PUBLICATION OF THE COMPLETE WORKS OF

M. V. LOMONOSOV

A. A. Eliseev

The exceedingly rich manuscript legacy of the brilliant founder of advanced Russian science, M. V. Lomonosov, was, before the Great October Socialist Revolution, essentially neither collected nor studied. The ruling classes of tsarist Russia, which bowed before Western science and culture, did much to belittle and suppress his great role in the development of Russian materialism, in the development of advanced materialist natural science. It is no accident at all that for more than a century and a half many of his classic investigations in physics and chemistry remained unpublished. It is known that after Lomonosov’s death, on April 4, 1765, all his manuscripts were, by order of Catherine II, placed under arrest; they were sealed and removed from Lomonosov’s house. By this anti-people measure the ruling classes of tsarist Russia dealt an enormous blow to the development of Russian science and culture, depriving the pupils and continuators of Lomonosov’s work of the possibility of printing his unpublished works, many of which remain lost to this day. By unknown routes, part of the manuscripts removed from Lomonosov’s house came in the nineteenth century to his relatives in Kholmogory, and only thanks to this was preserved for our people.

A decisive turning point in the collection and study of Lomonosov’s manuscript legacy came only after the Great October Socialist Revolution. At the present time, in the Archive of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, more than 240 manuscripts of Lomonosov’s scientific works and his letters have been collected, studied, and are carefully preserved. Many new materials on the activity of the great scientist, including manuscripts of his works, have been discovered and are kept in other archives of Moscow and Leningrad. On the basis of the new materials, Soviet scholars have succeeded in firmly establishing that Lomonosov’s activity constituted an entire epoch in the development of materialist philosophy, in the development of the doctrine of the structure of matter, in the develop-

the development of the physical and chemical sciences, chemical technology and instrument-making, mining technology, glass and ceramic production, optics and astronomy, geology and mineralogy, geography and history, philology and poetry. Now, more than ever, it has become obvious that without a detailed and profound study of Lomonosov’s creative work and of his writings, which have become a most valuable part of the golden treasury of Russian and world culture, it is impossible to form a correct conception of the development of Russian and world science, technology, and culture. “If one looks attentively backward,” writes the President of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Academician S. I. Vavilov, “it will become clear that many of the cornerstones of the successes of our science were laid in the past precisely by Lomonosov. That is why Lomonosov is the banner of our culture, a living image of the glorious cultural past of the great Russian science.”

The full greatness of the historical feat accomplished by Lomonosov before the Russian people and their culture, before world science, is revealed in all its depth only in our time, in the country of socialism. That is why the publication, now being undertaken by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR on the initiative and under the guidance of the President of the Academy, Academician S. I. Vavilov, of the first complete collected works of M. V. Lomonosov is in our country a matter of great political and scientific significance.

The Complete Collected Works of M. V. Lomonosov will be published in 10 volumes. The main task of the Chief Editorial Board of this edition is, relying on the research of Soviet Lomonosov scholars, to prepare and publish a truly complete collected works of the great Russian scholar. None of the previous editions accomplished this task, although collections of Lomonosov’s works were published more than once in the past. The first edition, in two books, was undertaken on Lomonosov’s own initiative in 1751. In 1757–1759 Moscow University carried out a second edition, likewise in two books, with certain additions. In 1768, after Lomonosov’s death, the Academy of Sciences carried out a new (third) edition of his works. The fourth edition, a more expanded one, in three books, was printed by the printing house of Moscow University in 1778. The first scholarly edition of Lomonosov’s works (the fifth in order), in six parts, “With the inclusion of the life of the author and with the addition of many of his works never before printed anywhere,” as well as letters, was printed by the Academy of Sciences in 1784–1787. The sixth edition, in three parts, was printed in 1803. In 1840 there appeared an edition of the Russian Academy (the seventh in order), in three parts. The eighth edition, in three volumes, carried out in 1847, differed substantially from the last two editions.

by the bookseller A. F. Smirdin. It included, for the first time, certain official and business papers of Lomonosov published in 1840–1841.

The last, ninth, edition (the second scholarly one), the most complete in comparison with all preceding ones, was undertaken at the end of the nineteenth century by the Academy of Sciences. Its first five volumes appeared under the editorship and with extensive explanatory notes by Academician M. I. Sukhomlinov (vol. I—1891, vol. II—1893, vol. III—1895, vol. IV—1898, vol. V—1902). After the death of Academician M. I. Sukhomlinov, publication was temporarily suspended. It was continued after the Great October Socialist Revolution (in 1934 vol. VI appeared under the editorship of G. M. Knyazev and B. N. Menshutkin, and vol. VII under the editorship of B. N. Menshutkin). In 1948 this academic edition was completed with the publication of the eighth and final volume, issued under the editorship of Academician S. I. Vavilov. Volume VIII, which included Lomonosov’s correspondence, was prepared for the press and annotated by L. B. Modzalevsky.

