i8l3.] 



M, de Fourcroy. 



33i 



formation of ether in general. We now know that the nitric, 

 and muriatic, and acetic ether, are formed in quite a different 

 inanner. 



15. They ascertained by experiment that the three liquids, 

 known by the names ot pyroraucous. pyrolignous, and pyrotar- 

 tarous acids, are noth'*n,2: else tiian vinegar hoklifig in solution a 

 portion of empyreuKi{it;c o'l. 



16*. They asce' r J.^v^d t>ie presence of phosphate of magnesia 

 in the bone^ of ail iJoiii - is. 



17. Their expcri'i^ei.ts iipon crude platina were not so suc- 

 cessful. They detected, in it the presence of a new metal. But 



they in fact coniounded the two metals of Ten nan t, the 

 osmium and iridium, together, all their observations were 

 eithc i- erroneous, or so confuted that it was impossible to dis- 

 entangle the truth from them. 



18. Their experiments on the bitter principle extracted from 

 indigo, and the detonating property which it possesses, are 

 curious. The subject was carried farther by Hatchett and 

 Chevreul. 



19. They were unsuccessful in their attempts to detect the 

 presence of iiuoric acid in bones ; though this was afterwards 

 successfully executed by Berzelius. 



20. They discovered a quantity of uncombined phosphorus in 

 the melts of fishes. They showed, likewise, an analogy between 

 the pollen of the antherse of some flowers, and the seminal fluid 

 of animals. 



21. They detected in the common onion the presence of a 

 considerable quantity of saccharine matter, and showed by 

 experiment that this saccharine matter was converted into manna 

 by a spontaneous change which it underwent. They found, at 

 the same time, that manna is incapable of undergoing the 

 vinous fermentation, and, of course, that it does not yield 

 alcohol. 



22. They ascertained the properties of animal mucus, and 

 showed that it differed from all other animal substances. 



23. These, though only a small number of the chemical 

 papers published by Fourcroy, are by far the most important. 

 We have no means of determining what portion of each belongs 

 to Fourcroy, and what to Vauquelin ; but there is one merit, at 

 least, which cannot be refused Fourcroy, and it is no small one« 

 He formed and brought forwards Vauquelin, and proved to him 

 ever afterwards a most steady and indefatigable friend. This is 

 bestowing no small panegyric on his character; for it would 

 have been impossible to have retained such a friend through all 

 the horrors of the French revolution, if his own quaHties had 

 pot been such as to merit so steady an attachoient. I have taken 



