MALEBRANCHE, NICOLAS. - HIS THEORY OF MATTER AND LIGHT.

Reflexions sur la Lumiere et les Couleurs, et la generation du feu.

(Paris, Jean Boudot, 1702). 4to. Without wrappers. Extracted from "Mémoires de l'Academie des Sciences. Année 1699". Pp. 22-36.

First appearance of Malebranche's importent paper in which he elucidates and expounds his model of matter. He "utilized this model to study luminous phenomena and to provide an account of universal gravitation, of planetary motion, and of gravity. This model, considered in itself as the seat of action in the universe, inspired his idea that light consists of vibration in a medium under pressure."(DSB).

"Malebranche’s subtle matter is a unique primary substance that, forced to move at high speed in a closed universe, is obliged to whirl in vortices the dimensions of which can decrease without limit, a property predicated on the supposition that no vacuum can exist. The formula for centrifugal force then requires that these small vortices, which are actually the universal material of all physical entities, be not only perfectly elastic but capable, as well, of releasing a "fearful" force upon breaking up. A theoretical model of this sort is not a trivial invention.
The memoir alluded to above (the paper offered here) won him membership in the Académie des Sciences at the time of its reorganization in 1699. Henceforth, Malebranche actively participated in scientific life, while gathering the material he was to incorporate in the sixth edition of the Recherche (1712), in which he made the necessary revisions, corrections, and additions in those sections devoted to all the topics in which he thought science bore on his philosophy."(DSB).

Order-nr.: 44747