Essays on the Floating-Matter of the Air; In Relation to Putrefaction and Infection

New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1882. First American edition. Hardcover. Very Good+. 8vo. [5], viii-xix, [2], 2-338, [4] (pages of publisher's advertisements), [2] pp. Orange cloth with black decorations on the front board and gold lettering on the spine; grey topstain. Yellow endpapers and pastedowns. Illustrated with several in-text black and white diagrams. With a small folded brochure advertising "The Club" from Springfield, Mass. Dated June 29, 1898, the brochure lists the members of its organization from inception to what was then the present day. Julius H. Appleton, a noted business man and philanthropist, is the first member listed in 1873. Oxford DNB, W.H. Brock, "Tyndall, John, (1820-1893)". John Tyndall was an effective science communicator. He helped spread the knowledge of germ theory and atomism to the educated public, and challenged the reigning religious explanations of the world that were popular during the Victorian era. His series of experiments demonstrated how one could kill sterilization-resistant bacteria, and they compounded the evidence for germ theory. He was a correspondent of Pasteur's, and an important Victorian biologist who helped make advances in physics, biology, and medicine. Just a touch of wear to the extremities, overall a lovely copy.