224 Biographical Memoirs of P. Bay en. 



waters than had ever been before known. The waters which 

 he in particular analyfed were thofe of Barreges, Bagneres, 

 and Luchon. The analyfis of the latter is a model of correft- 

 nefs which ought to be followed in works of this nature, 

 and to which nothing could be added. This work, written 

 iri a very methodical manner, while it infiructs the chemift 

 and the phyfician, may be ufefnl ajfo to the naturalift and tl}e 

 philofopher, and even to the man of letters, by the intereft 

 which the author gives to a fubje£t that appears to be little 

 fufceptible of it, and the variety of the details which it con- 

 tains. It is to be withed that this grand enterprise, begun 

 by Bayen and Vencl, had been continued ; but the funds fet 

 apart for the execution of it having been applied to other 

 objects, it was at laft dropped ; and the knowledge reflecting 

 the mineral waters of France is flill imperfect. 



Bayen, in the courfe of his travels through the Pyrenees, 

 had findied natural hiftory, and been convinced of the necef- 

 fity of analyfing bodies, in order to acquire a knowledge of 

 the fubftances which compofe them. He therefore collected 

 fpecimens of thofe minerals which feemed to be molt de- 

 ferving of particular attention ; and thefe fpecimens in his 

 hands became valuable materials for the ingenious analyfis 

 which he made of them, and in which he was employed for 

 twelve years. To this immenfe labour the public is in- 

 debted for Bayen's different memoirs on marble, ferpentines, 

 rorphyry, ophites, granites, jafper, argillaceous fchifis, and 

 the fparry ore of iron, which he prcfented to the Academy 

 of Sciences, and which that body caufed to be infertcd among 

 thofe of the foreign literati. 



Stahl, the oracle of chemiftry, having maintained that one 

 of the effential principles in nature is pure fire, or the mat- 

 ter which produces fire in comb.uftible bodies, gave to this 

 element thus combined the particular name of pblogijlon, or 

 the inflammable principle. Bayen, who in all his operations 

 fought only for truth, and would not be convinced without 

 evident proofs, becaufe the habit of experience had rendered 

 him miftruftful, began to doubt of the exiftence of phlogif- 



ton. 



