I. Versions and variants

Since the Paris manuscript BNF Fr. 12265 reveals many revision stages, it was crucial for the editors to make explicit the main stages of revision in structure and content made by Émilie Du Châtelet, through establishing them as textual versions on their own, rather than placing them in the variant apparatus. On the one hand, this makes it easier for the reader to perceive the differences by presenting the versions as distinct texts, so that the reader does not need to reconstruct all revision stages from the entries in the variant apparatus, which at times is quite a complicated task. On the other hand, in order to analyze the differences between the revision stages in detail, the reader needs to compare the online edited versions by arranging them in separate windows on the screen or display. This might be demanding at times, yet it is still easier than reconstructing all revision stages from the variant apparatus.

However, in order to make the comparison between the distinct versions easier, we decided to offer, in these introductory notes, a survey of some striking differences between the versions. We continue to provide a variant apparatus, however, representing the finer-grained revisions made by Émilie Du Châtelet.

By consequently establishing versions as texts on their own, and as distinguished by the amount of changes in structure and content, we also establish revision stages as variants which might only consist of one word being changed.

We have identified ten total revision stages in this chapter. There is an initial fair copy (siglum A), which then undergoes various revisions, leading to a final handwritten version (siglum H). In addition, there are the two published printed versions from 1740 and 1742 (sigla I and J).

The first and final manuscript revision stages are established as full versions. The earlier revision stages are available in the edition as variants.

VERSIONS AND VARIANTS	SOURCE
A = MAIN TEXT = VERSION	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12265, 225r–234v
B = VARIANT DOCUMENTED IN THE VARIANT APPARATUS OF VERSION A	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12265, 225r–234v
C = VARIANT DOCUMENTED IN THE VARIANT APPARATUS OF VERSION A	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12265, 225r–234v
D = VARIANT DOCUMENTED IN THE VARIANT APPARATUS OF VERSION A	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12265, 225r–234v
E = VARIANT DOCUMENTED IN THE VARIANT APPARATUS OF VERSION H	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12265, 225r–234v
F = VARIANT DOCUMENTED IN THE VARIANT APPARATUS OF VERSION H	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12265, 225r–234v
G = VARIANT DOCUMENTED IN THE VARIANT APPARATUS OF VERSION H	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12265, 225r–234v
H = MAIN TEXT = VERSION	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12265, 225r–234v
I = MAIN TEXT = VERSION	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Paris: Prault, 1740, 255–272
J = VARIANT DOCUMENTED IN THE VARIANT APPARATUS OF VERSION I	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions physiques, Amsterdam: Aux Depens de la Compagnie, 1742, 268–284

II. Short survey of the main manuscript versions A and H

The fair copy of this chapter is significantly revised and rearranged towards version H. An unusual feature of this chapter is that significant portions, even when not written in Du Châtelet’s hand, were not assigned to numbered sections in version A. However, significant changes and deletions are made in later versions such that there is no final and coherent section numbering of this chapter.

III. Some significant differences between versions

A first important feature in the revisions is the addition, and later deletion, of an important footnote concerning Du Châtelet’s statement that attraction acts internally (226v). In the footnote, she clarifies that she should not be taken to mean that “gravity is the soul of bodies.” The point is just that gravity or attraction acts on all parts of a body, not just on its surface, and is also exercised by all parts of a body. Du Châtelet also makes this point in her 1738 anonymous review of Voltaire’s book on Newton.

A second notable addition lengthens § 312, which originally simply stated that the effects of a dead force (force morte) stop as soon as the force itself ceases, and that the intensity of a dead force can be measured by its effects. Du Châtelet then deletes the definition of the intensity of dead force. In its place she adds a further explanation of how the effects of dead force take place, and here she includes a striking claim. She defines resistance as whatever “destroys pressure” (where pressure is a prime example of a dead force) (228r). She then states that it is “for this reason” that “reaction is always equal to action” (228r). That is, a principle that might superficially look like Newton’s Third Law—which is of course a general law, for all action and reaction—is here derived from a supposedly more basic, but also quite specific, opposition between resistance and pressure. She does not say how this derivation might work in the case of equal and opposite distance forces, such as gravitational forces. All discussion of “resistance” is then deleted from the printed versions of the chapter.

A third important change is that two new sections (§§ 317 and 318) are added on a loose sheet of paper in Du Châtelet’s own hand. One interpretive challenge in these sections is that Du Châtelet claims (i) that every effect operates in a finite time, but also, in the next paragraph, that (ii) motive power (puissance motrice) produces an effect, namely moving an obstacle, during an infinitely small interval of time (dans le premier instant infinimt petit) (227r).

IV. Note on the technical and editorial presentation of the edition

There are still changes to come in the technical presentation of the edition. The design and structure as well as the information implemented in the XML files will be refined. Due to the work required to program all these refinements, it will take some time until the final edition can be presented online. Also to be added is the commentary on the texts.

For now, we show a preliminary version, a work in progress, which is the basis for all future refinements.