Réaumur «métallurgiste»

Roland Eluerd : Réaumur as a metallurgist. A study of Reaumur's metallurgical works, eminently worthwhile, shows that on the rare occasions on which they were published, they were revised by the publishers in such a way as to alter their meaning, because his correct intuitions concerning the nature of steel contradicted accepted theories. In addi¬ tion, they were written in a way which tried to combine an attention to the workmen's particular vocabulary, the need for a scientific use of language and a desire to be accessible to as many readers as possible. Thirty years before the Encyclopédie, Réaumur's work on metallurgy already revealed all the tensions created by these generous but contradicctory aims.Eluerd Roland. Réaumur «métallurgiste». In: Dix-huitième Siècle, n°23, 1991. Physiologie et médecine. pp. 293-306