The Arsenal of Eighteenth-Century Chemistry The Laboratories of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794) (Nuncius: Studies and Sources in the Material and Visual History of Science, 10)

"The substantial collection of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier's apparatus is not the only surviving collection of eighteenth-century chemical apparatus and instrumentation, but it is without question the most important. The present study provides the first scientific catalogue of Lavoisier's surviving apparatus. This collection of instruments is remarkable not only for the quality of many of them but, above all, for the number of items that have survived (ca. 600 items). Given such a wealth and variety of instruments, this study also offers the first comprehensive attempt to reconstruct the cultural and social context of Lavoisier's experimental activities"-- Provided by publisher Contents 8 Foreword 12 Preface 13 Abbreviations 16 Part 1 Lavoisier’s Laboratory Networks (Marco Beretta) 18 Introduction 20 1 The Chemical Laboratories in Paris (1743–1776) 22 1.1 Chemistry Comes to Paris 22 1.2 Rouelle’s Laboratory 26 1.3 Laboratory Life with Macquer and Baumé 31 2 Lavoisier’s Approach to Chemical Instrument Making 35 2.1 Lavoisier’s Early Education in Science 35 2.2 Chemical Instrument Making in Paris before 1770 45 2.3 Lavoisier and Chemical Instrument Making 47 2.4 Parisian Instrument Makers at the Arsenal 58 2.5 Second-Hand Instruments 62 2.6 The Laboratory Notebooks 64 Table of Lavoisier’s Laboratory Notebooks 65 3 Lavoisier’s Sites of Experimental Practice: From the Field to the Laboratory (1764–1794) 67 3.1 Sites of Experiments 67 3.2 The Arsenal 79 4 The Cost of Lavoisier’s Laboratory 90 4.1 Was Chemistry Cheap or Expensive? 90 4.2 The Cost of Lavoisier’s Laboratory 100 4.3 The Cost of Labour 102 4.4 Deconstructing the Legend 104 5 The Chemical Revolution on Stage: Lavoisier’s Collection of Instruments (1789–2020) 106 5.1 The Chemical Revolution on Show (1789–1836) 106 5.2 Instruments Enter French Politics: The Private and Public Fate of Lavoisier’s Collection (1836–1900) 114 5.3 The 1943 Exhibition: Lavoisier vs Nazi Germany 124 Appendix 1: Inventory of Lavoisier’s Residence and Laboratory on the Boulevard de la Madeleine (1796) 132 Appendix 2: Inventory of Lavoisier’s Laboratory by Nicolas Leblanc (1794) 166 Appendix 3: Inventory of Lavoisier’s Precision and Chemical Instruments (1794) 170 Appendix 4: Select Inventory of Marie Anne Lavoisier’s Residence in the Rue d’Anjou (1836) 174 Appendix 5: Inventory of Lavoisier’s Instruments Acquired by the Conservatoire des arts et métiers in 1864 177 Appendix 6: Biographical Dictionary of Lavoisier’s Instrument Makers and Suppliers of Chemicals 179 Part 2 Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Lavoisier’s Instruments in the Musée des Arts et Métiers (Marco Beretta, Paolo Brenni) 198 Introduction to the Catalogue 199 Metrology 200 Measures of Length 200 Measures of Volume 201 Measures of Weight 204 Astronomy, Surveying, Drawing and Mathematics 217 Astronomy 217 Surveying Instruments 221 Drawing and Geometrical Models 229 Experimental Physics 231 Hydrostatics and Hydraulics 231 Acoustics 235 Pneumatics 235 Thermology 246 Optics 257 Magnetism and Electricity 264 Meteorology 283 Thermometers 283 Barometers 305 Miscellaneous 315 Chemistry 318 Furniture 318 Heating Apparatus and Common Laboratory Tools 319 Models 335 Chemical Apparatus 336 Chemical Glassware 372 Chemicals, Minerals and Various Substances 394 Miscellaneous 407 Fragments 427 General Bibliography 443 Index of Inventory Numbers 462 Index of Names 466 The first complete and detailed catalogue of Lavoisier’s collection of instruments preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris. The story of the collection is carefully reconstructed and its instruments (all illustrated) are described in detail.