M O R V E A U. 
acid. In this manner was that church inftantly purified; 
and thus were the frifons of Dijon during the fame year 
entirely freed from the infectious fever, Springing from 
the accumulation of difeafed perfons. From that moment 
it was proved, that the muriatic acid gas attacked and 
deftroyed the baneful effe&s of putrefaction, no matter 
how produced, by which the molt trivial malady is often 
changed into a difeafe of fatal termination. At a fubfe- 
quent period, Fourcroy, from a fuppofition that the gas 
in queftion afted in virtue of the oxygen it was believed 
to contain, fuggefted to employ it in that Hate in which 
a much greater proportion of that fame principle was 
fuppofed to be prefent. Morveau, who, without entering 
into the theories explanatory of the eft’edi, contented 
himfelf with the important refults to be derived from it, 
having afcertained by comparative experiments the fupe- 
rior efficacy of the oxygenated muriatic acid (chlorine), 
propofed by Fourcroy, in certain cafes, loft no time in 
adopting the improvement; and thus eftabliffied at once, 
in the moft incontrovertible manner, one of the moft 
powerful means with which the magiftrate, as well as the 
phyfician, can arm themfelves to combat infection. 
As increaling merit never fails to meet with unworthy 
opponents, Morveau had, like many other illuftrious 
perfons, the mortification of feeing himfelf attacked by 
prejudice on the one hand, and by malice and open 
hoftility on the other. Fixed air, iince called carbonic 
acid, was at that time engaging the attention of chemifts, 
and Guyton had thought it neceffary to exhibit fome 
experiments illuftrative of its properties, when feveral 
writers, amongft whom were many medical men, attacked 
the principles on which the nature and properties of that 
acid were explained, infilling upon its identity with the 
vitriolic acid. Guyton, however, in two effays, com¬ 
pletely refuted the doftrine. Another fource of contro- 
verfy was the eftablifhing metallic condu&ors at Dijon, 
at a time when they had juft been propofed by the Ame¬ 
rican philofopher. Guyton’s efforts in feconding the 
benevolent intentions of that illuftrious man, were con- 
fidered as irreverent and irreligious : he was attacked for 
his prefumption, in difarming the hand of the Supreme 
Being; and would have fuffered materially from the mul¬ 
titude of fanatics who had affembled to pull down the 
conduftor placed on the houfe of the Dijon Academy, 
had not Dr. Maret, the fecretary, fucceeded in difperfing 
the motley troop, by alluring them that the aftonilhing 
virtue of that inftrument refided in the gilded point which 
had purpofely been fent from Rome by the holy father. 
In 1778, M. Guyton publiffied the firft volume of a 
Courfe of Chemiftry, which Ihortly afterwards was fuc¬ 
ceeded by a fecond, a third, and a fourth, volume. Our 
prefent knowledge of this fcience is fuch, that we could 
not refer to this work with a view of deriving any material 
information from it. The important and aftonilhing pro- 
grefs made fince that time in chemiftry, and to which 
Guyton himfelf has been greatly inftrumental, have ren¬ 
dered all former produftions mere works of reference; 
wherein we may trace the firft fteps of that gigantic march 
which chemifts have fince performed, in purfuing phi- 
lofophical truth. As a monument, therefore, of the 
early efforts of Guyton in behalf of his favourite fcience, 
and of the extraordinary verfatility of his talents, his 
Elements of Chemiftry will always be referred to with 
confiderable fatisfa&ion. The pleafing and defultory 
part of the fcience, however, was not the only one that 
Guyton cultivated. Aware, from his every-day increaf- 
ing knowledge of new and interefting facts, that they were 
applicable to various objects of public and domeftic life, 
and that they might thus be rendered highly important 
to fociety, he ftudied the different modes of their appli¬ 
cation ; and, amongft other enterprifes of which we cannot 
here undertake to fpeak, the eftablilhment of a manufac¬ 
ture of nitrat of potalh, on a large fcale, ought more par¬ 
ticularly to be mentioned. This enterprife called forth 
V©n. XVI. No. 1091, 
45 
the thanks of the then minifter of finances, the celebrated 
Necker, who in a letter on that fubjedt conveyed to him 
“ his majefty’s fatisfadlion at the new proof of his (Mor- 
veau’s) love for the public welfare, and of his attach¬ 
ment to his majefty’s fervice.” 
