Essays medical and Philosophical

MARTINE, GEORGE

Published by London: A. Millar, 1740, 1740

About this Item

FIRST EDITION. 8 vo. Contemp. calf. (12), 376 pp. With the folding engraved plate. Joints partially cracked but tight, slight heat damage to spine, bookplate removed, light spotty foxing; still, a very good, crisp copy. G-M 2671 lauds Martine's (1702-41) 'Essays' as the "first important work on clinical thermometry." As well, Martine was "the earliest serious critic of Reaumur's thermometer. (in his) 'Essay on the construction and graduation of thermometers' (pp.175-214), (which) was in advance of its time, Martine came out strongly for the necessity of two fixed points, one being the boiling point of water - with due attention to the barometric pressure - the other the temperature of ice beginning to melt. .He criticized Reaumur's methods of getting his freezing point because of his method of freezing, but also and mainly because of the very large bulbs of his thermometers. But Reaumur's 'boiling point', Martine said, is 'still more vague and uncertain', because the spirit of wine cannot take the heat of boiling water. This brings him to plead for the adoption of mercury as a thermometric fluid." (Middleton, 'A history of the thermometer', 1966). The valuable plate compares 15 different thermometric scales. "The clinical thermometry dreamed of by Sanctorius. was revived in the classic 'Essays and Observations' (1740) of George Martine., which is the only scientific treatment of the subject before the time of Wunderlich." (Garrison). See: Taylor II.195 for his work on thermometers and D.S.B. 2: 179 for note in the Joseph Black article. N.L.M. (18th C.), p. 290. Pybus Coll. 1301. St. Thomas's Hospital Cat. 2005. See: Osler 3338. Seller Inventory # 000092

Bibliographic Details

Title: Essays medical and Philosophical

Publisher: London: A. Millar, 1740

Publication Date: 1740

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Edition: 1st Edition