This last academic edition of Lomonosov’s works, now a bibliographical rarity, had its substantial shortcomings. First, many of Lomonosov’s works were not included in it, in particular his notes, autobiographical documents, and official papers. Second, many works by M. V. Lomonosov, especially in physics and chemistry, published in volumes V, VI, and VII of this edition, were printed only in the language of the original, that is, in Latin, without translation and without notes.

The first Soviet edition of the Complete Collected Works of M. V. Lomonosov in 10 volumes, with a total extent of 30–32 author’s sheets in each volume, now being undertaken by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, will differ in many essential respects from the last edition. It is being prepared on the basis of many years of extensive work carried out by Soviet scholars in searching for, describing, and studying the varied and very rich scientific legacy of M. V. Lomonosov preserved in various archives of Moscow, Leningrad, and other cities. The new edition will include several hundred new documents written by M. V. Lomonosov and not included in the last academic edition. Among these documents are previously unpublished works of Lomonosov, his unfinished articles and notes, autobiographical documents, translations, and various official papers characterizing M. V. Lomonosov as an outstanding organizer of Russian science and education of the eighteenth century. Special mention should be made of documents relating to M. V. Lomonosov’s activity as a scientist-experimenter. Among them, for the first time in a collected works, will be

included are his laboratory journals and laboratory notes, plans of experimental investigations on various questions of physics and chemistry, tables of physicochemical experiments, etc. All the works of M. V. Lomonosov (with the exception of his philological studies) are printed in the new orthography, with Lomonosov’s punctuation replaced by modern punctuation, but with the preservation, as far as possible, of all the features characteristic of Lomonosov’s language. All of Lomonosov’s works are printed from manuscripts and lifetime editions. For the new edition an enormous amount of work has for the first time been carried out in deciphering many crossed-out texts and texts of his works that in most cases had never before been printed. Complex and painstaking work has also been done on translating Lomonosov’s works from Latin into Russian. Some translations, made and published by Prof. B. N. Menshutkin, were carefully edited for the new edition and in many respects substantially corrected by Academician S. I. Vavilov, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences T. P. Kravets, and Prof. Ya. M. Borovsky. All Latin texts of Lomonosov’s works in the new edition are printed in the original language and in Russian translation. Many works of the great scholar, previously published only in Latin, are given for the first time in Russian translation.

Unlike the old editions of the writings of M. V. Lomonosov, in which works relating to his poetic activity were printed first, in the present edition the first volumes are devoted to the natural-scientific works of M. V. Lomonosov. At the end of each volume there will be brief notes of a reference character on the works and documents published, as well as an index of names.

The edition is illustrated with all the most important lifetime portraits of M. V. Lomonosov and with photographs of his manuscripts and of documents concerning him.

The new edition sets itself the principal task of presenting, with the greatest possible completeness, all aspects of M. V. Lomonosov’s creative activity. All Lomonosov’s works in this edition will be published in the following order:

Volume I. Works on physics and chemistry. 1738—1746. (“Elements of Mathematical Chemistry,” “On Insensible Physical Particles,” “On the Action of Chemical Solvents,” “Wolffian Experimental Physics,” and other works).

Volume II. Works on physics and chemistry. 1747—1752. (“Reflections on the Cause of Heat and Cold,” “An Essay on the Theory of the Elasticity of Air,” “A Discourse on the Usefulness of Chemistry,” “On the Birth and Nature of Saltpeter,” “Preliminary Foundations of True Physical Chemistry,” Laboratory Journal, programs and tables of physicochemical experiments, and other works).

THE PUBLICATION OF THE COMPLETE WORKS OF M. V. LOMONOSOV

Volume III. Works on physics. 1753–1765. (“Discourse on Air Phenomena Arising from Electrical Force,” “Discourse on the Origin of Light,” “Discourse on the Solidity and Fluidity of Bodies,” “Theory of Electricity,” and other works).

