thus planted his foot on the ladder of fame, he set it unconsciously on the first step of the scaffold. Adjoint of the Académie des Sciences, he now became adjoint of the ferme-général. His friends, the Aca demicians, looked somewhat askance at this action. Lalande tells us that in his election they had been influenced by the consideration that a young man of parts and activity, whose private means placed him beyond the necessity of seeking another profession, would naturally be useful to science, and they now feared that the new duties would clash with what they imagined was to be the real work of his life. But, luckily, there are always some who readily offer consolation. "Tant mieux!" said the geometer Fontaine, "the dinners that he will give us will be all the better." Although Lavoisier had inherited his mother's fortune, it was hardly sufficient for the career which he now planned for himself, and by the advice of a friend of the family, M. de La Galaizière, he became adjoint of the fermier-général Baudon, in return for a third of his interest in the lease of Ala terre. But there were doubtless other reasons for the disapproval of the Academy. The ferme-général was a part of the rotten financial system which ultimately landed France in disaster. It was a company of financiers, to whom the State conceded, for a fixed annual sum, payable in advance, the right of collecting the indirect taxes of the country. Created originally by Colbert, its constitution and functions were modified by successive finance ministers during the reigns of Louis XIV. and Louis XV., as the will of the king, or the exigencies of the national exchequer determined. At the time that Lavoisier entered it, the number of the fermiers-généraux was sixty, and the sum to be paid in advance for the lease of six years was 90,000,000 livres, together with a douceur of 300,000 livres for the controller-general. The fermiers-généraux received sums on account during the continuance of the lease, but the actual result of the speculation was known only at its expiration. They had to bear all the expenses of management and collection, to enforce the customs and excise regulations, and their profits were subject to all sorts of rebates, perquisites, pensions, and pots-de-vin. It need hardly be said that in the time of the grand monarch and his worthy greatgrandson, the ferme was a very hotbed of jobbery, corruption, and malversation. There existed no public audit; none, in deed, was possible. Even the finance minister could gain but little information of the details of its monetary transactions. In 1774, Terray, towards the conclusion of the first lease in which Lavoisier was interested, addressed a confidential inquiry to the fermiers-généraux as to the number of beneficiaries which the will of the court-i.e., the king or his mistresses - had imposed upon the ferme-général. Through the indiscretion of a clerk the list was made public. Paris was scandal. ized to learn that the pensions alone amounted to upwards of 400,000 livres annually. In addition, the king secured a sixtieth share of the property of the ferme; his sisters and aunts disposed of 50,000 livres; the nurse of the Duke of Burgundy, 10,000 livres; Madame Du Barry's physician 10,000 livres; the Abbé Voisenon 3,000 livres; a court singer 2,000 livres; and so on. Altogether, the court and its creatures netted in this way fourteen-sixtieths of the proceeds of the lease of Alaterre. Many of the fermiersgénéraux themselves outraged public opinion by their prodigality and the luxury of their hotels and petites-maisons. The organization was detested throughout the length and breadth of France. The peasants, too far from the capital to hear the curses which Mercier flung at the Hôtel des Fermes, were constantly witnesses of the hardships it inflicted, and the terrible retribution which followed any contravention of its decrees. The taxes were most unequally levied; each province had its own frontier, and to a population impoverished and on the verge of starvation there was every temptation to smuggle; conflicts with its officers were of almost daily occurrence; no house was safe against domiciliary visits, and hundreds of persons were yearly sent to the galleys for the most trifling acts of contraband. It is true that there was the Court des aids, to which the peasant might appeal against the imposition of the ferme, but too frequently he found that the " gratuitous justice" thus dealt out to him meant only justice by gratuities." Nor was it only on the frontiers that smuggling prevailed. It was calculated that at least one-fifth of the merchandise that entered Paris was contraband. To render the collection of the octroi more certain, and to check irregularities, the ferme proposed to surround the city with a wall. Public feeling against the project was intense. A wit of the period declared that "le mur murant Paris rend