Lois generales de divers ordres de phenomenes

This volume contains two short works, one in French and one in Italian, by Luigi Menabrea (1809-96) who was not only a distinguished mathematician and soldier, but later became prime minister of Italy. Menabrea qualified in mathematics and engineering at the University of Turin, and joined the army of Savoy as an engineer, though he subsequently returned to the university, and also took up a post in the military academy. He became increasingly involved in politics during the period of Italian unification, and held the premiership between 1867 and 1869. In the first piece in this book, published in 1855, Menabrea discusses the theory of virtual work and energy, which was later taken up and developed by Castigliano; the second is an 1875 work asserting primacy in this field. (A translation, Elastic Stresses in Structures, of Castigliano's major work on this topic is also reissued in this series.)