260 LAVOISIEK. 



as his own, not as Black's, whose name is wholly 

 avoided*. 



It may easily be believed that Dr. Black's surprise was 

 great upon this occasion, and that he treated the flattery 

 contained in these letters with a very marked contempt. 

 This we learn from his friend and colleague, Professor 

 Robison, (Lectures, vol. II., note.) But this no one 

 could have learnt from that illustrious philosopher's 

 manner, when he had occasion to speak of his correspon- 

 dent in public. I well remember the uniform respect 

 with which he mentioned him in his Lectures, the admira- 

 tion which Jie always expressed of his great powers of 

 generalization, the satisfaction with which he recounted 

 his experiments, some of which, he himself, performed 

 before us; nay, the willingness with which he admitted 

 him to a share of the grand discovery of the composition 

 of water; and shewed us the analytical proof, or rather 

 illustration of the doctrine, as a most happy confirmation 

 of it, though not certainly deserving to be regarded as an 

 unequivocal demonstration. No one could ever have 

 suspected either the existence of the letters which I have 

 cited or the blank in the Memoirs with which I have con- 

 trasted them. 



After the year 1784, though M. Lavoisier continued 

 his scientific labours, excepting his co-operation in forming 

 the new nomenclature, and his important researches, in 

 company with M. Seguin, upon the processes of respira- 

 tion and transpiration, there are no results of his chemical 

 inquiries that require to be mentioned. The paper on 



* Mem. 1789, p. 567. Black is mentioned with Boyle, Hales, 

 and Priestley, only as having shown that the air of the atmosphere 

 is altered by the respiration of animals (p. 568.) 



