The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-17 00:00:00

LAVOISIER.

This honoured name has once more appeared before the
public in connection with science. Though he who owned
it has long since passed away, the lustre of his reputation
dims not, but the rather beams more radiantly. Though
dead, he yet lives among us in his works—works in which
his far forthlookiug mind stepped beyond his day—works,
too, some of which have only now revealed results reached
by him, which have been but recently attained by fol-
lowers in his footsteps. Only last week the French Aca-
demy of Sciences received, at the hands of M. Dumas, the
third volume of his edition of Lavoisier's works. Un-
doubtedly this father of modern Chemistry and one of the
most illustrious victims of the Revolution of 1793, foresaw
many of the great facts since discovered by modern science,
although he could command but few of the many resources
we now possess. This third volume of his works is com-
posed chiefly of those among his papers which remained
unpublished. It contains a hitherto unedited paper on
fermentation, of which it is said with truth that Lavoisier
gave the first rational explanation. He determined the
amounts of carbonic acid and alcohol produced in the fer-
mentation of sugar. Lavoisier appears to have bestowed
very great attention upon this subject, and from his ana-
lyses he seems to have drawn the conclusion that sugar
must be regarded as a compound of carbon and water. This
idea was published by Gay-Lussac and Thenard, who were
not aware that Lavoisier 'had previously discovered
it. It further appears that Lavoisier must be regarded as
the father of organic analysis. Ho burnt sugar by means of
oxido of mercury, and collected the carbonic acid in a
weighed flask of potash. Another paper, the first he over
wrote on a matter of public interest, obtained a prize from
the Academy of Sciences. The subjeCt, which was proposed
by M. de Sartinea, Lieutenant de Police, is the best method
of lighting towns. At that time Paris was lighted in a very
different manner to that adopted in the present day; its
30,000 gas-burners were then represented by 6,600 candles.
But, notwithstanding all our modern improvements, it can-
not be denied that Lavoisier laid down the true principles
of street lighting 80 years ago when he proposed numerous
reflectors at low elevations. Lighthouses also formed a sub-
ject of investigation with Lavoisier, and to him we are in-
debted for their true definition and the best rules for thoir
construction. It is a singular fact, too, that it occurred to
the same mind to propose a plan for dispensing with chan-
deliers in theatres,which were to be illuminated by causing
the light to pass through a glass roof. This plan has only
racently been carried into effect in some theatres.
Nor was the genius of Lavoisior fettered within the bounds
of physical science. It could rove far beyond them and
not lose its way ; it could depart widely from them and yet
hold its own. So we find him at home on questions of social
science, writing highly valuable papers and reports on pri-
sons. He, too, recognised and insisted upon the removal
of slaughterhouses from the centre of Paris, and he called
attention to the selection of a new site for the Hotel Dieu.
In an elaborate report on Mesmer's animal magnetism he
condemned the whole system. At his instigation and under
his advice, the Academy appointed a commission to exa-
mine into the question of Montgolfieres and Charlieres—
a question we have but recently discussed. The results of
the labours of this commission were, in the first place, the
adoption of means whereby the materials of which balloons
were constructed was made airtight, as in the present day,
and, in the next place, the proposition to use the gas ex-
tracted from pit-coal as the best. Its illuminating proper-
ties had not then been applied to any practical purposes.
In 1776 an intense degree of cold was experienced, which
afforded Lavoisier the opportunity of making important
experiments with the thermometer, of which he availed
himself. He invented a special thermometer for the sole
purpose of ascertaining whether the temperature of the
cellars of the Observatory of Paris was constant or not.
This thermometer is still there, in the very place where
LavoiSier with his own hands fixed it. It is a gigantic
instrument, the object of which was to exhibit varia-
tions of temperature, however slight. Some idea of its
size may be obtained from tho fact that each degree is
represented on the scale by a space of four inches. M.
Le Verrier, the imperial astronomer, states that the indi-
cations of this instrument do not agree with those of others.
He therefore proposes that another instrument should be
constructed on the same scale, that the discrepancy may
be corrected. This is one of a few practical remains of
Lavoisier's labours. He was not only a chemist, but a
worker in almost every branch of physical science, and this
last volume shows more plainly than ever how much was
lost to science which that great philosopher suffered on the
scaffold—suffered for no crime of his own, but for the cir-
cumstance of his representing an obnoxious system during
the Reign of Terror.—Mechanies' Magazine.

ANTIQUITY OF MAN.—We lately gave an account
of a communication presented to the Academy of
Science by M. de Vibraye, in which he adduces reasons for
not admitting the flints of Persigny-le-Grand to be the
remains of a great gun flint manufactory, and for adopting,
on the contrary, the opinion that a great manfactory of
flint implements existed on the spot at a time not far re-
mote from the quaternary period. Last week M. E.
Robert took up the subject again in a paper addressed to
the Academy of Sciences, beginning with some remarks
about the quarries of St. Prest, near Chartres, where a
large number of bones of the elephant, rhinoceros, and
other pachydermata had been found. Ile states that, after a
minute examination, he has been unable to find on these
bones the slightest mark, except such as. had been pro-
duced by the stroke of the pickaxe or shovel in bringing
them out. Some, indeed, might have been caused by the
violent rolling of pyromachous flints over them. The
bones moreover had not been found in a sandy, but in a
pebbly soil ; and our author expresses surprise at finding
the ground, and certain caverns at Leves, nearly covered
or filled with the above-mentioned flints, all agglutinated
together with a kind of reddish clay, containing much
hydrate of manganese. M. Robert contends that all the
supposed marks of instruments observed on fossil bones
must have been produced by the rolling of broken flints
driven forwards by the elements. Ho seems to forget,how-
ever, that some of those marks were actually representa-
tions of animals, and other visible and well-known objects.
But on the other hand, returning to the subject of Pres-
signy-le-Grand, he declares as before that the fragments of
flint found there are not by any means instruments made
by the savage ancestors of the Celts, but are the refuse left
there after fruitless attempts had been made to get good
gun-flints oat of the particularly quality of flint so abund-
ant there. As this quality did not answer the expectations
of the workmen, they desisted, and went to the neighbour-
ing departments to find a sort of stone more applicable to
their purpose.