MACLAURIN Colin Traité des fluxions.

DSB, VIII, 609-611 & DSB, X, 571-572 ; Norman, 1408 (foer the first edition 1742).

First edition of the French translation by Father Esprit Pézenas (1692-1776).

“In the Treatise Maclaurin tried to provide a geometrical framework for the doctrine of fluxions; in this way he hoped to refute his critics, the most vociferous of whom was George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyn” (DSB).

“Maclaurin published his Treatise of fluxions, in which he attempted to establish the rigor of the calculus using the geometrical methods favored by Newton. The Treatise is noteworthy for its solutions to a number of problems in geometry, statics and the theory of attractions; its presentation of “Maclaurin’s test” for convergence of infinite series; its elaboration, using Euclidean geometry, of many of the principles stated in Newton’s Principia; its presentation of the first correct theory for distinguishing between maximum and minimum values of a function; and its discussion of the attraction of an ellipsoid on an internal point, in which Maclaurin proved that the oblate spheroid is an equilibrium shape for a fluid of uniform density under constant angular rotation” (Norman)

“The earliest logical and systematic publication of the Newtonian methods. It stood as a model of rigor until the appearance of Cauchy’s Cours d’Analyse in 1821.

Esprit Pézenas translated numerous works by eminent English scientists into French, notably works on optics and mathematics, and thus played an important role in the dissemination of English scientific concepts.

Very good, untrimmed, copy with full margins ; slightly foxed or occasionally dusty. It is complete with the required 30 plates.