A System of Mechanical Philosophy

Published in 1822, this four-volume illustrated collection of scientific writings includes Robison's insightful contributions to the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

John Robison (Author), David Brewster (Edited by)

9781108070386, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 August 2014

746 pages, 13 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 4.2 cm, 0.93 kg

After a brief career at sea, during which he tested Harrison's chronometer for the Board of Longitude, John Robison (1739–1805) became lecturer in chemistry at the University of Glasgow. In 1774, having spent a period teaching mathematics in Russia, he returned to Scotland as professor of natural philosophy at Edinburgh. Despite his busy schedule, he contributed major articles on the sciences to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, giving an overview of contemporary scientific knowledge for the educated layperson. After his death, these and other pieces of his scientific writing were edited by his former pupil David Brewster (1781–1868) and were finally published in four volumes in 1822, with a separate volume of illustrative plates. This reissue incorporates those plates in the relevant volumes of text. Volume 2 contains Robison's articles on the steam engine (revised and expanded by his friend James Watt), on other machinery, and on fluid flows.

Letter from Mr Watt to Dr Brewster
On steam
On the steam engine
Appendix, by the late Mr Watt
On machinery
On the resistance of fluids
On rivers
On water works
On pumps.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]