WILDE, HENRY.

On the Origin of Elementary Substances and on some New Relations of Their Atomic Weights (+) Sur l'origine corps simples, et sur l'existence de relations nouvelles entre leurs poids atomiques.

London (+) Paris, Kegan Paul (+) Gauthier-Villars et fils, 1892. Large4to. Without front wrapper and backtrip. Internally fine and clean. VI, 18 pp + 1 folded plate.

Second issue, with alterations and additional material, of Wilde's contribution to the origin of elements and his views on the newly created periodic system, including the first French translation. Wilde states in the preface [printed here for the first time] that: "The reprinting of this paper is all the more desirable, as some of the views set forth therein have been modified by subsequent investigatiors, without advancing much beyond what had already been accomplished; while, in other instances, there has been a distinct retrogression from the solid position which chemical philosophy had attained more than forty years ago."

Henry Wilde (1833 - 1919) a wealthy individual from Manchester, England who used his self-made fortune to indulge his interest in electrical engineering. He invented the dynamo-electric machine, or self-energising dynamo, published in 1866. The machine was considered remarkable at the time, especially since Wilde was fond of spectacular demonstrations, such as the ability of his machine to cause iron bars to melt.

Order-nr.: 48041