of man, to
the last ages of the world.

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier was born in Paris in 1743, the son of one of
the "farmers-general." As the office was nearly hereditary, and was
proverbially connected with great opulence, the son of the rich
functionary was highly educated. But science soon attracted all his
study, and, devoting himself especially to chemistry, he made himself
conspicuous among the leading philosophers of his time.

At the age of twenty-two, he presented to the Academy of Sciences an
analysis of gypsum. At twenty-five he was admitted a member of the
Academy, an unusually early age. In his next year he succeeded his
father in his lucrative office. He then married the daughter of another
farmer-general, and having made this provision for a life of luxury or
public employment, with all that political ambition might offer in the
old _regime_ of France, he collected his books about him, shut himself
up in his study, and gave up his time, fortune, and energy to the
advancement of science.

After occupying himself for a brief period with geology, he commenced
his chemical career by refuting the theories alike of Margraff and Stahl
on the conversion of water into earth. The chemistry of the gases had
made rapid progress in England; and the names of Black, Priestley, and
Cavendish, had already attracted the attention of scientific Europe.
Lavoisier followed in their track by a series of experiments in the
calcination of metals, pursued with remarkable intelligence and
industry. The biographer observes that he was now on the verge of two
dazzling discoveries--the composition of the atmosphere, and the
identity of the diamond with carbon. But he stopped short, and left the
glory to more fortunate investigators.

We hasten from the controversies to which the claim of priority in those
distinguished discoveries gave rise, and come to the more authentic
services of Lavoisier. He was appointed by the minister to superintend
the royal manufacture of gunpowder, which his chemical knowledge enabled
him greatly to improve. He next, by appointment of the National
Assembly, drew up his laborious and valuable memoir on the _Territorial
Wealth of France_. He was now appointed one of the commissioners of the
treasury, and introduced an unexampled regularity into the public
accounts. He aided the formation of the metrical system, the security of
the assignats against forgery, and seems to have borne an active part in
eve