Such were indeed the claims of Guyton to the approba¬ 
tion of government, whole interefts he ftudied to main¬ 
tain on every occalion; but in an independent nd dig¬ 
nified manner. For let us turn to another of hi- produc¬ 
tions which appeared about the fame time, (Difcours 
fur l’Amour de l’Humanite, prononce a l’ouverture des 
audiences de Dijon, 1778.) and we Ihall again find the 
faithful fervant of the crown, the linn patriot, the go d 
citizen, and the zealous philanthropift, in him whom 
we fo recently admired as the promoter of fcience and 
the arts—of both of which he had ever been one of the 
firmed: fupporters. The republic of letters had in that 
year to mourn the lofs of two men equally celebrated, 
Rouffeau and Voltaire. Burial-fervice had been refufed 
in Paris to the remains of the latter; and the unprejudiced 
as well as the moft honelt exclaimed againft the pro¬ 
ceedings. Guyton, in the difcourfe we have juft alluded 
to, thought it necelfary to make an allufion to that e ent, 
and to exprefs his indignation, that in a country like 
France, men fuch as Voltaire, whofe rights to national 
gratitude and pofthumous fame were countlefs, lhouid be 
perfecuted even beyond the grave. 
In the year 1777, Monf. de Morveau was employed to 
examine the quarries of regular fchiftus and the coal¬ 
mines of Burgundy, for which purpofe he performed a 
mineralogical tour through that province. In the Me¬ 
moirs of the Dijon Academy for 1779, we find another 
inftance of the ufeful refults of.Guyton’s new feientific 
purfuits, in a memoir, giving an account of a rich lead- 
mine difcovered by him, and to work which, for want of 
other combuftibles, he fought for beds of coal in the 
neighbourhood, though unfuccefsfully. A few years 
later, when Bergman had fo well defcribed the properties 
of the heavy i'par and the earth obtained from it, Guyton, 
greatly affifted by his geological knowledge, fearched for 
it in Burgundy, and found it in confiderable quantity at 
Thote, io as to be enabled to give to the Dijon Academy 
an accurate defcription of that mineral, and of the earth 
which enters into its compofition, and which he after¬ 
wards called barytes. It ought alfo to be remarked, that, 
although the method of feparating the bafis from its acid 
in this cafe had already been publiilied by Bergman in 
the Tranfaftions of Upfal, Morveau propofed a different 
procefs, confiding in tiie decompofition of the fulphat by 
heat and charcoal, the confequent formation of a ful- 
phuret, which he had occafion to obferve very diftindftly 
in the courfe of the operation, and the formation of a 
fait (decompofable by alkalies), by means of muriatic 
acid. It was about this time too that he found the white 
emerald of Burgundy. 
But the fame of Morveau could no longer remain 
confined within the limits of a few country towns. His 
zeal and talents; his erudition and extenlive knowledge 7 
his proficiency in the natural fciences ; the eloquence of 
his harangues, and the elegant ftyle of his writings; to 
which may now be added, the utility of his chemical 
leftures, gratuitoufly delivered; were too-powerful motives 
for rendering him truly popular and extenfively known 
in Franee, not to attract the attention of the moft renowned 
of his countrymen, as well as that of the moft eminent 
and learned men of Europe. In the year 1779, he was 
requefted by Pankouke, who meditated the great proje< 5 l 
of the Encyclopedic Methodique, to undertake the new 
edition of ail the chemical articles in that great dictionary, 
and fupported his demand with a letter from Buffon, 
whofe requeft Guyton could not refufe, though he had 
long hefitated in accepting the office. The engage¬ 
ment was figned between them in September 1780 ; and, 
although the firft part of that work did not appear till 
N fibs 
