So Ait Account tftU 



that It was produced during the reduction ormefalllc calce* 

 and of the phofphoric acid. He ilot oiily apphed to che- 

 miftry the difFererit methods of experimental philofophy, and 

 its various kinds of apparatus, but even introduced into it the 

 fpirit of accuracy and calculation, which Jiad tiever before 

 been employed in that way. With this tttilb'fi of two 

 branches of natural knowledge^ Lavoifier's principal work 

 forms the commencenk'nt of a bright period in the biliofy of 

 their ihiproN-ement. . 



Prieftlcy having found that, during the union of nitrous acid 

 \\ith an earth, oxygen gas was generally produced, thence 

 conckided that atmofpheric air was a mixture of nitrous acid 

 and earth. Lavoifier, on the contrary, fhowed in the year 1^76, 

 that'oxygcn gas was a component part of nitrous acid. This 

 obfervation confirmed the truth of a great number of Experi- 

 ments, and gave rife to a variety of other difeoveries. 



In the year 1778 he was able to prove that the pureft air, 

 that necellary for refpiration, or the d'ephlogi^icated air of 

 Prieftlcy, was the caiife of acidity, and exifled in all acids. 

 To this part of the atmofphere, cohta'iiled in all acids, which 

 converts the metals into metallic ca'lces, and c?reates oxygen 

 gas in union with caloric, he gave the nmit 6i bvjgen. 



In Germany, where cherrtifti'y has b^eeh ihiic\i cultivated^ 

 this theory wi\s foon adopted, and fii'ft matlc k}^fo^\*n by Gir- 

 tanncr at Gattirtgen, atid Ilermbftadt at ferlin, '{he latter of 

 whom tranflafed Lavoi-frer's Elementary' Ti'ea^tifc of Ghemiftry 

 into German. Soon after it was atiop'ted alfo by Klaprotb, 

 Mayer, Lichfcnberg, and Gottling. W<ffi:rumb, Crdl, and 

 Gren, hoi'iJ'eve'r, ftill endeavoured to defetid the old phlogiftic 

 fyftcm ; but the majority was againft them. Bcirthollct re- 

 mained for'fomc time undecided 5 blit his o\vn eXperimeitt^ 

 fonn inducied him to embrace this theofy,- which conducted 

 him to important difeoveries. 



In the month of June T783, L'avorfier cbtif^hl^ed' ari' a"'p[Var- 

 ^atus for burninjx hvdro'X'en (ras with oxv^en p':i3 iri- clofe - 

 veilcls ; aiid the refult was a fluid, or rather purcAvater, t:he 

 weight of which corrtfponded exa;^tl)' Vv-ith fhat of t'he twc> 

 ^afcs employed. Having learned that the fani.e experiment 

 hcid been made by Cavendilli and Monge, he invented an- 

 other 



