Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

Or the infinitely great and the infinitely small. by f. a. pouchet. new edition revised and edited by j. r. ainsworth davis.

Item Description

Large 8vo. 9 x 6.25 inches. xvi + 576 pp. Bound in original red cloth with art nouveau designs. All edges gilt. A little wear to extremities, including head and tail of spine. Scattered foxing, including preliminaries and some margins; otherwise a very good copy. Illustrated by 7 chromolithograph plates protected by paper guards, including frontispiece, and by 269 engravings in text, including whole page. A well illustrated work of popular science forming a systematic survey of the natural world, with sections on the animal and vegetable kingdoms, geology and the sidereal universe. At the end is a short chapter on popular errors - monsters and superstitions. Translated from the French, the first English edition appeared in 1870. By the naturalist, Felix-Archimede Pouchet (1800-72), director of the Rouen Museum of Natural History and professor at the University from 1838. Pouchet's theory of spontaneous generation was in opposition to the germ theory of Louis Pasteur, who held the now accepted view that life could only come from life. Early twentieth century English editions were revised and edited by James Richard Ainsworth Davis (1861-1934), professor of zoology and geology at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. Attractively illustrated with a handsome art nouveau binding.