328 Biographical Account of [May, 



riumerous, and his elocution too ready, to put it in liis power 

 (either to make profound discoveries, or to compose treatises of 

 ^reat depth or originality. The changes which took place in 

 the science of chemistry were brought about by others, who 

 were placed in a different situation, and endowed with different 

 talents; but no man contributed so much as Fourcroy to the 

 popularity of the Lavoisierian opinions, and the rapidity with 

 which they were propagated over France, and most countries in 

 Europe. His eloquence drew crowds to hear him, and persuaded 

 liis audience to embrace his opinions. 



He must have possessed an uncommon facility in writing, for 

 Ills literary labours are exceedingly numerous. Besides those 

 essays which have been already noticed, he published five 

 editions of his System of Chemistry, each of them gradually 

 increasing in size and value; the first edition being in two 

 yolumes, and the fifth in ten. This last edition he wrote in 16 

 jnonths. It contains a vast quantity of valuable matter, and 

 contributed considerably to the general diffusion of chemical 

 Icnovvledge. its fault is the diffuseness of the style, and the 

 want of correct references. The readers of Fourcroy 's system 

 would suppo'^e that all the discoveries in chemistry have been 

 piade by the French, and that other nations have contributed 

 comparatively little to the stock of chemical knowledge ; 

 ^hereas^ in reality, the very opposite is the truth, A much 

 greater number of important ch^-mical discoveries have been 

 made in Britain than in France ; and the British chemists have 

 CQotributed prodigiously to the raising of that beautiful fabric 

 which we at present admire, 



F^rliaps the best of all Fourcroy's productions is his Philoso- 

 phj of Chemistry, v;hich is remarkable for its conciseness, its 

 ■per'^picuity, and the neatness of its arrangement. 



Besides these works, and the periodical work called Le 

 Medicin Eclairr, of which he was the editor, there are above 

 160 papers on cliemical subjects, with his name attached to 

 fhem as the author, which appeared in the Memoirs of the 

 i\cademy, of the Institute, in the Annales de Chimie, or the 

 Anoales de Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, of which last work he 

 was the original projector. As in most of these papers the name 

 0f Vauquelin is associated with his own, as the author; and as 

 during the publication of those which appeared with his own 

 jiame alone, Vauquelin was the operator in his laboratory, it is 

 jipt possible to determine what part of the experiments were 

 B^ade by Fourcroy, and what by Vauquelin, I have been told, 

 by a gentleman who had a good opportunity of getting informa- 

 tion on the subject, that almost all the experiments were made 

 fiy Vauquelin, but that all the papers were written by Fourcroy 

 himself. The discoveries contained in these numerous disserta- 



