1302.) 
wards went through a Courfe of Chemitry: 
which was well attended and proved ex- 
tremely ufeful ; for at that period there 
was not any thing of this kind in any of 
the public eftablifhments of Paris. 
In 1757 and 1758 we find him acting 
as firft phyfician of the French army, then 
compoled of one hundred thoufand men, 
and alfo contulting. phyfician to the king. 
In the courfe of the latter year he was 
fent to Peterfburgh ¢ the oftenfible object of 
this miffionjwas his profeffional attendance 
on the Emprefs Elizabeth, whofe health 
was {uppofed to be in a declining ftate ; 
but it has been whifpered, that the real, 
one was certain. political negociations 
with which he was entrufted. ’ During his 
fay in Ruffia,General Montalembert, an- 
other academician, refided there alfo, with 
the view of procuring the adoption of 
fuch a plan for the next campaign as might 
prove ferviceable to the interefts of France, 
and of alfo accompanying MarfhalSoltikof, 
who commanded a body of eighty cue 
fand Ruffians during the years 1759 and’ 
1760.  Poiffonier remained there during 
two years, and gave an account in the 
Hiftory of the Academy for 1760, of the 
celebrated’ ‘experiment relative to the 
cofigelation of mercury, at which he ai" 
fifted. 
On Iiis freturn he was olnoaindted a 
Counfellor of State, a diftinction: at that 
time granted to perfons in his aga in 
extraordinary cafes only. ; 
In 1764. He was appolrited » inf (pector- 
general of medicine, furgery and phar+'’ 
macy, in the fea ports and- colonies'‘‘of 
France. From that moment he: had the’ 
entire fuperintendence of all fuch-as oc!’ 
cupied thofe fituations; and TP have often 
had occafion to remark ithe care and ‘im- 
partiality difplayed by him in that cat 
pacity: he occupied this place until 1797. 
In 1765 he was appointed an affociate 
of the Academy of Sciences, an honour 
only befowed on thofe who poffeffed a 
great reputation, and being attached ‘to 
the church, to the court, to thé armies} or 
to the parliament, and in confequence of 
their other-avocations, were unable to 
devote all their time co a participation in 
our labours. 
‘But the circumftance that reflects moft 
celebrity on Poiffonier, is the famous ex- 
periment undertaken by him in 1763,: in 
order to extra the falt from fea-water. — 
On this occafion he caufed' an alembic 
' to be formedon fuch a conftruction as 
not to be affected by the motion of a fhip 
~ 
Account of Citizen Paiffanier. 
“continuing the diftillation. 
519 
under. fail, and he added. fix ounces of 
marine alkali to every barrel of brine, in 
order to fubdue the acrimony of» the” 
fea-water. Hales and Appleby had 
“employed the /opzs infernalis tor the fame 
purpose ; but the refult demonttrated the 
fuperiority of his method. Beaume, the 
moft celebrated pharmacopeeift in France, 
who has given'a detailed account ‘of this 
experiment in his Chemiftry, publithed in 
1773 (Yom. III.) has alfo prefented his 
readers with a plate of the apparatus 
employed ; and Macquer has added’a note 
on it in Bomare’s Dicticnary.  Poiffonier, 
during the operation, employed. the fite of 
the cook-room of the veffel, fo ‘that a 
great faving refulted in the article of fuel ; 
and in 1765, on board a fhip belonging to 
the French Eaft India Company, the crew 
were ainply fupplied with water produced” 
in this mannerduring a whole month, 
without ‘bding wnder the neceflity of re= 
curring fo what fhey had got in the hold, 
More than eighty experiments were made, 
and all of them fytceeded ‘completely. 
Citizen Bougainville afferts that, during 
his “famous voyage round ‘the world, 
“he was indebted forthe health of his crew 
to the water produced by means of this 
machine; and Tam affured, that with a 
fingle barrel of ‘coals ‘fix or feven ‘of freth- 
water may bé obtained; which enables 
a commander to have always plenty of 
‘room on board, as the water always de- 
“cupies the preater part of the vetlel Surber 
long voyages. 
Coureelles,’ naval phyfician at Breft, 
affures me; that one of the darge alems 
‘bics will expend in twenty-four hours 
‘2006-pounds weight of coals, and produce — 
606 of frefh wacer during the fame’ period:” 
{till a greater faving will be obtained by: 
The Minifter 
Chotfeul, on hearing of the experiment, ,. 
was {fo ftruck with its importance, that . 
he fettled a. penfion of (12,000 livres on 
Poiffonier. 
This fame phyfician had colleéted a 
curious cabinet of natural hiftory, forcign 
curiofities, models, and machines’ of’ all 
‘forts. His place procured him ‘a numerous 
acquaintance, and enabled him to receive 
a variety of prefents, which a learned man - 
could accept of without blufhing. ‘Te’ 
would be highly proper for the Govern- 
ment to purchafe them. ° 
Poiffonier havinig quirted his proffer’ s 
chair in 1777, was fucceeded in 1778 by 
the younger Raulin; the Jatrer,. who’ 
died in 1795, has been. replaced by 
3K 2 Citizen 
