Experiments and Theories

Abstract

D’Alembert quotes experimenters in several places in the Essay using the results of their experiments in his own reflections as we have already seen. There are also mentions in the Introduction, but apart from this, he adds a complete section [§.75–79] concerning experimenters under the title “Reflections on the experiments that have been made or can be made to determine the pressure of fluids”. The title is a bit surprising, because it is not clear what he wanted to say when he refers to experiments that can be made. We imagine the shadow of the Berlin Academy behind these words and very likely the inclusion of this separate section was motivated by the criticism received in the rejection of the Manuscript. It contained three articles, Mss.73–75 + A, that were a scholium to a corollary, and were rather short.