Third revised and augmented edition of this elementary treatise on physics by Abbé René Just Haüy (1743-1822), celebrated mineralogist and crystalogist. The first volume is devoted to the general properties of bodies, attraction, the (now obsolete) caloric theory, water, air and electricity; the second volume treats magnetism and light. The work was used as school book and thus became an influential reference work. Haüy is best remembered for his important research on minerals and the electric properties of crystals. He cooperated with Lavoisier and had a strong influence on French science, one of his students being Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire.
Some plates slightly waterstained, front cover volume 1 detached, wrappers slightly damaged, some foxing, otherwise a very good untrimmed copy. Dictionary of Scientific Biography 6, pp. 178-82; Poggendorf I, 1038-9.