Member of the Academy of Sciences, Royal Society of Medicine, andAgricultural Society of Paris, of the Royal Society of London, andPhilosophical Societies of Orleans, Bologna, Basil, Philadelphia,Haerlem, Manchester, &c. &c.
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and Surgeon to the OrphanHospital of Edinburgh.
EDINBURGH: printed for WILLIAM CREECH, and sold in london by g. g. andj. j. robinsons.
MDCCXC.
[Pg v]
The very high character of Mr Lavoisier as a chemical philosopher, andthe great revolution which, in the opinion of many excellent chemists,he has effected in the theory of chemistry, has long made it muchdesired to have a connected account of his discoveries, and of the newtheory he has founded upon the modern experiments written by himself.This is now accomplished by the publication of his Elements ofChemistry; therefore no excuse can be at all necessary for giving thefollowing work to the public in an English dress; and the onlyhesitation of the Translator is with regard to his own abilities for thetask. He is most ready to confess, that his knowledge of the composition[Pg vi]of language fit for publication is far inferior to his attachment tothe subject, and to his desire of appearing decently before the judgmentof the world.
He has earnestly endeavoured to give the meaning of the Author with themost scrupulous fidelity, having paid infinitely greater attention toaccuracy of translation than to elegance of stile. This last indeed, hadhe even, by proper labour, been capable of attaining, he has beenobliged, for very obvious reasons, to neglect, far more than accordedwith his wishes. The French copy did not reach his hands before themiddle of September; and it was judged necessary by the Publisher thatthe Translation should be ready by the commencement of the UniversitySession at the end of October.
He at first intended to have changed all the weights and measures usedby Mr Lavoisier into their correspondent English denominations, but,upon trial, the task was found infinitely too great for the timeallowed; and to have executed this part of the work inaccurately, musthave been both useless and misleading to the reader. All that has beenattempted in this way is adding, between brackets ( ), the degrees ofFahrenheit's[Pg vii] scale corresponding with those of Reaumeur's thermometer,which is used by the Author. Rules are added, however, in the Appendix,for converting the French weights and measures into English, by whichmeans the reader may at any time calculate such quantities as occur,when desirous of comparing Mr Lavoisier's experiments with those ofBritish authors.
By an oversight, the first part of the translation went to press withoutany distinction being preserved between charcoal and its simpleelementary part, which enters into chemical combinations, especiallywith oxygen or the acidifying principle, forming carbonic acid. Thispure element, which exists in great plenty in well made charcoal, isnamed by Mr Lavoisier carbone, and ought to have been so in thetranslation; but the attentive reader can very easily rectify themistake. There is an error in Plate XI. which the engraver copiedstrictly from the original, and which wa