Delamétherie, J.-C. — Théorie de la Terre.

1797 5 volumes (complete). 477, 548, viii, 493, viii, 545,x, 535 p., 4 (of 8) folded engraved plates, portrait, contemporary marbled paper covered boards, labels on spines with title in gilt, uncut set. Plates 2-5 MISSING. Portrait and title-page of first volume somewhat browned. Several volumes with faint waterstaining in first few pages. Some contemporary annotations in the text. Second revised edition, enlarged with a mineralogy section. Delametherie (1743-1817) was a French scientific editor, mineralogist, geologist, and palaeontologist. He became chief editor of the journal Observation sur la Physique, and used it to promote ideas he favoured and sometimes to rectify injustices supposedly done to unfortunate scientists-especially those committed by others of overmagnified reputation. Numerous minerals were first systematically described by Delam̩therie. In 1795, He first described the Lherzolite (which he named after the site of its discovery, ̑tang de Lers in the Pyrenees). He was an advocate of transmutation of species. He was an atheist and materialist and held similar views to Jean-Baptiste Lamarck but differed on his views on the history of earth. Delam̩therie was especially at odds with Lavoisier. He had a significant impact on mineralogy, and determined that major features of the earth were the 'result of the combined action of crystallization, moving water, and shifts in the planetary-motion characteristics of the earth". These ideas are put forth in his Theorie.