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DIBNER 176: LANA TERZI S TWO MOST IMPORTANT WORKS - FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE RICCATI FAMILY. First editions of two important works from the library of the distinguished Riccati family of mathematicians and physicists. The Prodromo, Lana s most famous work, contains his design for an air-ship kept aloft by means of evacuated copper spheres, "the earliest concept of flight based on aerostatic principles" (Dibner). The Prodromo was intended as a portico to the Magisterium Naturae, a massive and important encyclopaedia of natural philosophy. Appearing only three years after the Accademia del Cimento s Saggi di naturali esperienze, the Prodromo describes "the earliest concept of flight based on aerostatic principles" (Dibner). "[Lana] determined by experiment that a vessel may be made lighter by reducing the air density within it, and proposed to build a flying boat suspended from four large spheres of thin copper, from which all or part of the air would be evacuated to achieve buoyancy. Although the theory behind his reasoning was sound, Lana s design was unworkable, for, as Hooke, Leibniz, Borelli and other scientists pointed out, the copper spheres would not be able to withstand the enormous amount of atmospheric pressure" (Norman). Lana was also the first to suggest heat as a method of reducing air density, a technique successfully employed by the Montgolfier brothers in the construction of their balloon. The Magisterium Naturae describes a myriad of topics, experiments and machines: "it would require an explanatory volume to give an idea of this work" (Libri Catalogue). Some of the subjects covered include hydraulics, elasticity, problems of motion and percussion, alchemical and chemical experiments, distillation, the vacuum, sound and acoustics, electricity and magnetism, meteorology, the pendulum, and perpetual motion. "In a word, he assembled an encyclopedia, [which includes] the most extensive and valuable account of electricity published in the seventeenth century" (Heilbron, p. 190). Thorndike (VII, p. 611-613) gives an account of "the more occult principles of natural philosophy, experimentation and demonstration" which the work contains. In section 46 of vol. II of the Magisterium Naturae, Lana corrected the air-ship design in his Prodromo, admitting that spheres of diameter 38m would be required, which would be impracticable, and suggests using lighter material such as glass or wood to make a toy model of the air-ship to demonstrate the validity of the idea. The Magisterium was originally planned to contain nine volumes but Lana Terzi lived to see only the first two published; the third and final volume was published posthumously. The Magisterium naturae received long and flattering reviews in Germany (Acta Eruditorum, 1685, 31-7; 1688, 35-9; 1693, 45-50). Provenance: The Riccati family (bookplate).Franceso Lana Terzi (1631-87) entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Rome on 11 November, 1647, and studied philosophy and theology at the Roman College. "While in Rome [Gaspar] Schott had helped instruct Lana, who completed his theology at the Collegio Romano in the early fifties, when [Athenasius] Kircher started to arrange the museum and Paolo Casati held the chair of mathematics there. Lana did not fail to profit from so favorable a conjunction of luminaries. He studied independently with Kircher, and, with fellow student Daniel Bartoli, assisted in the experiments of Casati. He mastered natural philosophy, but without great satisfaction, for he found its branches to be differently, even contradictorily, treated. At the conclusion of his studies, if his later testimony be credited, he decided to try to establish a complete and consistent approach to the subject, firmly based on experiment. "The fulfillment of this design, made doubly difficult by the demands of the ordinary itinerant professorship, required almost forty years. Lana began, as was usual, by teaching humanities, probably at the Jesuit College. Seller Inventory # 5640
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