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| VOLTAIRE, F.M.A.
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| Elemens de la Philosophie du Neuton
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| Amsterdam: Etienne Ledet, 1738
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| First edition.
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| 8vo, 399, (10) pp. Two frontispieces.
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| Contemporary calf, gilt.
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Between 1687 (publication of the Principia) and the middle of the 18th century
the two chief scientific views of the world were those of Newton and Descartes.
Unsurprisingly, most Frenchmen were Cartesians and most Cartesians were French.
Voltaire was the leading exponent of Newtonian physics in France. In 1738 he published
this popularization of Newton's discoveries to further encourage his French contemporaries
to recognize and accept the triumph of Newton's natural philosophy over that of Descartes.
However, despite the steady progression of experimental validations of Newtonian
mechanics (most notably the verification by direct geodetic measurement that the earth is
an oblate spheroid), a small number of stubborn Cartesians continued to fight a rearguard
action well into the 1780's (see Chatelet).
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