In physics. Laplace joined with Lavoisier in important experiments 0782-R41 on the specific heats of bodies, and contributed in a noteworthy manner to the theories of capillary action. of electricity, and of the equilibrium of a rotating fluid mass. His of the diserep ancy between the theoretical and observed ve locity of sound led him to take into mathemati cal account various secondary factors by which the velocity of sound may be inthieneed. 'La place's coeflieients.' also called spherical func tions and sphe•ieal harmonies. already known to Legenilre. were first given in their general form by Laplace, in his Thl'orie des attractions des spWroid(s el (I, la figure des planetrs (1752). In pure inathematies. Laplace made his greatest reputation in the theory of probabilities (q.v.). This doetrine, already created by Pascal and Fer mat. and brought to a high degree of perfection by Jakob Bernoulli (q.v.), was investigated by Laplace soon after his arrival at Paris as a young man, and first brought him to the atten tion of the Academy. Ile made much use of the subject in his .1//:cenique celeste, and was the
first to treat the mew theory of least squares as a problem of probabilities. His Thoric anal yt ique des probabilites appeared ill 181•, and his Essai philosophique stir lea probabilites in 1814. La place's complete works have been twice published by the French Government. respectively under the titles, (Eurres de Laplace (7 vols.. 1843-47), Lc S (EU CITS completes de Laplace (13 vol.., be ginning in 187")). The ih'CilnifiJIC Ca CO e is also known in English from an adaptation of a por tion of the work under the title Mechanism of the Ilearens, by Mrs. Somerville (London. 1831), and the first hook through a translation by Toplis under the title Treatise upon Analytical Mechan ics (Nottingham, 1814). One of Laplace's works on probabilities was translated into English by Truseott and Emory, the title Philosophical Essay on Probabilities (New York, 1902). For biography. consult: Kaufman. Laplace (Paris, 1841) : and Arago. Biographies of Scientific Men (trans.. Boston. 1859).