Abstract
THIS work forms No. 2 of the new series of publications of old books relating to meteorology and terrestrial magnetism, issued in facsimile by Prof. G. Hellmann, and was first printed in Paris in 1648. There is no copy of the work in the British Museum, and Dr. Hellmann has only been able to trace three copies, two of which are in Paris, and one in Breslau. This little work is of the greatest importance to the history of physics, to meteorology, and physical geography; it gives the first conclusive proof of the pressure of the atmosphere, and puts an end to the doctrine of the horror vacui. This famous experiment was made at Clermont Ferrand, and on the Puy de Dôme, on September 19,1648, so that Pascal lost no time in making his discovery public, but it is not generally known that any account had been issued prior to the publication of the Traitez de l'Equilibre, printed in 1663. The work is prefaced by an interesting introduction by Prof. Hellmann, in which he refers to the doubt which exists whether the idea of the experiment was taken from Descartes. The latter has expressly asserted this to be the case, in two letters (dated June 11 and August 17, 1649), addressed to Carcavi, and the fact that Pascal never replied in any way to the letters in question, has induced many writers to adopt this view.
Recit de la Grande Expérience de l'Equilibre des Liqueurs.
By Blaise Pascal. (Berlin: A. Asher and Co., 1893.)
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[Book Reviews]. Nature 48, 436 (1893). https://doi.org/10.1038/048436a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/048436a0