Barthélemy Faujas de Saint Fond

BARTHÉLEMY FAUJAS DE SAINT-FOND (Montelimar, 1741 - 1819).
"Description of the experiences of MM Montgolfier's aerostatic machine".
Printer: Cuchet, Paris, 1783.
With engravings.
Presents faults and restoration of the cover.
Measurements: 18 x 13 x 3 cm.
Barthélemy Faujas de Saint Fond was a French geologist who studied at a Jesuit college in Lyon and later Law, becoming a lawyer and president of the court of seneschals in Montelimar. However, his interest in nature and trips to the Alps and the Massif Central led him to devote himself to geology. In 1775 he discovered a deposit of pozzolana at Le Puy-en-Velay and contacted the Count de Buffon, who invited him to Paris. There he abandoned his legal career and was appointed assistant to the French National Museum of Natural History, later holding positions as royal commissioner for mines in 1785 and 1788. His works include Recherches sur les volcans éteints du Vivarais et du Velay (1778), where he developed theories on the origin of volcanoes. He was also one of the first to recognize the volcanic nature of the basalt columns of the Grotto of Fingal in Scotland.
In 1785 he became the king's commissioner for factories, arsenals and royal forests. In 1793 he was appointed first professor of geology at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, a position he held until he was eighty years old. He retired in 1818 to his residence in Saint-Fond, Dauphiné.
Faujas de Saint-Fond also studied aerostats, publishing the experiences of the Montgolfier brothers in Description des expériences de la machine aérostatique de MM. Montgolfier (1783-1784), and was a sporadic member of the Lunar Society.