296 LAVOISIER. 



read ; for in the volume for 1772, p. 12, we have M. 

 Lavoisier quoting a book published in January, 1773, 

 and describing an experiment made in August of that 

 year, (p. 598). So in the volume for 1770, we have 

 an account of an eclipse in April, 1771, and of experi- 

 ments made in autumn, 1771, (p. 621). In later 

 volumes the dates are more accurately given, though 

 sometimes they tend to bewilder us. Thus the volume 

 for 1776 was not published till 1778, and it contains 

 a paper of M. Lavoisier, printed in Sept. 1778, and read 

 23rd Nov., 1779. So the volume for 1776 contains 

 another paper of his, stated to have been printed in 

 Dec., 1777. In like manner the volume for 1774 was 

 published in 1778, and it contains a paper read 1774, 

 but relu 1777. And the volume for 1775 has a paper 

 read Easter, 1775, relu Aug., 1778. It is needless to 

 remark how very difficult this kind of confusion and 

 inaccuracy, wholly unaccountable, renders it to ascer- 

 tain the precise date at which any experiment was made, 

 or theory formed. We are in most cases left to mere 

 conjecture, being uncertain of anything but the time 

 of publication, and not always sure of that. 



In the year 1768 M. Lavoisier began to occupy him- 

 self almost exclusively with chemical inquiries. Well 

 educated in the kindred branches of natural philosophy, 

 and fully conversant with all that was then known of 

 chemistry, ardent in the pursuit of scientific truth, filled 

 with a noble ambition to distinguish himself among its 

 students, careless of the various pursuits which men in 

 his circumstances find all-engrossing, he was also in 

 possession of ample wealth, and could both command 

 the aid of some and obtain the fellowship of others in 

 his researches, while the most costly apparatus, and the 

 most expensive experiments, were at all times within 

 his reach. He soon filled his house with the finest in- 

 struments, and opened it freely to all men of letters and 

 of science. In their company, and with the inestimable 

 advantage of their constant society, in which every 



