Lettres sur L'Electricite, I. Dans lesquelles on examine les decouvertes qui ont ete faites sur cette matiere depuis l'annee 1752, & les consequences que l'on en peut tirer.

Paris:: Chez Durand, 1774, 1760, 1777., 1774. 3 parts bound in 1. Sm. 8vo. xii, 251, [1]; [ii], xii, 284; xvi, 295, [1] pp. 12 plates. Early half gilt-stamped calf, marbled boards, gilt-stamped red & dark green calf spine labels, raised bands; lower cover rubbed. Very good+. RARE COMPLETE WORK WITH ALL THREE PARTS. Third & first editions. The Lettres, intended as a refutation of certain theories of Benjamin Franklin contain "a wealth of counterexamples which drew their strength from Franklin's occasional obscurities, imprecisions, exaggerations, and inappropriate appeals to traditional effluvial models." – Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Volume X, p. 147. "Born at Pimprez in France, Nollet was one of the great popularizers of the new electrical science in the salons and at the court of 18th-century France. He had collaborated with Charles Dufay in the period 1730–32 and tended to follow him in his electrical theory. Nollet saw electricity as a fluid, subtle enough to penetrate the densest of bodies. In 1746 he first formulated his theory of simultaneous 'affluences and effluences' in which he assumed that bodies have two sets of pores in and out of which electrical effluvia might flow. He was later involved with Benjamin Franklin in a dispute over the nature of electricity. After the discovery of the Leyden jar (a device for storing electrical charge) by Pieter van Musschenbroek in 1745, Nollet arranged some spectacular demonstrations of its power. He once gave a shock to 180 royal guards and, even more dramatically, joined 700 monks in a circle to a Leyden jar with quite startling results. Nollet also contributed to the theory of sound when he showed in 1743 that sound carried in water (he had taken care to expel the dissolved air from the water first)." – Oxford Reference. Chapters include "On the Nature of Electric Material", "On the Analogy of Thunder with electricity", "Extracts from letters of M. Villette", "To Serve as a Response to M. Villette on Previous Articles". REFERENCES: Bakken Library, p. 92; DSB, X, pp. 145-7; Mottelay, p. 182; Ronalds p.370; Wheeler Gift I, 329a. [FULL TITLE: Lettres sur L'Electricite, I. Dans lesquelles on examine les decouvertes qui ont ete faites sur cette matiere depuis l'annee 1752, & les consequences que l'on en peut tirer. Avec Figures en Taille-douce. Nouvelle Edition. II. Dans lesquelles on soutient le principe des Effluences & Affluences simultanees contre la doctrine de M. Franklin, & contre les nouvelles pretentions de ses Partisans. III. Dans lesquelles on trouvera les principaux phenomenes qui ont ete decouverts depuis 1760; avec des discussions sur les consequences qu'on en peut tirer.]