64 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



CHABANEAU: AN EARLY WORKER ON PLATINUM 



By Professor JAS. LEWIS HOWE 



WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY 



"A'TOT long since M. Louis Quennessen of Paris (head of the old 

 JL-N house of Des Moutis & Co., platinum refiners) directed my atten- 

 tion to an early worker on platinum, Pierre-Francois Chabaneau, whose 

 name has so far escaped the historians of chemistry that I think it is 

 not even mentioned in any English or German work, and has only 

 appeared in the last edition of Moissan's "Traite de Chimie Minerale." 

 More recently, through the courtesy of M. Quennessen, I have received 

 a copy of an all but unknown memoir, " Notice sur Chabaneau, Chimiste 

 Perigourdin," par M. Jules Delanoue, printed at Perigueux in 1862, 

 portions of which appear to be of sufficient interest to put on record. 

 This biographical sketch was written in 1857, though not published till 

 five years later, and has for its purpose " to call to the attention of our 

 citizens the useful work, too little known, of a modest man, who unques- 

 tionably deserves the first place among the distinguished men whom 

 Perigord has given to the world." 



It may be noted that Perigueux is the capital of the old province of 

 Perigord (now in part Dordogne) in southwest Prance, and has an 

 interesting history going back to the time when it was the old Gallic 

 town of Vesunna, the capital of the Petrocorii. Numerous remains of 

 Vesunna are still in existence, especially baths, temples, an aqueduct and 

 fragments of the amphitheater, mostly dating f-rom its Roman occupa- 

 tion. The most notable building of Perigueux is the cathedral of St. 

 Front, belonging to the Byzantine period, which bears quite a close 

 resemblance to St. Mark's at Venice. The town has undergone many 

 vicissitudes, having been taken by the barbarians in the fourth century, 

 the Saracens in the eighth, the Normans in the ninth, the English in the 

 fourteenth, and later restored to the French. It was a stronghold of the 

 Calvinists in the Huguenot wars, and at this time was nearly laid in 

 ruins. In the midst of an agricultural region, it is perhaps best known 

 for its truffles and chestnut-fed hogs, the latter being used in hunting 

 for the former. 



The early history of Chabaneau is a not unfamiliar one of precocity 

 and hardship. 



Pierre-Frangois Chabaneau was born at Nontron (in northwestern Dor- 

 dogne) April 21, 1754. His family were respectable artisans, and he would 

 undoubtedly have followed the obscure career of his parents, had not his intel- 

 ligence and pronounced love of study attracted the attention of his uncle, a 



