Manufacture of Chinese Porcelain. 



101 



" 3. If then it is proposed to render just homage to the author of the 

 discovery, it is due to the memory of Leblanc, and to his family should 

 the testimonial be addressed." 



Leblanc was the type of the inventor ; full of self denial, perseverance, 

 confidence. His correspondence shows that he left no step untried, that 

 might secure the success of his work. His savings, the fruit of labors 

 undertaken from day to day, were all consecrated to this grand object ; 

 and when reduced to extremities, he exhausted every resource. 



At several times the Government sent him money, to encourage his 

 researches, and on the 19 Fructidor an II. (1*793) he obtained 4000 livres 

 from the Committee of Public Safety to meet the advances he had made 

 in reference to the project of which he was the inventor. Leblanc was a 

 man both of imagination and knowledge. The most distinguished men of 

 his times professed for him a warm sympathy. He took part in all those 

 liberal associations where friends of science resorted. The government 

 charged him with various scientific missions. He published various re- 

 searches upon nickel, alum, sulphate of magnesia, the production and 

 extraction of saltpetre, the chemical preparation of manures, &c, but he 

 never realized the dream of his life. In despair, he destroyed himself on 

 the 15th of January, 1806. He left two sons, one of whom, a professor 

 in the Conservatoire of Arts and Trades, has acquired a high reputation 

 in the industrial world by his publications and the progress which he has 

 made in the invention of machines. 



Manufacture of Chinese Porcelain. — In presenting to the Academy of 

 Sciences the important work of M. Stanislas Julien on Chinese porcelain, 

 a work mentioned in my last communication, M. Chevreul gave a brief 

 review of its contents. 



The art of making porcelain has been carried back to an exaggerated 

 antiquity. It is now demonstrated that the earliest porcelains were made 

 in China at an epoch between 185 B. C. and 87 A. D. The porcelain 

 vases found in the tombs of Egypt are not of the antiquity attributed to 

 them. M. Julien has contributed not a little to correct this error. 



The Chinese author passes in review, according to the order of time 

 and place of fabrication, the different porcelains most renowned in China. 

 A chart of that empire indicates the location of the ancient and modern 

 manufactures, adding much to the interest of the text. The idea of this 

 is due to the learned translator. The processes of manufacture are de- 

 scribed with clearness and method, and fourteen plates are reproduced 

 from the original work. Finally the very precise notes of M. Salvetat, 

 dissipate the doubt in which the text might leave the reader. 



The interest of the book is not limited to an exhibition of the manu- 

 facture of Chinese porcelain, for M. Julien, in annexing to his translation 

 from the Chinese a translation of the Art of making Japanese Porcelain, 

 has done all which depended on him to render his book useful to those 

 who consult the book from an interest in the history of the art or in the 

 ceramic industry. 



M. Julien has also given the means of comparing the processes of 

 China and Japan with those of Europe ; a task entrusted to M. Salvetat. 

 The analogies and differences of manufacture could not be shown with 

 more clearness than is here done by the skillful chemist of Sevres. The 



