A Treatise of Fluxions

Edinburgh: T.W. and T. Ruddimans, 1742. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. 4to (222x172 mm). Vol. I: [6], vi, 1-412 pp., including half-title and 25 folding engraved plates. Vol. II: [2], 413-763 [1] pp. and 16 folding engraved plates. Contemporary calf, red morocco labels to spines (binding a little rubbed and bumped, vol. 1 foot of spine damaged, hinges cracked but firm). Internally only very little browned, text of vol. II with faint dampstaining, contemporary ink inscription to vol. I title and p.50, library and withdrawal stamps "Bibliotheca Coll. Nov. Edinensis" to foot of titles. Provenance: John Sprat Rainier (1777-1822), Rear Admiral of the Royal Navy. ---- Norman 1408; DSB VIII, p.610; Honeyman 2084. - FIRST EDITION. Written as a staunch defence of Newton, and described as "the earliest logical and systematic publication of the Newtonian methods", this work was written in reply to Bishop George Berkeley's The Analyst. A letter addressed to an infidel mathematician of 1734. This latter work, which derided Newton's conception of "prime and ultimate ratios", was addressed to Halley who had steered the first edition of the Principia through the press. In his preface to the Treatise, MacLaurin lays out his reasons for defending Newton and his methods. This work is otherwise noteworthy for the solution of a great number of problems in geometry, statics and the theory of attractions, and elaborations of many of the principles described by Newton in the Principia. It stood as a model of rigor until the appearance of Cauchy's Cours d'Analyse in 1821 (DSB).