HAUY, Rene-Just.

Essai d'une Théorie sur la Structure des Crystaux, appliquée a plusieurs Genres de Substances crystallisées...

Eight folding engraved plates. 4 p.l., 236 pp. 8vo, cont. sheep-backed paste-paper boards (spine rubbed, short cracks at head & foot of upper joint), flat spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Paris: Gogué & Née, 1784. First edition of the book which "laid the foundation of the mathematical theory of crystal structure."­D.S.B., VI, p. 178. It was due to this work that Haüy was able to properly classify minerals. Haüy held that the characteristic form of the constituent molecule of a compound is due to the forms, the definite proportions, and the definite arrangement of the constituent elementary particles. That is, before Proust, Haüy proposed a priori the chemical law of fixed proportions. These concepts enabled Haüy to unite in one species minerals hitherto considered different, such as beryl and emerald, and to divide groups that had been considered varieties of the same species, such as zeolites. Very good copy. Dibner, Heralds of Science, 92. En Français dans le Texte 176. Horblit 47.

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