[Rarebooks] fa: JAMES CUMMING on ELECTROMAGNETISM + GALVANISM - 1822-23 - w/ PLATES

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, along with other antiquarian scientific works, auction ending Sunday, September 15. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/mad63yy

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

The Rev. J[ames] Cumming: On the Development of Electro-Magnetism by Heat. 1823. [BOUND WITH] Francis Gybbon Spilsbury: Extract from a Memoir on a Peculiar Connexion which exists between the Magnetism evolved by a Single Galvanic Combination, and the relative Magnitude of the Opposing Surfaces of that Combination. 1822. [Cambridge: 1824-23.] Two complete papers, extracted from broken volumes of the Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, bound in olive french wraps; p. 47-76; 77-83 (37 pages total), plus 3 leaves of plates. Some foxing to the plates and the adjacent text leaves, otherwise clean and sound and firmly bound in fresh modern wraps.

Of particular interest is the article by Cumming on electromagnetism, described in the DNB as an "important paper" and illustrated with two leaves of plates. James Cumming (1777-1861), professor of chemistry at Cambridge, was known for his research-based teaching and lively lectures, often literally shocking his audience with galvanic devices; he was also notorious for having electrocuted a cat during a demonstration. The second paper describes an experiment inspired by some of Cumming's demonstrations and is accompanied with a leaf of plates illustrating a galvonoscope "much more delicate than the one described by Professor Cumming," etc.