230 LAVOISIER. 



his earliest years he appears to have been wholly conse- 

 crated to scientific pursuits, so no one ever entered upon 

 his course with a more fervid courage. The earliest of 

 his inquiries of which we have any knowledge was an 

 analysis of gypsum, presented to the Academy of Sciences 

 in 1765, and published in the collection of ' Memoires de 

 divers Savans,' 1768. In 1764 a prize had been pro- 

 posed by M. de Sartine, the celebrated chief of the police 

 of Paris, for the best method of lighting a great town, so 

 as to combine illumination with economy, and with 

 facility of service. After the lapse of twelve months no 

 dissertation had been presented which satisfied the con- 

 ditions of the programme, and the prize was doubled, 

 being raised to 2000 livres; and next year, 1766, the 

 conditions remaining still unsatisfied by the candidates, 

 the prize was divided among the three best, while a 

 Memoir of great merit, by M. Lavoisier, was honourably 

 mentioned and ordered to be printed. The King, too, 

 on M. de Sartine's recommendation, directed a gold medal 

 to be bestowed upon the author, who was presented with 

 it at the public sitting of the Academy in April, 1766. 

 In 1769 he obtained the place of a fermier-general, by a 

 kind of hereditary title; and in 1771 he married Marie- 

 Anne Paulze, whose father likewise belonged to the same 

 financial class. In 1768 he had been admitted a 

 member of the Academy, at the early age of twenty- 

 five. His paper on the lapis specularis, related to the 

 composition of the great strata forming the basin of 

 Paris. 



He appears for some years to have occupied himself 

 principally with geological inquiries; he made niinera- 

 logical journeys in various parts of France in company 



