XVII 

 ANTOINE LAURENT LAVOISIER 



1743-1794 



Antoine Laurent Lavoisier was horn in Paris, August 26, 1743. 

 After an early life spent in diligent study, in iy66 he was awarded 

 a prize for his essay on the best method of lighting Paris. His 

 attention having been called to the English experiments on gases 

 made by Priestley and Cavendish, he attacked the current phlogiston 

 conception of combustion and stated that Priestley's ''dephlogisticated 

 air" was the universal acidifying gas, and gave it the name of '^ oxy- 

 gen." Systemati::ing chemistry and renaming the elements and their 

 compounds, he came to believe that chemical reactions had the cer- 

 tainty of mathematical equations. From this he derived the idea 

 of the persistence of matter, regardless of changes, now established 

 as one of the basic concepts of modern science. During the French 

 Revolution a charge was brought against him and he was sent to the 

 guillotine on May 8, 1794. 



THE NATURE OF COMBUSTION * 



I venture to submit to the Academy today a new theory of combus- 

 tion, or rather, to speak with that reserve to whose law I submit 

 myself, an hypothesis, by the aid of which all the phenomena of 

 combustion, calcination, and even to some extent those accompanying 

 the respiration of animals are explained in a very satisfactory manner. 

 I had already laid the foundations of this hypothesis p. 279-280 of 

 vol. I. of my Opuscules physiques et chimiques; but I admit that 

 trusting little to my own knowledge, I did not then dare to put for- 

 ward an opinion which might seem singular, and which was directly 



* On Combustion, Vol. II, p. 225. 



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