Am.  Jonr.  Pharm.  \ 
August,  1894.  J 
Antoine-Laurent  Lavoisier. 
395 
measure  of  justice  to  their  individual  worth,  and  to  the  incalculable 
advantages  their  discoveries  have  imparted  to  human  life  and  to 
human  happiness.  Our  present  memoir  has,  however,  particular 
reference  to  Lavoisier — Antoine-Laurent  Lavoisier — the  centenary  of 
whose  tragic  death  has  just  lapsed,  and  just  been  recorded.  Cor- 
rupted tribunal  and  the  fury  of  a  Parisian  mob  consigned  him  and 
twenty-seven  of  his  associates  to  death  at  the  guillotine,  in  one  day, 
in  May,  1794.  Thus  died,  at  the  age  of  51,  one  who  was  conspicu- 
ously ardent  and  enthusiastic  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  noble  and 
aspiring  in  all  desires  and  purposes,  devoting  an  active  life  to 
humane  and  unselfish  pursuit.  The  political  situation  of  France  at 
this  time  was  deplorable  in  the  extreme — recklessness  and  profligacy 
ruled  the  hour.  Lavoisier's  fatal  blunder  lay  in  his  acceptance  of  a 
political  position.  The  faults  with  which  he  was  charged  were  those 
of  his  associates,  not  his.  His  personal  record  was  above  reproach, 
yet  innocence  was  sacrificed  to  appease  the  rancor  of  jealousy  and 
hate  ;  and  in  order  to  show  the  vindictive  spirit  which  prevailed, 
Coffinhal,  who  presided  at  the  trial,  is  said  to  have  exclaimed,  when 
a  plea  for  Lavoisier  was  offered,  "  France  has  no  need  for  men  of 
science  !  "  The  deep  darkness  of  ignorance  had  not  been  dispelled 
a  hundred  years  ago.  There  were  many  reasons  why  France 
should  have  exulted  in  the  fame  of  her  philosopher,  Lavoisier.  At 
the  zenith  his  name  became  a  word  of  national  fame.  Yet,  passion 
and  fury  held  such  sway  over  the  minds  of  evil-disposed  men,  that 
it  required  byt  the  momentary  descent  of  the  glittering  axe  to 
strike  off  a  head  that  not  even  a  hundred  years  will  suffice  to  re- 
place with  an  equal.  The  ignominy  of  death  detracts  not — the 
name  of  Lavoisier  will  ever  remain  dominant  in  the  chemical  world 
of  the  last  century.  This  man  rendered  inestimable  service  to  his 
country  and  to  mankind.  He  was  guided  and  governed  by  an  intel- 
ligent philanthropy.  He  was  distinguished  as  an  academician  and 
an  economist.  He  devoted  a  high  order  of  talent  to  agricultural 
chemistry,  and  gave  to  his  countrymen  a  knowledge  to  be  practi- 
cally applied  in  the  cultivation  and  fruition  of  the  soil.  Lavoisier 
was  born  on  the  26th  of  August,  1743,  at  Paris,  the  same  decade  of 
years  which  ushered  in  his  eminent  contemporaries,  Priestley  and 
Scheele.  His  preceptors  were  Abbe  LaCaille  in  mathematics, 
Bernard  de  Jussieu  in  botany,  and  Guettard  in  geology  and  mineral- 
ogy— a  trio  distinguished  in  science.  Lavoisier's  first  manuscript 
essay  (1765)  was  upon  the  subject  of  calcium  sulphate,  or  gypsum. 
