34 HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM. 



extent and regularity , he commenced the exe- 

 cution of his plan with the botanical garden : 

 but before we speak of what was done after 

 1772 , we must trace the progress of chemistry 

 and anatomy from 1739 until that period. 



Boulduc , demonstrator of chemistry, who had 

 succeeded his father in 1729, died in 1742; 

 his chair was given to Rouelle, whose reputa- 

 tion was already established by private lectures, 

 and by memoirs, which two years after procur- 

 ed his election to the academy of sciences. 



Rouelle was devotedly attached to chemistry ; 

 being bent upon discovery , he did not con- 

 sider it as the art of operating singular trans- 

 formations , or of making pharmaceutic prepa- 

 rations , but as a means of penetrating the 

 secrets of nature , and the laws of the compo- 

 sition of bodies. Equally an enemy to the occult 

 qualities , vague explanations and obscure lan- 

 guage of the ancient chemists , he attached him- 

 self to the doctrine of Stahl , which, though 

 resting on incomplete observations, had the ad- 

 vantage of combining facts , and referring se - 

 condary phenomena to general principles. This 

 magnificent theory had for some years given a 

 new direction to chemistry ; but it was under- 

 stood in France by a few men of science only, and 

 had still many adversaries. From the manner in 



