332 LAVOISIER. 



departed entirely : because, though subsequent expe- 

 riments have greatly increased the number of the 

 exceptions, yet there were many striking ones at the 

 time he formed his system, and these were left out of 

 view in its formation. 



After all the deductions, however, which can fairly 

 be made from his merits, these stand high indeed, and 

 leave his renown as brilliant as that of any one who 

 has ever cultivated physical science. The overthrow 

 of the Phlogiston Theory, and the happy generaliza- 

 tions upon the combinations of bodies,' which we owe 

 to his genius for philosophical research, are sufficient 

 to place him among the first, perhaps to^ make him be 

 regarded as the first reformer of chemical science, the 

 principal founder of that magnificent fabric which 

 now fills so ample a space in the eye of every student 

 of nature. 



