ABSTRACT
Lavoisier's famous chemical revolution proclaimed its character as being rooted in experience, and especially in analysis and synthesis as a way of coordinating that experience. Perhaps the classic instance of his approach is that concerning the compound character of water, previously taken to be a simple elementary constituent of the material world. In the month of June 1783, M. Lavoisier, who, following views based on a theory already confirmed by many experiments, had prepared an apparatus for burning in closed vessels inflammable air with vital air, found that there resulted from this combustion a liquid that was nothing but very pure water, the weight of which was detectably equal to that of the two airs employed. Several experiments seemed to suggest it, and particularly that by which a mixture of iron filings and a little water, placed under a bell jar and over mercury by M. Lavoisier had produced a considerable quantity of inflammable air.
