Jean Hyacinthe De Magellan, F. R. S., and the chemical revolution of the eighteenth century

Abstract

Joã Jacinto de Magalhãs (1722-1790) left the congregation of Augustinian monks at Coimbra around 1755 to pursue a scientific career. Thereafter he became known generally, from his writings, as Jean Hyacinthe de Magellan. He became involved with the advance of science in his day when the French naval officer and astronomer, Gabriel de Bory (1720-1801), visited Portugal in 1751 to observe a solar eclipse and stayed at the monastery of Coimbra. Magellan served as Bory’s guide and assistant during the latter’s visit and, in turn, Bory was instrumental in introducing Magellan to a wide circle of leading European scientists and men of influence, particularly those of France. 1,2 Over the period 1755 to 1764, before taking up residence in London, Magellan travelled throughout Europe to make the acquaintance of scientists and patrons of science and the associated crafts, and to extend his linguistic skills. Magellan became an unpaid confidential agent of the French government, possibly during this period, reporting on major technical innovations introduced outside France: surviving letters show that he was engaged in such activities by 1770. The Director of the French Government’s bureau of commerce, Daniel Trudaine (1703-1769), made use of expert agents to discover the secrets of foreign industrial superiority, particularly British, and the practice was continued by his son, Trudaine de Montigny (1733-1777), who took over the directorship from his father in 1764. Soon after settling in London in 1764, Magellan was regularly sending the younger Trudaine packages of books and pamphlets describing new inventions and, on one occasion, he even endeavoured to smuggle out of England a newly developed loom that the British