JF Ptak Science Books
Draper, John W. "On the Production of Light by Chemical Action." (February, 1848, pp 100-114).In: London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, volume XXXII, January-June, 1848, 21x13cm, 552pp. OFfering the entire volume, with leather-backed marbled boards. The covers are detached, and the spine cover mostly gone (except for three panels and those having the two panels of gilt stamped titles); the text overall is crisp and the binding tight. Gilt stamped oval coat of arms of the Society of Writers to the Signet on front and rear boards. Good copy, other than the binding faults. $350
In 1848 Draper (chemistry, medical doctor, and U.S. pioneer in photography and one of the earliest founders of astronomical photography) published a memoir on the production of light by chemical action. It was known that the combustion of different substances was accompanied by the emission of rays of different colors and many opinions had been expressed to explain the phenomenon. Draper asked what were the chemical conditions that determine these differences and if any connection could be found between the chemical nature of a substance or the conditions under which it burns and the nature of the light which it emitted. With a slit, a prism, and an observing telescope he examined the flames of a variety of substances (oil, alcohol, alcoholic solutions of boric acid and strontium nitrate, of phosphorus, of sulfur, of carbonic oxide, of hydrogen, of cyanogen, and of phosphine), and found"1:
“notwithstanding this diversity of color, all these fames, as well has many others that I have tried, yield the same result; every prismatic color is found in them. Even in those cases where the fame is very faint, as in alcohol and in hydrogen gas, not only may red, yellow, green, blue, and violet light he traced, but even bright Fraunhofferian lines of different colors.”
“Do not the various facts here brought forward prove that chemical combinations are attended by a rapid vibratory motion of the particles of the combining bodies, which vibrations become more frequent as the chemical action is more intense?"
Ten years later Draper reviewed his 1848 paper:
--[Image from Philosophical Magazine, vol XXV, 1858, page 90.
Also in this volume:
Augustus de Morgan's very sharp and interesting review of astronomer/cosmographer Thomas Wright's involved and dynamic (and beautiful) theories of the universe, "An Account of the Speculations of Thomas Wright of Durham", pp 241-252.
William Rowan Hamilton, "On Quaternions, or on a New System of Imaginaries in Algebra", pp 367-37, continuing a paper from the previous volume XXXI.
J. Challis, "On the Velocity of Sound..." pp 494-499
Robert Hare, "Objections to the Theories Severally of Franklin, Dufay, and Ampere, with an Attempt to Explain Electrical Phenomena by Statical or Undulatory Polarization", pp 461-487.
Sir D Brewster "on the Decomposition and Dispersion of Light within Solid and Fluid Bodies"
George Boole "Remarks on a Paper by the Rev B. Bronwin on the Solution of a particular Differential Equation" (including the paper itself, Rev B. Bronwin "On the Solution of a particular Differential Equation" pp 256-261)
J.P. Joule "On Shooting Stars", pp 349-351
G.G. Stokes "On the Constitution of the Ether" pp 343-349
Robert Hunt "On the supposed Influence of Magnetism on Chemical Action", pp 252-255
M Melloni "Researches on the Radiations of Incandescent Bodies and on the Elementary Colours of the Solar Spectrum" 262-275
And numerous other articles.
Notes:
1. "John WIlliam Draper" in ScienceDirect. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0187893X13724650
Comments