LAVOISIER, Ax•roixr. (1743-94). The founder of modern chemistry. lie was horn in Paris. and was educated at the ('ollAge Al•za•in. Ile showed great aptitude for the mathematical and physical sciences. studying mathematics under Abb.. La ea ill', botany under dussieu. and chemistry her Bonelle. Ile then traveled through France with Cuet tart'. who was at the time engaged in important geological work. ,\s early as 176$ Lavoisier became a member of the Academy of Scienees, and in the following year he obtained a post as farmer-gen eral of the revenue. by which he was enabled to devote most of his time to research work. Be tween 1772 and the year of his death. Lavoisier worked out the principles forming the corner st011e of modern and during this time held several important positions. 1n 17743 he was made director Of powder-works and introdueed valuable improvrin•ut• in the manufacture of gunpowder. In 177S he was appointed one of the trustees of the Lank of I)iseount. In 1790, as a member of the Commission of Weights and .Nleasures, he was engaged in preparing the decimal system. In 1791 he was commissary of the treasury, and published an interesting paper on the economic condition of France. The farm ers-general of the revenue were hell of eminent social position and considerable wealth, and in of Terror their wealth became a source of gri at danger to them. In 1794 Dupin. one of the members of the Convention, accused them of being enemies of their country; Fon quier-Tinville presented the acensation before the 1:evolutionary Tribunal, and the twenty-seven farmers-general were condemned to die. In vain had one of La VI )i,ier's friends emleavo•eil to produce an impression on the Tribunal by describing his scientific achievements. The answer Wits. "We Heed no more scientists ill France." At the very foundation of all chemical thought is the lair of the co II-A./Wit til of mass, sier, althinigh not the tirst to divine that matter is everlasting. was the first to understand that that important truth must be established indue 'lively by the use of the balance. By a series of quantitative experiments Lavoisier proved that, whatever the in kind. the total amount re mains the sanils: and as all relations of quantity are mathematical relations. Lavoisier saw that every chemical change could be expressed by all egnstleu showing that the sum of the masses of the reacting substances is equal to the sum of the masses of the resulting products. \\lien iron, mercury. tin. and other metals were exposed to the action of the air. their weight increased. The resulting earths contained. besides the matter of the metal-, other matter. and could naturally be split till again into their constituents; they were therefore complex. not simple substances. The quantitative KI Lavoisier thus threw light on the nature of various substanees and led to a clear definition of the idea of eliendeal ele ments. Lavoisier also advaneed a general theory of the formation of chemical compounds. Ac cording to this theory, all compounds have a binary constitution. A hinary compound of the
first order is one made up of two elements. A binary eompound of the second order is formed by the union of two binary compounds of the first order. The acids formed by the union of sulphur. nitrogen, phosphorus. and similar sub stances with oxygen are binary compounds of the first order. Acids are neutralized by bases with formation of salts: therefore salts are binary compounds of the second order. In subsequent times the binary theory proved in adequate and hail to be abandoned. it had not lived, however, without giving birth to a series of important results. Since bases were classed by it as eompolinds of oxyrien with metals. elieni ists were led to seared) for methods of isolating the latter by deeomposing the bases. Thus came the discovery of the alkali and the alkaline earth metals by Davy and the isolation of aluminum IT Wiililer, the importance of which for both science and the industries is inestimable. An other important work, in the perfection of which Lavoisier took an active part. must be men tioned here. Little progress could be made in chemical thought without the aid of a system of name, which might constantly- remind of the coin position and properties of compounds. In con junction with Berth°Het, Fourcroy, and Gnyton de Morveau, at the instance of the last-named. Lavoisier devised a system of rational nomencla ture, which is in its main features still used in the chemistry of to-day.
All of his ideas were based on which had already been made by others. It is sad but well-established fact that he often pub lished such observation, as his own. But the shadow of his petty scientific plagiarism dwin dles into nothing in the light of the brilliant achievements which were indisputably his.
Lavoisier's works include: Sur la combustion en ge.neral (1777) : fecyfesion.s sin- it phlogis tique (1777); Considerations sur lu nature des asides (1778); lie/noire sin- du Principe oxygene aree les diVrentes substances auxquelles it est susceptible de s'unir (1782): Methade de nomenclature (jointly with Guyton de Morvean, Berth°Het. and Foureroy. 1787) ; ih'moire sur la respiration des animaux (jointly with Sr.gnin. 17S9) : Trait(' aementaire de chimie (2 cols., 1789), giving a list of 33 elementary substances. including calorie and light; Opuscules physiques et chimiques (1774 and 1801). In 1789 he founded the Annales de chimie. Two volumes of his Memoires de chimie were pub lished po,thumously in 1S05. His complete works have been published by the French Gov ernment under the title: tEurres de Laraisier publiees par les soins de Ron Excellence. le Min istre de Publique(6 vols., 1864-93).
Numerous accounts of Lavoisier's life and work have been written. An admirable sketch of his achievements forms part of \Vurtz's intro duction to his Dictionnaire de chimie pure et appliquee. Consult, also: Grimaux, Luroisier d'apres sa correspondence, sea manuscrits, sex pa piers de famille et d'autres, documents insdits (Paris. BS'S) : and Schultze, Laroisier. der Be griinder der Chemie (Hamburg. 1394).