Volume IV. Works on instrumental optics and astronomy. (“A Physical Problem Concerning the Night-Viewing Tube,” “Discourse on Greater Accuracy of the Sea Route,” “The Appearance of Venus on the Sun,” “Speech on the Improvement of Telescopes,” “Chemical and Optical Notes,” and other works).

Volume V. Works on geology, mineralogy, and mining. (“The First Foundations of Metallurgy,” “On the Strata of the Earth,” “Discourse on the Birth of Metals from the Shaking of the Earth,” “News of a Russian Mineralogy Being Composed,” “The First Foundations of Mining Science,” and other works).

Volume VI. Works on geography and history. (“A Brief Description of Various Voyages on the Northern Seas and an Indication of a Possible Passage by the Siberian Ocean to East India,” “Thoughts on the Origin of Ice Mountains in the Northern Seas,” “A Brief Russian Chronicle with Genealogy,” “Ancient Russian History,” and other works).

Volume VII. Works on philology. (“Letter on the Rules of Russian Versification,” “Russian Grammar,” “Materials for a Russian Grammar,” “A Brief Guide to Rhetoric,” “A Brief Guide to Eloquence,” “On the Present State of the Verbal Sciences in Russia,” and other works).

Volume VIII. Literary works. (Odes, inscriptions, “Letter on the Usefulness of Glass,” the poem “Peter the Great,” tragedies, short poems).

Volume IX. Official and business papers. (Reports, memoranda, opinions, and other official documents concerning the Conference and Chancellery of the Academy of Sciences, the chemical laboratory, the geographical department, the academic gymnasium, and the university).

Volume X. Letters and autobiographical materials. (Lomonosov’s letters, “A Brief History of the Conduct of the Academic Chancellery,” Lomonosov’s reports on his works, reports and memoranda of an autobiographical character).

A separate supplementary volume will contain a name index, a subject-thematic index, and a geographical index for the entire edition.

At the present time Volume I of the Complete Works of M. V. Lomonosov has appeared in print; it contains 17 works by the great scholar, written by him in the period from 1738 to 1746. The principal content of the volume consists of Lomonosov’s works in which his intense creative work on the development of the fundamental problems of materialist philosophy, on

A. A. ELISEEV

to the creation of the doctrine of the structure of matter as the foundation of advanced materialist natural science, in physics and chemistry.

Of Lomonosov’s writings published in volume I, only a few were printed during his lifetime, namely: “On the Free Motion of Air, Observed in Mines,” “Dissertation on the Action of Chemical Solvents in General,” “On Metallic Luster,” the translation of “Wolff’s Experimental Physics,” and the “Program” drawn up by Lomonosov in connection with his delivery of the first public course of lectures in experimental physics in the Russian language in Russia. The remaining works of Lomonosov included in volume I first saw the light only in the twentieth century.

A large number of the works placed in volume I are being published in Russian translation for the first time. These include the following of his works: “Discourse on the Catoptric-Dioptric Ignition Instrument,” 276 notes on physics and philosophy, “44 Notes on the Cohesion of Corpuscles,” “On the Cohesion and Arrangement of Physical Monads,” “On the Particles Composing Natural Bodies—Insensible Physical Particles, in Which There Lies a Sufficient Basis for Particular Qualities.” Lomonosov’s work “Notes on the Gravity of Bodies” (both the Latin text and the Russian translation) is in general being published for the first time in volume I.

All these works of Lomonosov are for the first time being introduced into scholarly circulation, and there can be no doubt that, on the basis of their careful study, Soviet scholars will write many new investigations concerning separate aspects of the activity of the great Russian scientist that have not yet been studied and disclosed.

Of great interest in the sense of novelty is also volume II of Lomonosov’s Works, containing his works on physics and chemistry written by him in the period from 1747 to 1752. At present volume II is in production and in 1950 will appear in print. In all, 22 works by Lomonosov are being published in this volume.

The main part of the works included in this volume is devoted to Lomonosov’s classical investigations on the molecular-kinetic theory of heat, the kinetic theory of gases, physical chemistry, and the substantiation and formulation of the law of conservation of matter and motion.

Materialist in their content, Lomonosov’s works constituted a new epoch in science and, by the profundity of the advanced scientific ideas contained in them, anticipated by more than a century the development of the kinetic theory of matter and of physical chemistry.

