BIOGRAPHIES 



OF SCIENTIFIC MEN 



^ <j 



LAVOISIER 



i?43~ I 794 



\ T the time when so many countries were at war 

 * concerning the succession to the Austrian throne, 

 there was born at Paris, on 26th August 1743, Lavoisier, 

 who was destined in after years to revolutionize chemistry 

 and ultimately to perish, or rather was murdered by the 

 French communists, during the Reign of Terror which 

 accompanied the first French Revolution. Our hero's 

 father was a wealthy merchant, of a scientific bent of 

 mind, and who encouraged the pursuit of knowledge in 

 the son. Lavoisier was educated at the College Mazarin, 

 where he studied several sciences ; and the knowledge 

 gained in early years was invaluable for his future career. 

 By dint of his genius there rose a nouvelle chimie : "La 

 nouvelle chimie est toujours celle de Lavoisier." Lavoisier 

 is, without doubt, the father of modern chemistry, as 

 he overthrew Stahl's, or the phlogistic, theory ; although 

 every science is the accumulation of truths discovered by 



numerous workers in all ages. 



i 1 



