Essays on the effects produced by various processes on Atmospheric Air; with a particular view to an investigation of the constitution of the acids

London: Warrington, Printed by W. Eyres for J. Johnston, 1783. First English Language Edition. Octavo : pp. vii [viii] + [2] 141 + [3, List of Books lately published by J. Johnston] : now custom clamshell box with red leather title panel lettered in gilt. [DUVEEN 336]

Lacks covers and half title; toned, foxed and brittle; title page detached; thereafter first gathering detached; chips and water stains. Antoine Lavoisier, often referred to as the Father of Modern Chemistry, and his wife Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze Lavoisier (later Countess von Rumford) were eighteenth century French chemists responsible for overthrowing the "false doctrine of Phlogiston". Lavoisier relied on Paulze's translation of foreign works to keep abreast of current developments in chemistry. In the case of phlogiston, it was Paulze's translation of Richard Kirwan's 'Essay on Phlogiston and the Constitution of Acids - with her own footnotes critiquing his errors - that convinced him the idea was incorrect, ultimately leading to his studies of combustion and his discovery of oxygen gas.

Lavoisier was a victim of The Terror of 1794 and guillotined in Paris. "It took but a moment to cut off his head; it will take a century to produce another like it," mourned his friend Lagrange, the mathematician. (The Autobiography of Science, p.228).

The collected essays show the development of Lavoisier's thinking and in the penultimate essay (VIII) the term "oxyginous principle" (principe oxygin, i.e. oxygen) appears for the first time in chemistry (p.98) This paper was first submitted to the Academie in 1777 and read in 1779. [DUVEEN 49].