Treatise

A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, concerned with investigating or exposing the main principles of the subject and its conclusions, and the cited article adds that a monograph is a treatise on a specialized topic. It traces the word to the early fourteenth century, from the Anglo-French tretiz and the Old French traitis, meaning a treatise or account, and further back to the Latin tractatus, from the verb tractare, meaning to deal with. The article lists historically significant treatises identified by scholars as influential on the development of human civilization, discussing among them Euclid's Elements. Philosophical works the atlas records as treatises are grouped under this entry.