Antoine Lavoisier Theory Quotations

Like almost all others began with metaphysical discussions. The theory has advanced but the practical science is still in its infancy and the modern statesman is constantly short of facts on which he can base his speculations.

One will not deny me, I trust, all the theory of oxidation and combustion, the analysis and decomposition of air by metals and combustible bodies, the theory of acidification, more precise knowledge on the nature of a great numbers of acids, notably

This theory [the oxygen theory] is not as I have heard it described, that of the French chemists, it is mine (elle est la mienne); it is a property which I claim from my contemporaries and from posterity.