Traite Elementaire de Physique.

Paris:: V. Courcier, 1821., 1821. THIRD EDITION. Two volumes. 8vo. [2], lxii, 510, [2]; [2], 452, [2] pp. 6; 12 engraved folding plates; scattered foxing, not affecting legibility. Later quarter gilt-stamped calf over beige paper-backed boards, green place-keeping ribbons. Near fine. Hauy (1743-1822) was a renowned French crystallographer and mineralogist who "worked primarily in descriptive, physical, and theoretical mineralogy." He expanded d'Isle's studies on various forms of the same crystal species, concluding that "the primitive form of crystals of a certain species results as a nucleus from the cleavage of all their secondary forms." Essentially, "his crystal theory is fundamentally static and mathematical. . . [and] is at the base of the modern lattice theory developed by Delafosse, Bravais, Sohncke, Fyodorov, and Schonflies" (DSB, Vol. VI, 179-80). In terms of physics, Hauy's contribution consisted of his "researches on double refraction in crystals (especially tourmaline and boracites), and on piezoelectricity. Hauy's Traite de physique brought him appointment to the Legion of Honor in 1803" (DSB, Vol. VI, 178).