306 LAVOISIER. 



which discuss the effects produced by the absorption 

 and the evolution of oxygen gas, printed between the 

 years 1772 and 1780, not the least hint is given of his 

 own claim, though in five of those papers he mentions 

 Priestley as having given it a nam'e ; and one would 

 therefore believe acknowledges him as the discoverer, 

 without claiming any partnership for himself. This 

 must be confessed to be a very strong circumstance, 

 according to all the rules of evidence and principles of 

 decision which men apply to the discussion and deter- 

 mination of claims in ordinary cases. 



It was not till late in the year 1782, that this claim 

 for the first time appeared. In a paper read November 

 of that year, upon the means of increasing heat by the 

 use of oxygen, he says, (p. 458,) " Get air que M. 

 Priestley a decouvert a peu-pres en meme terns que 

 moi, et je crois meme avant moi ;" and reminds the 

 Academy that he had announced this inquiry at Easter, 

 1775, as having been conducted with M. Trudaine in 

 Montigny's laboratory some months before. Now, in 

 the Memoir already cited, he distinctly informs us that 

 these experiments were not made till February, 1775; 

 therefore, it is to this period that he refers his supposed 

 discovery, and not to any part, however late, of 1774. 

 It must a^so be borne in mind, that, for the reason 

 formerly stated respecting the irregular publication of 

 the Memoirs, and the inserting in one year the papers 

 read long after, in many cases, without noting the date 

 of their presentation, it becomes impossible to be cer- 

 tain of the time at which many of them were actually 

 read. But I have always assumed that M. Lavoisier's 

 were read at the times stated by him ; and where no 

 date is given I have supposed this paper to have been 

 read in the year to which the volume refers a suppo- 

 sition manifestly favourable, and often gratuitously 

 favourable to his case. 



We have thus seen the suspicious manner in which, 

 after suffering to pass over at least eight occasions on 



