BEGINNINGS OF MODERN CHEMISTRY 



tunes believed to be elementary bodies, not one has 

 stood the test of the eighteenth - century chemists. 

 Earth had long since ceased to be regarded as an ele- 

 ment, and water and air had suffered the same fate 

 in this century. And now at last fire itself, the last of 

 the four "elements" and the keystone to the phlogis- 

 ton arch, was shown to be nothing more than one of the 

 manifestations of the new element, oxygen, and not 

 "phlogiston" or any other intangible substance. 



In this epoch of chemical discoveries England had 

 produced such mental giants and pioneers in science as 

 Black, Priestley, and Cavendish ; Sweden had given the 

 world Scheele and Bergman, whose work, added to 

 that of their English confreres, had laid the broad base 

 of chemistry as a science; but it was for France to 

 produce a man who gave the final touches to the broad 

 but rough workmanship of its foundation, and estab- 

 lish it as the science of modern chemistry. It was for 

 Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794) to gather to- 

 gether, interpret correctly, rename, and classify the 

 wealth of facts that his immediate predecessors and 

 contemporaries had given to the world. 



The attitude of the mother-countries towards these 

 illustrious sons is an interesting piece of history. Swe- 

 den honored and rewarded Scheele and Bergman for 

 their efforts; England received the intellectuality of 

 Cavendish with less appreciation than the Continent, 

 and a fanatical mob drove Priestley out of the country ; 

 while France, by sending Lavoisier to the guillotine, 

 demonstrated how dangerous it was, at that time at 

 least, for an intelligent Frenchman to serve his fellow- 

 man and his country well. 



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