19 



.ucordancf willi llie tlu'orv. And so it liapjuMUMl tliat. wliilo the tlR'orv ((mtaiiu'd 

 •tiiily a partial tnitli. and cvimi that lialf-triith was so badly distorted that we have 

 some dilliculty even now in reoognizin.n' it, the develo]ii)ient of the science was 

 conij)aratively rapid during this period. And we may be sure that this theory 

 furnishes one important reason why chemistry made more progress during tlie 

 centnry of its proposal, development and general acceptance than during many 

 centuries before. Knt. as often happens, a theory which was extremely valuable 

 for a time and which was probably the best which the science of its day was 

 capable of accepting, outlived its usefulness and was generally believed after the 

 facts necessary for its overthrow had been discovered. At such times there conies 

 the necessity for a man with a profound reverence for facts as of supreme import- 

 ance and as beyond and underlying all theories — a man, too, with great power to 

 *iee through all external phenomena ard grasp their true explanation in spite of 

 any preconceived notion or .my theory no matter how generally accepted. I 

 think it not without significance that the man who could do all this for chemistry 

 was produced in France during that period before the revolution when the country 

 "»vas full of the fermentation of those ideas which led to that tremendous revolt 

 against all forms of dogmatism and authority when men were ready to (|uestion 

 ideas and beliefs which had been held sacred for centuries and when the feeling 

 ^vas prevalent that all knowledge and even all forms of society must be torn down 

 •and nliiiili from the very foundations. 



Lavoisier was a fit pro<luct of such an age — a man capable of proposing a 

 heresy in the face of all orthodox scientists and with the ability, too, to prove, in 

 the end, that his heresy was true and orthodoxy was false. 



Lavoisier was born in 1743. His father was a wealthy merchant, wlu) was, 

 himself, interested in science. ;ind jjcrsonally acquainted with some of the most 

 noted scientific men of Paris. The sou received a thorough education under the 

 best teachers of the city. He seems to have been especially interested in mathe- 

 luatic-; and chemistry, but studied carefully other sciences as well. He was first 

 known to the scientific world through his competing, when 21 years old, for a 

 prize offered by the French government for the best method of lighting a great 

 city. The prize of two thousand iivres was awarded to Lavoisier, but he caused 

 the money to be divided between three of his comi)etit<)rs to repay them for their 

 outlay in making experiments. He received, however, through the French 

 Academy, a medal granted iiiui l>y the king in recognition of his services, and it 

 ■was largely in consideration of this work that he was chosen a member of the 

 Academy at the early age of twenty-five. While Lavoisier devoted most of his 

 'iine and energy to the prosecution of researches in i)ure science Jic seems always 



