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M. Chaptal


[Illustration: M. Chaptal]

M. Chaptal, the celebrated chemist, born at Montpellier in 1755, died a
few days since at Paris, in his 77th year. He studied medicine and
natural philosophy when very young, and under promising patronage.
Before the Revolution he published some valuable works, and formed two
or three chemical establishments, and for his successful labours the
King had given him the order of St Michael. When the Revolution began,
M. Chaptal headed the insurgents at Montpellier, who took possession of
the citadel in 1791.

The reputation of Chaptal as a chemist being well established, he was
called to Paris in 1793, by the committee of public safety, to be
consulted relative to the making of gunpowder and the production of
saltpetre. It must be in the memory of all those who recollect the
history of the first years of the French Revolution, that the want of
saltpetre, the principal ingredient in gunpowder, had nearly put an end
to the war; and as France had shut the ports of all nations against
herself, no other resource remained but to produce the saltpetre at
home. Before Chaptal was sent for, a manufactory, for this purpose, had