Essais de Jean Rey.
Contributors: Petit, Maurice.
Edition: Ed. nouv. avec commentaire.  Publiée par Maurice Petit.
Publisher: Hermann
Published: 1907
Place of publication: Paris
Language: fre
Number of pages: 191
Subjects: Combustion, Theory of.
Notes: Includes facsimile of original title page: Essays de Jean Rey, docteur en medecine, sur la recerche de la cause pour laquelle l'estain & le plomb augmentent de poids quand on les calcine ... Bazas, par Guillaume Millanges, 1630.

Reprints of Rey's explanation for the increased weight of calcined tin and lead, which anticipated Lavoisier, According to Rey, the increased weight was due to air attaching itself to the calx on the metal; the air having grown heavier and adhesive through the action of heat. (Partington points out that Ray does not account for the formation of the calx.)  The intrinsic interest in this work "lies in its anticipation of Lavoiseir's recognition in 1772 that  calcination involves combination with air."  The work was reprinted in 1777, eliciting charges from Lavoisier that it was a forgery; he and his friends bought up the available copies of that edition which is now very rare.  This edition contains a preface and noted by Petit, as well as the notes from the earlier edition by Gobet.  The text is based on that of a copy in the collection of the bibliophile, Reinhold Dezeimeris.  Rey (1582/3 - after 1645) studied at Montpellier, received his M.D. in 1609, and enjoyed a successful career as a physician.  His fame rests on the present work.