Mid-Eighteenth-century Chemistry in France as Seen Through Student Notes from the Courses of Gabriel-François Venel and Guillaume-François Rouelle

Abstract

Students' manuscript notes from Rouelle's and Venel's chemistry courses offer a picture of chemistry in France in the mid-eighteenth century that is quite different from the one given by the Encyclopedie. The teachers shared Boerhaave's dual view of elements as constituents of matter and instruments in the hands of chemists. They clearly distinguished elements en masse, on which they conferred the instrumental role, from elements integrated in mixts, which, losing their common properties, constituted the real elements. This distinction was systematically applied to all four elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. This article emphasises Venel's original views about Earth and Air. It also confirms the recent reassessment of the role attributed to Phlogiston in eighteenth-century chemistry. Students' notes also reveal that Rouelle, Venel and Macquer taught a consistent synthesis of Stahl, Newton, and Boerhaave.