Paris murmurant." Military opinion also was adverse to the proposal; the Duke de Nivernais, a marshal of France, Ferme des Poudres was managed solely as in the old days of the ferme-général. Lavoisier's journeyings through France in connection with the work of the mineralogical atlas and as a fermier-général, had taught him much concerning the life of the peasant. Indeed, no Frenchman of his time knew his country better, or was more keenly alive to the vast economic movement which was slowly gath itself, and was more than ten times the weight of the seed, and the number of beasts on the estate had increased fivefold. In the following year came the end, but the memory of the man who was a veritable father of his people is still cherished in the district of Blois. ering strength during the latter half of | ceeding year saw a change for the better the eighteenth century. His interest in in the lot of the peasants at Fréchines. this movement was no doubt quickened In 1793 the crop of wheat had doubled by, even if it did not originate in, his connection with the ferme. It was obvious to him that the whole fiscal system of the country fell with the most crushing effect upon the class least able to bear it, and in the numerous commissions in which he took part he repeatedly indicated the economic disadvantages with which the Lavoisier's position as a landed propricultivators of the soil had to contend. In etor was doubtless the cause of his selec1785 he became a member, and immedi- tion as a member of the Assembly of the ately afterwards secretary of the Commit- Orléanais, a sort of county council created tee of Agriculture a consultative body in 1787, according to a plan devised by created by Calonne for the purpose of en- Necker during his first administration. It lightening the controller-general on agro- was composed of twenty-five members nomic matters in general. Lavoisier not selected by the king, six for the clergy, only held the pen; he was the directing six for the nobility, and twelve for the spirit of the committee. He drew up re- third estate, together with the Duke of ports and instructions on the cultivation Luxembourg as president. The twentyof flax, of the potato, on the liming of five so nominated were directed to elect wheat; he prepared a scheme for the es- an equal number of colleagues, the same tablishment of experimental farms, for the proportion being observed for the three collection and distribution of agricultural orders. The duties of the Assembly were instruments, for the better adjustment of to determine the modes of levying the the tithes and of the rights of pasturage, taxes, to undertake the construction and etc. He was no mere theorist in these maintenance of the highways, and to conmatters. In 1778, when he acquired the sider how the commerce and industry of demesne of Fréchines, the condition of the province might best be developed. the peasants was wretched in the extreme. | Lavoisier, although an esquire, was chosen Cultivated grazing land was unknown; the as a member of the third estate, and he at farmers from the impossibility of feeding once became the leader of that section. their cattle during the winter had but few In the town library of Orleans are prebeasts; the fields were unmanured; and served the minutes of the Provincial the yield of corn, even in the best years, Assembly, together with such of the manwas only about five times the weight of uscripts of Lavoisier as relate to its busithe seed. With a view of demonstrating ness. During the greater part of its how much might be done by improved existence the Assembly was engaged in methods of tillage, he decided to make attempts to settle the mode of incidence trials on above 80 hectares of the worst and collection of the taxes. The third land on the demesne; and he divided estate demanded the abolition of the exabout 240 hectares into three farms, of emptions enjoyed by the nobles; the which he directed the cultivation with all substitution of a fixed subscription for the the precision of laboratory trials. He in- tithes, which fell with especial severity on troduced the cultivation of the beetroot the smaller proprietors; and the abolition and potato, hitherto unknown in the Blé- of the corvée, which compelled the peassois. He improved the breed of sheep by ants to undertake the construction and the importation of rams and ewes from maintenance of the roads. On all these Spain, and that of cows by the introduc- questions Lavoisier was the mouthpiece tion of animals from the modern farm of of his order. He also introduced schemes Chanteloup. In 1788 when he presented for the founding of saving and discount to the Society of Agriculture the results banks, workhouses, and insurance socieof his ten years' experience, he again set ties, for the creation of nursing establishforth the various disadvantages under ments, for the formation of canals, and for