評論
打印
As a leading member of the Académie Royale des Sciences, he was also required to take an informed and active interest in whatever was topical—hypnotism, prison reform, the respiration of insects, the water supply of Paris. It was in such a capacity in 1780 that Lavoisier made some dismissive remarks about a new theory of combustion that had been submitted to the academy by a hopeful young scientist. The theory was indeed wrong, but the scientist never forgave him. His name was Jean-Paul Marat.
作為皇家科學院的一名主要成員，無論時下有什么值得關注的事，他還都得知道，積極參與——催眠術研究呀，監獄改革呀，昆蟲的呼吸呀，巴黎的水供應呀，等等。1870年，一位很有前途的年輕科學家向科學院提交一篇論文，闡述一種新的燃燒理論；就是在那個崗位上，拉瓦錫說了幾句輕蔑的話。這種理論的確是錯的，但那位科學家再也沒有原諒他。他的名字叫讓——保羅·馬拉。
The one thing Lavoisier never did was discover an element. At a time when it seemed as if almost anybody with a beaker, a flame, and some interesting powders could discover something new—and when, not incidentally, some two-thirds of the elements were yet to be found—Lavoisier failed to uncover a single one. It certainly wasn't for want of beakers. Lavoisier had thirteen thousand of them in what was, to an almost preposterous degree, the finest private laboratory in existence.
只有一件事拉瓦錫從來沒有做過，那就是發現一種元素。在一個仿佛任何手拿燒杯、火焰和什么有意思的粉末的人都能發現新東西的時代——還要特別說一句，是一個大約有三分之二的元素還沒有被發現的時代里——拉瓦錫沒有發現一種元素。原因當然不是由于缺少燒杯。他有著天底下最好的私人實驗室，好到了差不多荒謬的程度，里面竟有13000只燒杯。
Instead he took the discoveries of others and made sense of them. He threw out phlogiston and mephitic airs. He identified oxygen and hydrogen for what they were and gave them both their modern names. In short, he helped to bring rigor, clarity, and method to chemistry.
恰恰相反，他把別人的發現拿過來，說明這些發現的意義。他擯棄了燃素和有害氣體。他確定了氧和氫到底是什么，并且給二者起了現今的名字。簡而言之，他為化學的嚴格化、明晰化和條理化出了力。
