lieved
to be elementary bodies, not one has stood the test of the
eighteenth-century chemists. Earth had long since ceased to be regarded
as an element, and water and air had suffered the same fate in this
century. And now at last fire itself, the last of the four "elements"
and the keystone to the phlogiston arch, was shown to be nothing more
than one of the manifestations of the new element, oxygen, and not
"phlogiston" or any other intangible substance.

In this epoch of chemical discoveries England had produced such mental
giants and pioneers in science as Black, Priestley, and Cavendish;
Sweden had given the world Scheele and Bergman, whose work, added to
that of their English confreres, had laid the broad base of chemistry
as a science; but it was for France to produce a man who gave the
final touches to the broad but rough workmanship of its foundation,
and establish it as the science of modern chemistry. It was for Antoine
Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794) to gather together, interpret correctly,
rename, and classify the wealth of facts that his immediate predecessors
and contemporaries had given to the world.

The attitude of the mother-countries towards these illustrious sons is
an interesting piece of history. Sweden honored and rewarded Scheele
and Bergman for their efforts; England received the intellectuality of
Cavendish with less appreciation than the Continent, and a fanatical mob
drove Priestley out of the country; while France, by sending Lavoisier
to the guillotine, demonstrated how dangerous it was, at that time
at least, for an intelligent Frenchman to serve his fellowman and his
country well.

"The revolution brought about by Lavoisier in science," says Hoefer,
"coincides by a singular act of destiny with another revolution, much
greater indeed, going on then in the political and social world. Both
happened on the same soil, at the same epoch, among the same people;
and both marked the commencement of a new era in their respective
spheres."(8)

Lavoisier was born in Paris, and being the son of an opulent family,
was educated under the instruction of the best teachers of the day. With
Lacaille he studied mathematics and astronomy; with Jussieu, botany;
and, finally, chemistry under Rouelle. His first work of importance was
a paper on the practical illumination of the streets of Paris, for which
a prize had been offered by M. de Sartine, the chief of police. This
prize was not awarded to Lavoisier,