56 HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM. 



sary to illustrate them, is assigned to one pro- 

 fessor, and its applications in the arts to another. 



Macquer, who had filled the place of Bour- 

 delin since 1770, and enjoyed the title since 

 1777, differed entirely from his predecessor: 

 he resumed the theory of Becker and Stahl , 

 which Rouelle had first rendered popular , and 

 it is evident from his Chemical Dictionary, that a 

 man of so just and clear an understanding must 

 have treated his subject with superior method 

 and exactness. He did not aim at striking the ima- 

 gination of his hearers, but endeavoured to fix 

 their attention on important phenomena, and to 

 lead them, by their own inferences, to the explana- 

 tion. Though a partisan of the doctrine of Stahl, as 

 well as the demonstrators, he was struck with 

 the discoveries of Lavoisier ; he even anticipated 

 the changes they must produce, and, far from re- 

 jecting their consequences , prepared his pupils 

 to receive them. At his death, in 1784, Buffon 

 named to succeed himM. Fourcroy, who had not 

 attained his thirtieth year, and was not even a 

 member of the academy , but who had acquired 

 a name by his lectures, as the substitute of pro- 

 fessor Bucquet. 



FromFourcroy's entrance into the garden must 

 be dated the propagation of the new theory , 

 which has changed the face of the science. 



