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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
125
The
younger
students
of
natural
science
of
to-day
are
beginning
to
forget
what
their
fathers
told
them
of
the
fierce
battle
which
had
to
be
fought,
before
the
upholders
of
the
Darwinian
theory
of
the
origin
of
species
were
able
to
convince
those
for
whom
the
older
view,
that
species
are,
and
always
have
been,
absolutely
distinct,
had
become
a
matter
of
supreme
scientific,
and
even
ethical,
importance.
A
theory
which
has
prevailed
for
generations
in
natural
science,
and
has
been
accepted
and
used
by
everyone,
can
be
replaced
by
a
more
accurate
description
of
the
relations
between
natural
facts,
only
by
the
determination,
labour,
and
genius
of
a
man
of
supreme
power.
Such
a
service
to
science,
and
humanity,
was
rendered
by
Darwin;
a
like
service
was
done,
more
than
three-quarters
of
a
century
before
Darwin,
by
Lavoisier.
Antoine
Laurent
Lavoisier
was
born
in
Paris
in
1743.
His
father,
who
was
a
merchant
in
a
good
position,
gave
his
son
the
best
education
which
was
then
possible,
in
physical,
astronomical,
botanical,
and
chemical
science.
At
the
age
of
twenty-one,
Lavoisier
gained
the
prize
offered
by
the
Government
for
devising
an
effective
and
economical
method
of
lighting
the
public
streets.
From
that
time
until,
on
the
8th
of
May
1794,
the
Government
of
the
Revolution
declared,
"The
Republic
has
no
need
of
men
of
science,"
and
the
guillotine
ended
his
life,
Lavoisier
continued
his
researches
in
chemistry,
geology,
physics,
and
other
branches
of
natural
science,
and
his
investigations
into
the
most
suitable
methods
of
using
the
knowledge
gained
by
naturalists
for
advancing
the
welfare
of
the
community.
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