Domenico Poggioli - Pensieri sulla causa della chimica affinità e congetture a determinare la forma - 1837

Domenico Poggioli - Thoughts on the Cause of Chemical Affinity and Conjectures for Determining the Atomic Form of Various Bodies. Rome, Salviucci Printing House, 1837
Large octavo (23 × 15.5 cm), pages (2), XIII, (1), 93, (3), untrimmed, in the original publisher’s wrappers, with the title within an elegant woodcut border and rich ornaments on both covers, and small ornaments on the spine. On the inside of the front cover is an autograph dedication by the author: “.....as a token of the highest esteem, respect and friendship. The author.” The work comprises a series of chemical-philosophical reflections by the author, a member of the Accademia dei Lincei, on the problem of chemical affinity—the set of forces governing the combinations of the various elements—and puts forward hypotheses concerning both the atomic structure of substances and chemical bonds. Despite its frequent references to the work and experiments of famous contemporary chemists, any overall assessment of Poggioli’s work, he being a professor of medicine at the Sapienza University of Rome, should take into account the cultural context of papal Rome in the first half of the nineteenth century, which was not particularly receptive to experimental science or to a full understanding of it. A copy in immaculate condition, both in the text, elegantly printed with wide margins on fine paper, and in the wrappers. An uncommon work, held in only a few Italian libraries (according to OPAC).
Volume available for consultation at: https://books.google.it/books?vid=IBNR:CR102018243&redir_esc=y