Nothing Is Lost, Nothing Is Created, Everything

Diminish The Mass Of Evils That Afflict The Human Species, Increase Enjoyment And Well-being. And Even If The New Routes Opened Up Could Prolong The Average Life Of Mankind By Only A Few Hours, Or Even A Few Days, Then The Scientist, Too Could Aspire.

Experiments Upon Vegetation Give Reason To Believe That Light Combines With Certain Parts Of Vegetables, And That The Green Of Their Leaves, And The Various Colors Of Flowers, Is Chiefly Owing To This Combination.

In Every Combustion There Is Disengagement Of The Matter Of Fire Or Of Light. A Body Can Burn Only In Pure Air [oxygen]. There Is No Destruction Or Decomposition Of Pure Air And The Increase In Weight Of The Body Burnt Is Exactly Equal To The Weight Of Air Destroyed Or Decomposed. The Body Burnt Changes Into An Acid By Addition Of The Substance That Increases Its Weight. Pure Air Is A Compound Of The Matter Of Fire Or Of Light With A Base. In Combustion The Burning Body Removes The Base, Which It Attracts More Strongly Than Does The Matter Of Heat, Which Appears As Flame, Heat And Light.

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.

It Is Almost Possible To Predict One Or Two Days In Advance, Within A Rather Broad Range Of Probability, What The Weather Is Going To Be; It Is Even Thought That It Will Not Be Impossible To Publish Daily Forecasts, Which Would Be Very Useful To Soci.