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Did Lavoisier Report to the Academy of Sciences on His Own Book?

Examples are not lacking of apocryphal stories and slanted interpretations of the actions of celebrated figures in the history of science. The career of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794), for one, has attracted a large share of controversy and biased evaluation, particularly in the matter of plagiarism charges leveled at the French chemist.1 Such a history of accusations (even if totally unfounded), combined with Lavoisier's well-known wealth, influence, and ambition, has given currency to suggestions that might in other circumstances have been rejected out of hand. The episode to which I wish to draw attention is minor, yet one that reflects both upon Lavoisier's character and upon the procedures of peer review within the Paris Academy of Sciences. Early in 1774 Lavoisier published his Opuscules physiques et chimiques, a landmark in the development of pneumatic chemistry, especially in France.2 The first part of the book is historical, surveying the researches of Lavoisier's predecessors on elastic fluids released from substances during combustion, fermentation, or effervescence. More than a third of this part is devoted to the conflicting opinions of Joseph Black and J. F. Meyer and their partisans on the origin of causticity in alkaline substances; nearly a quarter describes the recent experiments on factitious airs by Joseph Priestley. The historical part provides the background to make intelligible Lavoisier's own researches, presented in the second part. These include a series of experiments intended to resolve the question of the role of fixed air in causticity, followed by others establishing the absorption of air during calcination of metals and combustion of phosphorus. The work is notable for the lucidity of Lavoisier's arguments and for his effective use of quantitative techniques to follow the transfer of air during chemical reactions-merits which drew favorable comment from his contemporaries. On 7 December 1773, a few weeks before its publication, the Opuscules was praised in a report read to the Academy of Sciences by J. B. Leroy on behalf of himself and fellow commissioners J. C. P. Trudaine de Montigny, P. J. Macquer, and L. C. Cadet de Gassicourt. The text of the report was included in the Opuscules. Subsequently, an analysis or pr6cis of Lavoisier's book was published in the Academy's Histoire for 1774 (which appeared in 1778). The significance of Lavoisier's approach to chemical problems is acknowledged in both