In the works published in volumes I and II, Lomonosov appears as one of the brilliant founders of scientific atomism and the kinetic theory of matter, the author of the single universal law of nature—the law of conservation of matter and motion, the true creator of the new science—physical chemistry. A profound theoretician and subtle experimenter, Lomonosov inseparably links his

THE PUBLICATION OF THE COMPLETE WORKS OF M. V. LOMONOSOV

research in physics and physical chemistry, with the development of the scientific foundations of technology for various branches of production, and with the practical implementation of the methods he had devised. This clearly expressed direction in Lomonosov’s activity as an experimenter is revealed with great completeness after 1748, when he established, at the Petersburg Academy of Sciences, the first scientific-research chemical laboratory in our country.

Unfortunately, the greater part of the materials reflecting Lomonosov’s experimental work carried out by him in the chemical laboratory has not been preserved; but what has survived—his laboratory journal and laboratory notes, programs and tables of various physico-chemical experiments, published in full for the first time in the second volume—reveals to us Lomonosov’s enormous innovative role in the development of the experimental sciences.

The works by Lomonosov on the creation of a new type of anemometer and on the development of a design for a new universal barometer, also published in the second volume, were of great significance for science and practice.

Among the works published in Volume II, the following were issued during Lomonosov’s lifetime: “Reflections on the Cause of Heat and Cold,” “An Attempt at a Theory of the Elasticity of Air,” “Addition to the Reflections on the Elasticity of Air,” “Anemometer,” the author’s abstracts of these works by Lomonosov, and “Discourse on the Usefulness of Chemistry.”

Many of Lomonosov’s works included in this volume were first published only in the twentieth century.

Some of them—namely, “Dissertation on the Anemometer” and “Design for the Construction of a Universal Barometer”—are being published for the first time in Russian translation.

Also being published for the first time in full, in the original language and in Russian translation, are all the surviving plans and materials for the course in physical chemistry (17 notes), programs and laboratory records of Lomonosov’s physico-chemical experiments (some of them had been published in extracts and in Russian translation by B. N. Menshutkin).

Among the notes being published for the first time are, for example, an early version of the plan for the course in physical chemistry, a list of “qualities of substances, methods and bodies” for this course, variants of the classification of chemical operations, “Investigation of Salts,” and “Solutions of Salts in Neva Water.”

In preparing for publication the texts of Lomonosov’s works included in Volume II, substantial passages, in terms of their size, from texts crossed out in Lomonosov’s manuscripts—“Dissertation on the Origin and Nature of Saltpeter” and “Foreword to True Physical Chemistry”—were for the first time deciphered, read, and translated into Russian.

Of considerable interest are Lomonosov’s works, published for the first time in Volume II in the original language and in Russian translation: “On the Cause of Heat and Cold. Physical Reflections—”

” (the original version), “On the Gravity of Bodies and on the Eternity of Primary Motion,” “Calculation for ‘Dissertations on the Birth and Nature of Saltpeter’,” and “A Note on the Design of a Universal Barometer.” In the work “On the Gravity of Bodies and on the Eternity of Primary Motion,” Lomonosov, for the first time in the history of natural science, proves that “primary motion can never have had a beginning, but must continue eternally,” and that “we cannot ascribe the gravitation of bodies to divine will or to any miraculous force.”

In the subsequent volumes, now being prepared for publication, some new works by Lomonosov will also be published.

As a result of the researches of Soviet scholars, it has been possible to study new, previously unknown aspects of the great scientist’s activity and to establish his priority in many discoveries and inventions formerly attributed to foreign scientists.

Much has been done, but still more remains to be done. In the study of Lomonosov and of his scientific and social milieu there are still many “blank spots.” Lomonosov’s philosophical views, his individual classical works and experimental investigations, his role in creating the Russian scientific language, his activity as an organizer of Russian science and as an uncompromising fighter for the transformation of his country, its productive forces, and the development of its culture, have been studied quite insufficiently. Of enormous importance, too, is the almost wholly uninvestigated problem of the influence of Lomonosov’s works on the subsequent development of Russian and world science, technology, and culture. The publication of Lomonosov’s complete collected works will help Soviet scholars resolve not only these, but many other questions as well.

It has now become evident that Lomonosov’s works are of not only historical but also direct scientific and social interest for the Soviet people. The true image of Lomonosov—his passion for science, for the transformation of his Motherland, his deep faith in the people, and his talent—still retain great educational significance for our youth, for the young scientists of our country.

An ardent patriot of his Motherland, M. V. Lomonosov passionately dreamed “of restoring the golden age to the noble sciences.” The golden age of an unprecedented flourishing of science and culture came in the epoch of Lenin—Stalin, in the great country of socialism; and that is why the name of Lomonosov, his deeds, and his works are so dear to all Soviet people.