A life thus spent in the cultivation of science, and ta lents thus active and beneficially devoted to the service of his country, ought to have secured for Lavoisier the last ing esteem of his fellow-citizens, and the quiet enjoy ment ol that reputation which he had so well merited by his exertions. But he had the misfortune to live during a period, when talents, however eminent, and vii toes, how ever conspicuous, were insufficient to protect their pos sessor from the wanton outrages of lawless power. Dur ing the horrors of Robespierre's usurpation, he seems to have in part foreseen the fate that awaited him, and used to observe to Lalande, that when stript of his pro perty, he was prepared to earn his subsistence by his la bour. His opulence, indeed, was his chief crime ; or that, at least,Vhich marked out as a proper victim to the rapacity of the existing rulers. Having been involved in charges fabricated against twenty-eight farmers-general, he was capitally condemned. A vain attempt was made to touch the compassionate feelings of the tribunal, by a description of the works, and recapitulation of the merits ol Lavoisier. The hearts of these ferocious instruments of oppression and cruelty were completely hardened against such an appeal ; and he suffered on the scaffold, on the 8th of May, 1794.
Such was the unmerited fate of Lavoisier ; a man no less distinguished for the mildness and humanity of his private character, than for his scientific attainments. In his per
son he was tall, and his countenance indicated genius, in telligence, and benignity. The great influence he pos sessed, on account of his fortune, his talents, and his si tuation in the treasury, was continually employed in doing good. He was married, in 1771, to Alarie-Anne-Pierette Paulze, the daughter of a farmer-general ; a lady of pleas ing manners. and considerable talents and accomplish ments. She engraved, with her own hand, the copper plates to his last work. This lady afterwards gave her hand to the celebrated Count Rumford.
The merit of Lavoisier as a philosopher, particularly with regard to the services he rendered to chemical science, are universally acknowledged. His own experi ments were generally simple and well chosen, and per formed with great accuracy ; but his talents were most conspicuous in the judicious use he made of the discover ies of others, which his genius enabled him to reduce into a lucid and connected system. In the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, from 1772 to 1793, there are forty papers of his writing, containing many valuable observa tions on some of the most important subjects of physical research. One of the last of his philosophical works was a treatise on the perspiration of animals, which was first read to the Academy on the 4th of May, 1791, which con tains the result of a number of curious experiments, made with great delicacy, and highly interesting to the science