CLAIRAUT, ALEXIS-CLAUDE. Theorie de la Figure de la Terre, tirees des Principes de l'Hydrostatique. xl, 305, [5] pages. 8vo, contemporary mottled sheep gilt, spine ends and cover corners worn; 19th-century institutional stamp on title. Paris: David

CLAIRAUT, ALEXIS-CLAUDE. Theorie de la Figure de la Terre, tirees des Principes de l'Hydrostatique. xl, 305, [5] pages. 8vo, contemporary mottled sheep gilt, spine ends and cover corners worn; 19th-century institutional stamp on title. Paris: David fils, 1743 E500-750 FIRST EDITION. " . . . the Theorie . . . was to some degree the theoretical epilogue . . .to the series of polemics on the earth'sshape-an oblate ellipsoid, according to Newton and Huygens, and a prolate ellipsoid, according to the Cassinis . . . It was . . . in this work, considered a scientific classic, that the formula named forClairaut, expressing the earth's gravity as a function of latitude, is found"-DSB III, 282. Not in Babson.