Lettere del Signor Don Alessandro Volta.sull'Aria Inflammabile Nativa delle Paludi

Volta, Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio

Published by Milan: Nella Stamperia di Giuseppe Marelli, 1777

About this Item

EARLY TREATISE ON HYDROCARBON CHEMISTRY BY A PIONEER IN ENERGY AND ELECTRICITY. Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (1745 to 1827) was an Italian chemist and physicist who was a pioneer of electricity and power, and is credited as the inventor of the electric battery and the discoverer of methane (topic of this book). This book recounts Volta's early experiments with gases including collecting marsh gas (methane) from Lake Cuomo. He demonstrates quantity of air (10-12 volumes) to detonate methane (Partington III pp 814-5). Also included is an Italian translation (pp 22-25) of a letter from Franklin to Priestley recounting Franklin's experiments with marsh gas in New Jersey. Volta distinguished marsh gas (methane) from the inflammable air from metals (hydrogen) by its azure-blue flame and slower combustion, and by its requiring 10-12 vols. of air for detonation. A much larger electric spark was necessary to ignite marsh gas than to ignite hydrogen." "Existence of inflammable gas emanating from wetlands and bubbling up from lake bottoms was known for centuries, and the phenomenon was noted by such famous eighteenth-century investigators of natural process as Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Priestley, and Alessandro Volta. In 1777, after observing gas bubbles in Lago di Maggiore, Alessandro Volta published Lettere Sull'Aria Infiammabile Nativa Delle Paludi, a slim book about 'native inflammable air of marshlands' (Volta 1777). Two years later, Volta isolated methane, the simplest hydrocarbon molecule and the first series of compounds following the general formula of CnH2n+2. When in 1866 August Wilhelm von Hofmann proposed a systematic nomenclature of hydrocarbons, that series became known as alkanes (alkenes CnH2n; alkines CnH2n-2)." (Natural Gas: Fuel for the 21st Century, Vaclav Smil). BOOK DETAILS AND CONDITION: First Edition 8vo, blank, 147 (1) pp, 1 leaf (Latin quotation on recto). With engraved vignette on title page and 13 engraved head- and tailpieces in text. Decorated paper over cardboard. Losses and wear to paper cover on boards and spine. Internally fine. Overall VG+ and in notably better condition than other copies of this book we have seen in recent times and on today's market. PROVENANCE: From the Arthur C. Greenberg History of Chemistry Library. REFERENCES: Duveen, 606; HBS 68110; Partington III pp 814-5; Neville II p 593.

Seller Inventory # EBS100370

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Lettere del Signor Don Alessandro Volta.sull'Aria Inflammabile Nativa delle Paludi
• Publisher: Milan: Nella Stamperia di Giuseppe Marelli
• Publication Date: 1777
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Seller catalogs:
  • Chemistry
  • Classics of Science
  • Physics