1797-] 
and of 1775, he prefented to the Aca- 
demv his firft chemical performance, un- 
der the title of New txperiments rela- 
tive to the exifience of a fixed elaftic fluid 
an certain fubjtances, and to the phenomena 
whith refult from its fixation or difen- 
gagement. 
' Dr. PriesrLey’s publication on the 
afcrent fpecies of ar had juft made its 
appearance in London ; the vaft compafs 
and fcope of the doctor’s experiments 
*ftartled at firft the friends. of Lavoifier, 
left his obfervations fhould have been in 
many refpe¢ts anticipated, and he fhou!d 
thus lofe the fruits of his ingenuity and 
induftry.. In compliance with the in- 
fiances of his friends, he accordingly has 
abridged this work of many of its parts, 
which may be rather called a fyllabus 
than a complete treatife, and even ad- 
vances fome conclufions which he after- 
wards contradi€éted ;—an excellent me- 
thod, however, pervades the whole of it 
combined with chaftity of experiment, 
and perfpicuity of defign. In brief, 
his proceffes are defcribed with an ex- 
actitude which furpaffes every publica- 
tion of the kind which preceded it ; it 
propofes new methods of operation, 
changes the very face of chemiftry, and 
Operates an entire revoluiion in the fci- 
ence. LavoOIsiIER appeared to be in 
chemiftry, what Kepler, Newton, and 
Euler, were in geometry and the ma- 
thematics 5; he changed the modes both 
of operating and of reafoning, and be- 
came the centre of all refearches and 
difcoveries, on the fubjeét of elaftic 
fluids, made from 1774 to 1792. 
His firft produ€tion was only a preli- 
minary to the furprifing revolution he 
effected in the fcience. Perceiving that 
the extenfive views he had opened, and 
the new modes of experiment he had 
propofed; had excited univerfal atten- 
tion, and created an expectation in the 
pudlic, of deriving, through his means, 
refults ftill more confiderable and unex- 
pected, he employed all his time in pur- 
fuing the labours he had undertaken, 
and in inventing and procuring exaét in- 
ftruments to accomplith his purpofe. His 
houfe became a grand laboratory, in 
which nothing was wanting that could 
throw light on his refearches; and his 
fortune was appropriated to the improve- 
ment of his favourite {cience. He kept 
in conftant employment a number of the 
moft ingenious artifts, for the invention 
and conftruétion of inftruments fuperior 
to any made ufe of before, and of new 
and coftly apparatus of eyery kind, the 
moft accurate and delicate in its execu- 
Original Anecdotes Life of Lavoifier. 
5r 
tion. No expence was fpared “by Liar 
V OISIER, inthe purfuit of his delightful 
and ufeful occupation. 
To the advantages of fortune, in the 
application of which to the well-being 
of the public, few men were fo fuccefsful 
as LAVOISIER, he united feveral others, 
which he made fubfervient to his views : 
he held in his houfe, twice every week, 
affemblies, to which he invited every li- 
terary character that was moft celebrated 
in geometrical, phyfical, and chemical 
ftudies; im thefe inftru€tive cunver/.- 
tiones, dif{cuilions, not unlike fuch as pre- 
céded the firft eftablifhment of acade- 
mies regularly took place. Here the 
opinions of the moft eminent literati in 
Europe were canvaffed; paffages the moft 
ftriking and novel, out of foreign wri- 
ters, were recited and animadverted ons 
and theories were compared with expe- 
riments. Here learned men of all na 
tions found eafy admiffion; PRizsTLEY, 
FonTaNna, BLAGDEN, INGENHOUSZ, 
LANDRIANI, JACQUIN, WATT, BoL- 
TON, and other illuftrious phyfiologifts 
and chemifts of England, Germany, and 
Italy, found themfelves mixed in the 
fame company: with Lapiace, La- 
GRANGE, Borba, Cousin, Mevu- 
NIFER, WANDERMONDE, MONGE, 
Guyvow, and BeRTHOLLET. Happy 
hours pafied in thefe Jearned interviews, 
wherein no fubjeét was left uninvefti- 
gated, that could poflibly contribute to 
the progrefs of the fciences, and the ame- 
lioration and happinefs of man. One of the 
greateft benefits refulting from thefe af- 
femblages, andthe influence of which was 
foon afterwards felt in the academy itfelf, 
and, confequently, in all the phyfical and 
chemical works that have been publifhed 
for the lafi twenty years in France, was, 
the agreement eftablifhed in the methods 
of reafoning, between the natural philo- 
lophers and the geometricians. The 
_ precifion, the feverity of ftyle, the phi- 
lofophical method of the latter, was in- 
fenfibly transfufed into the minds of the 
former; the philofophers became difci- 
plinedin the taétics of the geometricians, 
and were gradually ‘moulded into their 
refemblance. 
It was in the affemblage of thefe ta- 
lents that LAvotsaeR embellifhed and 
improved his own. When any new re- 
fult from fome important experiment 
prefented itfelf, a refult which threatene 1 
to influence the whole theory of the fe1- 
ence, or which contradicted theories till 
then adopted, he repeated it before this 
feleé& fociety : many times, fucceffively, 
he invited the fevereft objections of his 
day) 2 critical 
