MARGINALIA
Mme. Lavoisier
Roald Hoffmann
Antoine Laurent Lavoisier
In telling the story of Mme. Lavoisier, I will not do justice (in
several ways) to her husband. This young natural philosopher
mastered the art of careful experimentation in chemistry and
physics. Independently wealthy from his fermier's income,
he filled a private laboratory with balances, burning lenses and
metal vessels of an unmatched magnitude and quality. In a way,
Lavoisier's science was the big science of his day. His feeling for
balance found expression in science: "Nothing is gained,
nothing is lost" could be applied equally to economics and to
the mass balances of chemistry.
Lavoisier gave the first correct accounts of burning, respiration
and rusting. In bringing about the Chemical Revolution, he properly
defined the elements (though he thought heat was one), showed that
water was a compound and air a mixture, and proposed a new
systematic nomenclature for chemistry. In the remainder of his time,
he dealt with one practical problem after another—he debunked
mesmerism, thought about contagious disease in cities, ensured that
young America got its gunpowder, adjudicated disputes on ballooning
and, after the revolution, participated in the work on the metric
system. Citizen Lavoisier's work for the French Republic did not
save him from the Jacobin terror. On May 8, 1794, he and his
father-in-law were executed, along with 26 other Farmers General.
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