WOMEN IN CHEMISTRY 215 



laboratory and materially aided him in his labors. Under 

 his direction she wrote the results of the experiments that 

 were made, as is evidenced by the records of his work. 

 As a pupil of the illustrious painter, David, she was natu- 

 rally skillful in drawing. Besides this, she was a good 

 engraver, and it is to her that are due the illustrations in 

 Lavoisier's great Trait e de Chimie, which contributed so 

 much toward revolutionizing the science of chemistry. It 

 was, indeed, the first work that deserved to be regarded as 

 a textbook of modern chemistry. Among her drawings are 

 two of special interest. They represent her as seated at 

 a table in the laboratory, taking notes, while her husband 

 and his assistant, Seguin, are making an experiment on the 

 phenomena of respiration. 1 



All Mme. Lavoisier's writings testify to her great admi- 

 ration of the genius of her husband. Intimately associated 

 with him in his work, she combatted for the triumph of his 

 ideas and sought to make converts to them. One of her 

 most notable converts was the Swiss chemist, de Saussure. 

 "You have, Madame," he writes her, "triumphed over my 

 doubts, at least in the matter of phlogiston, which is the 

 principal object of the interesting work of which you have 

 done me the honor of sending me a copy. ' ' 



After Lavoisier 's tragic death on the guillotine, it was his 

 devoted wife who edited his Memoirs on Chemistry, of 

 which Lavoisier had himself projected the publication. The 

 two volumes constituting this work were not for sale, but 

 were gratuitously distributed by the bereaved widow 

 among the most eminent scientific men of the epoch. Cuv- 

 ier, in acknowledging the receipt of these precious memoirs, 

 declares : l ' All the friends of science are under obligations 

 to you for your sorrowful determination to publish this 

 collection of papers and to publish them as they were writ- 



i Lavoisier 1743-1794, d'apres sa Correspondence, Ses Manuscrits, 

 Ses Papiers de Famille et d'Autres Documents Inedits, p. 42 et seq. ; 

 par E. Grimaux, Paris, 1896. 



