[3] Browning's "Paracelsus."
CHAPTER II.
ESTABLISHMENT OF CHEMISTRY AS A SCIENCE —PERIOD OF BLACK, PRIESTLEY AND LAVOISIER.
Joseph Black, 1728-1799. Joseph, Priestley, 1733-1804. Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, 1743-1794.
During this period of advance, which may be broadly stated as comprising the last half of the eighteenth century, the aim and scope of chemical science were clearly indicated by the labours of Black, Priestley and Lavoisier. The work of these men dealt chiefly with the process of combustion. Black and Priestley finally proved the existence of airs or gases different from common air, and Lavoisier applied these discoveries to give a clear explanation of what happens when a substance burns.
Joseph Black was born near Bordeaux in the year 1728. His father was of Scottish family, but a native of Belfast; his mother was the daughter of Mr. Gordon, of Hilhead in Aberdeenshire. We are told by Dr. Robison, in his preface to Black's Lectures, that John Black, the father of Joseph, was a man "of most amiable manners, candid and liberal in his sentiments, and of no common information."