[PHYSICAL SCIENCES]. LABAT, François de, Chevalier de Vivens - Lot 13

[PHYSICAL SCIENCES]. LABAT, François de, Chevalier de Vivens (1687-1780) Important notes on electric fire, cold, density (specific gravity) and various experiments. 31pp, various formats. (s.l.n.d. [Bordeaux]); Air exists in a great united mass, which we call atmosphere, where all animals live and die & where some of them swim, like birds. In the same way, water exists en masse, forming lakes, rivers & seas, where a particular species of animal lives. Fire similarly exists en masse in the sun, in the earth [ ]; Heat dilates bodies & cold constricts it. Heat has a centrifugal force, it is the primitive movement of atoms, the simple movement that tends to dissipate the body; to crush in their part [ ] . Important notes and observations on the thermometer. 12 pp in-8 autograph annotations and corrections (s.l.n.d[Bordeaux]) ; I have remarked elsewhere that one cannot judge the coldness of solid bodies by means of the thermometer, for the thermometer in whatever places you put it between solid bodies can indicate that the heat of the air which is in the interstices left by the bodies between one & which are filled by this fluid [ ] ; M. H has argued that evaporation from the surface of water is more than three times as great as evaporation from the surface of the earth [ ] .