Itoyal Society of London, 8j 



tliiermomcters, and on which each degree of variation in the 

 temperature could be accurately obferved. On this occafioa 

 he afcertained the proportions of their expanfion, and thefe rods 

 were afterwards employed in meafuring a bafe between Lieu- 

 faint and JVlelun ; from which were afterwards deduced the 

 length of the meridian between Dunkirk and Barcelona, the 

 circumference of the earth, and the ilandard for the new 

 French mealiires. 



It might have been expccled that a philofopher poflcfled of 

 talents fo rare and unconnnon, would have infpired with 

 refpe6l for his chara«9:er the moft favage and worthlefs of 

 mankind. But at that period the helm of the French go* 

 vernment was in the hands of a fet of monfters to whom no- 

 ^ling was facred, and whofe unbounded ambition facrificed 

 every thing to the hope of flattering the deluded populace-^ 

 They conceived that nothing could contribute more to the 

 accomplifhment of this view, than to offer up as victims at 

 the fhrine of popular liccntioufnefs all the farmers-general ; 

 and in confequence of this cruel meafure, twenty- eight of 

 them, among whom was Lavoificr, were put to death, for 

 crimes real or pretended, (^n the 8th of May 1794, by the 

 i)loody revolutionary tribunal. 



In the year 177 1, Lavoifier married Mary Anne Pierette 

 Paulze, the daughter of one of the farmers-general, a lady 

 of agreeable manners, and pofleffcd of confiderable talents. 

 She engraved the copper-plates for his lafl; work. 



Lavoifier was of large ftature ; complacency and penetra^ 

 tion were difplayed in his countenance; his behaviour was 

 mild, civil, and polite; and his activity knew no bounds. 



X. Proceedings of Learned Societies, Mifcellaneous Articles^ 

 and new Publications, Feb, 1801. 



ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, 



M AN. 29. A paper on a moft remarkable lufus of a flieep, 

 J)y Anthony Carlifle, Efq. was read. Alfo an anatomical 

 paper Qn a Rhinoceros, by Mr. Leigh Thomas. 



On 