which the cultivator labored short the exploitation of the mineral producleases, insecurity of tenure, want of captions of the province. "Celui qui fait ital and of credit; and he made a strong tout, qui anime tout, qui se multiplie en appeal to the proprietors to spend more quelque sorte, c'est Lavoisier; son nom on the amelioration of their land in order reparâit à chaque instant." Few, if any, to improve the condition of those who were obliged to live upon it. Each suc * Leonce de Lavergne, Les Assemblées Provinciales. of these projects were realized. The provincial assemblies might initiate, but they were powerless to execute, and in 1790 they became merged into the StatesGeneral, to which Lavoisier was sent as député suppléant for the bailiwick of Blois, having for his colleague the unfortunate Vicomte de Beauharnais, whose widow, Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie, became the wife of Bonaparte. In the same year he was elected a member of the Commune of Paris, and of the famous club of '89, of which he was ultimately secretary. This institution, which sought to develop, defend, and propagate the principles of constitutional liberty, numbered amongst its adherents all who were eminent in art, literature, science, and politics in France. It had, however, but little influence on the main currents of political thought, and absolutely none on the political action of the time; it dealt too largely with questions of political metaphysics to stem the forces which ultimately gained an overwhelming strength. It ended by being suspected of "aristocratism," and it became a crime to have been one of its members. At the beginning of 1794 the Jacobins expelled from their club all who had been part of the society of '89 as, ipso facto, guilty of "incivism." At the same time, Lavoisier, as fermiergénéral, was the object of repeated and violent attacks in the journals and in various political clubs. The leaders of the Revolutionary party, who clamored for the abolition of all State control over the manufacture of war material, denounced his administration at the Régie des Poudres, and he was shortly afterwards removed by the National Assembly. The king, however, so far intervened in his behalf as to order that he should be allowed to remain in undisturbed possession of his rooms in the arsenal, where he had established a laboratory, on which he had expended a large portion of his private fortune. He had been appointed a member of the National Treasury in 1791, but in 1793, to the regret of his colleagues, he Dark clouds were now rapidly gather- requested to be relieved of his functions. ing; the days of the Great Terror were In truth, the strain of a constant anxiety approaching, and Lavoisier found himself was beginning to react upon him; he was menaced on every side. The first attack becoming weary of the incessant struggle came from Marat. Marat had sought, at against enemies who were as vindictive as the outset of his career, to make a name they were unscrupulous, and longed for in science by publishing a treatise on fire, the peace and quietude which he found full of the crudest and most ridiculous only in his laboratory. To have property speculations on the nature of combustion, was, in the eyes of the Revolutionary triand which he caused the Journal de bunals, to be guilty of "incivism;" and Paris to announce had been received "incivism was a crime against the Rewith approbation by the Academy. The public. Lavoisier told Lalande that he statement was absolutely baseless, and expected to be stripped of everything, but Lavoisier, as director of the Academy, he added he was not too old to work, and said so in a few disdainful words. Marat would begin life again as an apothecary. now vented his rage on the Academy, and in a miserable pamphlet traduced men like Laplace, Monge, and Cassini, accusing them of malversation, and of spending in disgraceful orgies the sums voted for the study of aerostation. But it was specially on Lavoisier that he concentrated all his venom and rancor. Lavoisier, the putative father of all the discoveries which are noised abroad, having no ideas of his own, fastens on those of others; but, incapable of appreciating them, he abandons them as readily as he adopts them, and changes his systems as he does his shoes!" On quitting the Treasury, he was re-appointed to the Régie des Poudres, but a few months afterwards he resigned the position, although he engaged to continue his studies on the manufacture of powder, and on the methods for the analysis of nitre. It is possible that he may have had some warning of what followed. Three days after his resignation, a commission of the Assembly suddenly entered the arsenal, placed the papers under seal, and ordered the removal of the commissioners to La Force. The elder Le Faucheux, one of Lavoisier's colleagues, enfeebled by age and infirmities, killed unexpected