First edition. This "was easily the most influential book of its kind, at least before 1750. It was a larger, better-argued, and more philosophical work than most of its predecessors; moreover, it leaned heavily on Opticks (including the queries) as well as on the Principia The strength of his exposition was in his perfection of the method of justifying scientific truths either by self-evidence or by appeal to experimental verification in the manner already begun by Keill & Desaguliers, perfected by him through the design of many new instruments constructed by the instrument maker Jan van Musschenbroek, brother." --Dictionary of Scientific Biography, V, p.510.

Many experiments are described in this book and the plates depict numerous kinds of apparatus including electrical and opt...[ Read more ]

First edition. This "was easily the most influential book of its kind, at least before 1750. It was a larger, better-argued, and more philosophical work than most of its predecessors; moreover, it leaned heavily on Opticks (including the queries) as well as on the Principia... The strength of his exposition was in his perfection of the method of justifying scientific truths either by self-evidence or by appeal to experimental verification in the manner already begun by Keill & Desaguliers, perfected by him through the design of many new instruments constructed by the instrument maker Jan van Musschenbroek, brother." --Dictionary of Scientific Biography, V, p.510.

Many experiments are described in this book and the plates depict numerous kinds of apparatus including electrical and optical instruments (microscopes and telescopes).

Gravesande (1688-1742), professor of mathematics and astronomy at Leyden, was the earliest influential exponent of the Newtonian philosophy in continental Europe.