THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT IN FRANCE. 



115 



chemistry was not indebted to illustrious foreigners ^ for 

 some of its most important discoveries, as because the 

 modern scientific spirit of accurate measurement first took 

 hold of chemical phenomena on a large scale in the many 

 important investigations which bear the name of Lavoi- 

 sier and his followers, through whom the great reform of 

 modern chemical knowledge and research was permanently 

 established. It has been significantly pointed out "^ that it 

 was the union of mathematical with empirical knowledge 

 which, through men like Laplace, Meusnier, Monge, first 



in which alone it ought to be un- 

 derstood, &c. . . . Until Lavoisier 

 entered the field there were no gen- 

 eralisations wide enough to entitle 

 chemistry to be called a science." 

 The correctness of this view is fully 

 and impartially examined by Her- 

 mann Kopp (' Die Entwickelung der 

 Chemie in der neueren Zeit,' Mfin- 

 chen, 1873, p. 89, &c.) He fully 

 upholds the claims of Lavoisier to 

 be called the father of modern 

 chemistry (p. 145). See also what 

 Liebig says. 



^ These were mainly, Black (dis- 

 covered carbonic acid, called fixed 

 air, in 1754), Cavendish (discovered 

 hydrogen or inflammable air in 

 1767), and Priestley, who between 

 1771 and 1774 discovered oxy- 

 gen (dephlogisticated air), nitrogen 

 (phlogisticated air), and several of 

 its compounds, among them am- 

 monia (alkaline air). Of Priestlej'- 

 it is said by Cuvier that he may 

 well be considered as one of the 

 fathers of modern chemistry, "mais 

 c'est un pere qui ne voulut jamais 

 reconnaitre sa fille " (' Eloges,' vol. i. 

 p. 208). Elsewhere (' Rapport his- 

 torique sur les Progres des Sciences 

 naturelles,' Paris, 1810, p. 90) Cu- 

 vier dates the revolution in chem- 

 istry from the introduction of the 

 mathematical spirit : " II en est 



uue cause encore plus essentielle a 

 laquelle meme on doit a proprement 

 parler, et cette theorie nouvelle, et 

 les decouvertes qui Font fait naitre. 

 . . . C'est I'esprit mathematique 

 qui s'est introduit dans la science 

 et la rigoureuse precision qu'on a 

 portee dans I'examen de toutes ses 

 operations. . . . C'est dans le 

 Traits elementaire de Lavoisier que 

 I'Europe vit pour la premiere fois 

 avec etonnement le systeme entier 

 de la nouvelle chimie," &c. 



^ Kopp, loc. cit., p. 202: "In- 

 deed, if we look at those who first 

 worked together with Lavoisier or 

 in his spirit, we shall find such as 

 had devoted themselves principally 

 to mathematics or mathematical 

 physics, men like Laplace, Meus- 

 nier, Monge. Among chemists La- 

 voisier stood for a long time almost 

 alone in his opinions." This view 

 is also taken by Cuvier (' Rapport,' 

 p. 91): "Les nouveaus chimistes 

 francais . . . out eu a se louer du 

 concours de quelques-uns de nos 

 geometres les plus distinguds," &c. ; 

 and he attributes the next great 

 step in chemical science to a similar 

 introduction of a " rigueur toute 

 mathematique" ('Rapport sur la 

 Chimie lu a la Seance des 4 Acad.,' 

 23rd April 1826). 