motion by Fourcroy revealed to the Academicians the danger in which they stood. Fourcroy demanded that the Academy should expel such of its members as were known for their "incivism." The motion was resisted on the ground that the Academy had no concern with the political opinions of its members; the progress of science was its sole business. Fourcroy insisted on his motion, when the geometer Cousin found the way of escape from a position which it was evident had been most skilfully chosen, by proposing that the question should be submitted to the minister, who would make such erasures from the list as he thought necessary, whilst the Academy should continue to pursue its more intellectual occupations. himself in despair, and the son was thrown | tain of the more urgent cases. The into prison. But however desirous La- society continued to hold its meetings as voisier might have been to relinquish usual until the spring of 1792, when an political life, it was impossible for him to escape from the penalties and responsibilities of his position. In 1791 he had been named secretary and treasurer of the famous Commission of Weights and Measures, which had undertaken to realize the long-cherished idea of supplying France and the world with an international system of weights and measures based upon a natural unit. He was not only the administrative officer of the commission, he contributed to the nomenclature of the system, and took a prominent part in directing the determination of the various physical constants on which the measurements ultimately rested, and especially in the determination of the weight of the unit volume of water, on which the value of the standard of mass was based. The project had to be carried out under conditions which could not possibly have been more disadvantageous. Its realization largely depended on the cordial co-operation of other nations, and the work of measurement could only properly be conducted at a time of peace. France was torn and distracted by internal dissensions; her national credit was gone; and she was threatened on all sides. Delambre has left us an account of the extraordinary difficulties and dangers under which the geodetical observations were executed. Lavoisier's work in Paris as treasurer was hardly less onerous or less hazardous. The project was more than once imperilled by the vacillating action of the Convention. The sums voted by the Assembly were not always forthcoming from the Treasury, and Lavoisier was occasionally under the necessity of depending upon his own means, or his private credit, for the money which Méchain required in order to extend the measurement of the arc to Barcelona. Doubtless, much of the difficulty was due to the attitude of the Convention towards the Academy. In turn with every monarchical institution of the time, it was suspected of "incivism,” and its destruction was already being compassed. Lavoisier, who had been named treasurer in succession to Tillet, whose long illness had thrown the financial affairs of the learned body into confusion, now found himself confronted with new troubles. The salaries of the Academicians, many of whom were old men, and in straitened circumstances, were in arrear. Lavoisier was again under the necessity of advanc. ing money from his private purse in cer This suggestion was adopted, but Fourcroy was not a man to submit tamely to a rebuff, and the Academy soon felt the effect of his resentment. Although the responsible ministers of the government still recognized it as the intellectual centre of France, its enemies within the Convention were unceasing in their efforts to overthrow it. The outlook was gloomy in the extreme. The shadow of its impending doom seemed to hang over its meetings. We find at this time in its minutes no mention of the members present, nor of the discussions in which they engaged. Even during the dark days of 1793, Lavoisier, active, hopeful, and courageous as ever, strained every nerve to maintain the continuity of its work; he was the life and soul of the society, and the everwatchful guardian of its interests. Together with Haüy and Borda he labored incessantly at the work of the commission. He obtained for Vicq d'Azir 8,400 livres for the continuation of his treatise on human and comparative anatomy; Jeurat received 300 livres for the calculations of his new lunar tables; Berthollet the ioo louis which he required for his work on applied chemistry. Even Sage, one of the most bitter opponents of the new chemistry, and Fourcroy still obtained the money which they needed for the prosecution of their investigations. He exerted all his influence with ministers, with the administrators of the Directory, and with the commissioners of the treasury, to induce the government to fulfil its obligations towards the Academy. The eloquence of Grégoire, and the courage of Lakanal for a time averted the final blow, but the ene |