PREFATORY NOTE

PREFATORY NOTE T H E principal character in this book, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, contributed largely to physics and chemistry ; he may also be regarded as the virtual founder of the science of nutrition, in the sense that he originated methods of enquiry in this field which were the basis of almost all later developments. There exists to-day a large and growing number of men and women professionally concerned with the science of nutrition in its various branches ; many of these, I felt, would be glad to learn more of a man who did remarkable pioneer work in their subject— a man who accomplished a great deal in a short lifetime and died tragically. Since it is not possible to discuss the achievements of any scientific worker without reference to those of his contemporaries whose work dovetails with his own, I have included two other major characters—Joseph Priestley and Henry Cavendish. T h e life-histories of these two men are comparatively familiar to the English reader, so that the main excuse for this book must be that it portrays an eighteenth-century French scientist who has been given relatively little attention by English writers. I feel it necessaryto apologise for having attempted to write a biography with an eighteenth-century background without possessing any special knowledge of the period. In extenuation of an amateur attempt to sketch an interesting and dramatic period of history, I can only plead an enthusiastic admiration for a figure who has never received justice from the professional historian.

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