92 Mr. Colquhoim OH the Life and Writings [Feb. 



Of all these changes, of which science was the original source, 

 Bcrthollet, and his illustrious friend Monge, were the heart and 

 soul. At the same time, it is but justice to add, that they had 

 many illustrious associates, who, like them, unacquainted with 

 any thing but science and theory, became like them the active 

 instructors of their countrymen in every art. It followed as a 

 natural consequence of their zeal and of the importance of their 

 services, that no private body of men enjoyed more of the public 

 confidence than the chemists of France. From the aid they had 

 lent to an administration fluctuating amid the struggles of party, 

 and young in the art of governing, they naturally and of necessity 

 became possessed of no inconsiderable political influence. And 

 never was any trus-t discharged with more faithfulness, ability, 

 and moderation. It was at this period that most of the great 

 and liberal institutions of which France is now so proud, were 

 organised. 



The state of desperate exigency from which Berthollet and 

 his associates were enabled to raise France, can with difficulty 

 be now fully appreciated : let us take one single instance in 

 illustration of it. Although so warlike a country, she had been 

 in the habit of importing all her saltpetre. When this necessary 

 article was denied her, and an instant invasion impended, the 

 appalling demand of gunpowder, to the amount of twenty 

 millions of pounds, was made as essential to her defence. In 

 this crisis, a committee of the most eminent chemists was applied 

 to, and the country soon received as the result of their investi- 

 gations, the delightful intelligence, that an inexhaustible supply 

 of saltpetre, easily accessible, lay within the bosom of their 

 native soil. " In five days," one of the committee boldly 

 affirmed, " in five days after the saltpetre shall have been 

 extracted from the earth, gunpowder manufactured from it shall 

 charge your cannon :" and his words were verified to the letter ! 



It was then that the whole face of the country seemed for a 

 time covered with manufactories of this substance. The citizens 

 emulated each other in amassing and lixiviating the proper soil. 

 Berthollet and the chemists rivalled each other in hastening 

 from department to department, to teach the best mode of 

 extracting the salt ; and such improvements were thus intro- 

 duced, that very soon processes were completed in France in a 

 few hours, which then cost other nations the labour of a month. 

 The result of the whole was an abundant supply of gunpowder 

 for the French camps and fleets, while their arsenals and maga- 

 zines were stored with ammunition ; and the extraction of salt- 

 petre from the soil continues at this day a permanent source of 

 productive employment of the national capital and industry. 



Another scarcely less important benefit was at this time con- 

 ferred on France by her iiien of science, which seeurs too much 



