Chemistry.- Lamarck (Jean-Baptiste de Monet de) Recherches sur les Causes des Principaux Faits Physiques, 2 vol., first edition, half-titles, engraved plate to vol. 1, folding letterpress table to vol. 2 (shallow chip at inner-edge with small loss to border), annotation and some underlining in a near contemporary hand, a few minor marginal defects, the odd spot or small stain, handsomely bound in contemporary marbled calf, expertly rebacked preserving original gilt backstrips, spines with red and dark green morocco labels (red labels sympathetically renewed), neat repairs to some corners, [Wellcome III, p.435], 8vo, Paris, Maradan, seconde année de la République [1794].

⁂ Lamarck's first full-length treatise on chemistry. Although Lamarck’s chemical theories are often dismissed because of his continued belief in the four elements, they are of interest because of their central importance in the later development of his theory of evolution.