| Traité élémentaire de chimie | |
| 1789 |  |
| Antoine Laurent Lavoisier(1743-1794) | |
|
Lavoisier developed all aspects of chemistry initiated before him by Boyle. He investigated most of the important achievements made by precursors such as Black, Priestley and Cavendish, and experimented with more accuracy. He weighed each compound precisely observing every change of the balance and deduced various important conclusions from the differences of their weights. In one of these experiments Lavoisier burnt tin and plumbum in a closed vessel and confirmed that the weight of metal-ash increased when the weight of air decreased, although the weight of the whole vessel remained unchanged. At the same time, Priestly had discovered a gas in which combustible matter burned briskly, and named it “the dephlogisticative air”, based on the phlogiston theory that defined combustion as the “discharge of phlogiston”. With these results Lavoisier felt confident that the increment in ash weight had caused the combination of metal with a gas that was present in the air. Lavoisier confirmed that through many experiments, and named the gas “oxygen”. He called the remaining part of air “asote”, nitrogen. Thus, Lavoisier destroyed the “phlogiston” theory completely, but had conversely introduced and established the quantitative method of chemistry. Lavoisier not only made the results of these experiments precise, but also organized them as a logical consequence. Lavoisier observed that the whole weight of matter is unchanged through every chemical change, and thus asserted that chemical change also obeys the law of indestructibility and conservation of mass which had already been recognized in physics by Newton. He studied the elements of matter by experimenting with the dissolution of various compounds, and illustrated that various chaotic chemical phenomenon can be ordered by the law of combination of elements. In cooperation with Berthollet and Fourcroy, he proposed the principle of nomenclature, in which a compound must be cited according to its constructive elements, a principle which is still in use. In this book, Lavoisier has skillfully compiled all these things and has systematized his theory of chemistry. Traite Elementaire de Chimie became the first systematic textbook in modern chemistry. It is not only eminent among his works, but is one of the most important books in the history of chemistry for its decisive influence. Lavoisier was praised as the “father of modern chemistry”, because he contributed a rational system and brought about a revolution in the field of chemistry. Lavoisier, however, was guillotined during the excesses of “la Revolution”. The Reign of Terror announced “La repubblique n’a pas beson des savants”. |
