144 HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY. 



the inflammable air, and one-fifth of the common 

 air, are turned into pure water." 



Lavoisier, to whose researches this result was, 

 as we shall soon see, very important, was employed 

 in a similar attempt at the same time, (1783,) and 

 had already succeeded 6 when he learned from Dr. 

 Blagden, who was present at the experiment, that 

 Cavendish had made the discovery a few months 

 sooner. Monge had, about the same time, made 

 the same experiments, and communicated the result 

 to Lavoisier and Laplace immediately afterwards. 

 The synthesis was soon confirmed by a correspond- 

 ing analysis. Indeed the discovery undoubtedly 

 lay in the direct path of chemical research at the 

 time. It was of great consequence in the view it 

 gave of experiments in composition ; for the small 

 quantity of water produced in many such processes, 

 had been quite overlooked ; though, as it now ap- 

 peared, this water offered the key to the whole 

 interpretation of the change. 



Though some objections to Mr. Cavendish's view 

 were offered bv Kirwan 7 , on the whole they were 



* *' 



generally received with assent and admiration. 

 But the bearing of these discoveries upon the new 

 theory of Lavoisier, who rejected phlogiston, was 

 so close, that we cannot further trace the history 

 of the subject without proceeding immediately to 

 that theory (G). 



6 A . P. 1781, p. 472. 7 P. T. 1784, p. 154. 



