108 Cheynical PJiilosophy. [Chap. II. 



vendish was confirmed by the experiments of M. 

 Lavoisier and others: insomuch, that, during the 

 last fifteen or twenty years, the composition of 

 water has been generally considered as one of the 

 best estabhshed facts in chemistry. It has been 

 decomposed and recomposedy and found to consist of 

 ^5 parts, by weight, of oxygen, and 15 of hydrogen. 



This discovery soon began to change the princi- 

 ples of chemical science. By furnishing a satisfac- 

 tory explanation of many phenomena which were 

 formerly difficult of explanation, if not wholly in- 

 explicable, it has perhaps contributed more than 

 any other single discovery to promote the progress 

 of this branch of philosophy. 



All the great chemists, Avhose names have been 

 mentioned, were at this time votaries of the phlo- 

 gistic theory of Stahl. Their experiments and dis- 

 coveries, indeed, were sometimes found to militate 

 strongly against this popular doctrine, and some 

 of them ventured occasionally to call in question 

 its leading principles. Still, however, discerning 

 no preferable ground on which to rest, and fmding 

 some ingenious devices to reconcile discordant ap- 

 pearances, they adhered, in general, to the opi- 

 nions of the illustrious German. But the fair 

 structure of this great philosopher was doomed, 

 like most human labours, to be soon overturned by 

 the restless hand of innovation. The experiments 

 on jnetals ; the discovery of various facts and prin- 

 ciples with respect to the matter of heat; and 

 especially the discovery of oxygeiiy and of the com- 

 position of ivateVy began to produce a conviction 

 in the minds of some leading chemists in France, 

 that liie doctrine of phlogiston was utterly insulh- 



