Elements of Natural or Experimental Philosophy (2 volume set). Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson & Son | T. H. Palmer, Printer, 1819. Second American Edition, with additional notes, selected from various authors, by F. X. Brosius. [12010]
Two volumes in full brown calf, red leather title labels, front joint of vol. i. cracked but not separated and holding well, each 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches. A little surface worming to the front of vol. i., both with edge-wear, both volumes tight. xxx, 472; iv, 551 pp., complete with 21 folding plates and one chart. Foxing in both; vol. i. with damp stain at the top margins of the introductory material. 1824 signature in brown ink on the free end papers and title pages. Good. Hardcover.
Volume I. with an Introduction and two sections: 1. Of the General Properties of Bodies; and 2. Of the Peculiar Properties of Bodies.
Volume II. with three parts: 1. Of Caloric, Light, Electricity, and Magnetism; 2. Astronomy; 3. Containing a few unconnected Subjects: Aerostation, Meteors, "Of the Stony Bodies which are said to have fallen from the Sky"; and Of the Standard Measure.
Tiberius Cavallo (1749-1809), b. Naples, Kingdom of Naples; d. London, England. The son of a physician, Cavallo's interest in science began at a young age. By 1771 he was in England seeking associates among the scientists in London. He became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1779. He published A Complete Treatise on Electricity in Theory and Practice in 1771, with revised editions published over the next 20 years.
"An excellent compendium, the Treatise served the needs of both the neophyte and the initiate, who found in its appendixes valuable details about medical electricity; about Beccaria's obscure theories; and about Cavallo's forte, the design and operation of electrostatic instruments." - Heilbron, Compete Dictionary of Scientific Biography.
The set we present to you here was first published in 1803 and was his last and most ambitious work.
