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454 MODERN TIMES.
LAVOISIER'S doctrines found acceptance first in France,
the country of his birth. Among his disciples were GUYTON
DE MORVEAU wdio rendered a service by introducing a
rational chemical nomenclature, FOURCROY who gave his
attention to medical chemistry, and BERTHOLLET who
found out the composition of ammonia, was the first to
observe the bleaching property of chlorine and recognized
its importance in daily life, discovered chlorate of potash
and fulminate of silver, carefully analyzed hydrocyanic acid
and determined its composition, corrected LAVOISIER'S
mistake in asserting that all acids contain oxygen, founded
the doctrine of chemical affinity referring to the im^-
portance of the quantitative relations which here assert
themselves, and advanced industrial chemistry, especially in
the departments of the manufacture of steel and saltpetre.
KLAPROTH was the first in Germany to support the anti-
phlogistic theory. Chemistry owes to him the discovery of
several elements and the correction of various erroneous
statements which had been made by other investigators..
His analytical labours were characterized by their accuracy,
surpassing in this respect even those of VAUQUELIN, who
about the same time was elaborating mineralogical
chemistry and discovered chromium and glucinum. He
directed his attention also to organic chemistry, and dis­
covered, amongst other things, quinic acid.
In the beginning of our own century J. L. PROUST
enunciated the law that chemical combinations always
manifest a definite composition. He also made important
contributions to the chemistry of certain metals and dis­
covered grape-sugar.
The Englishman DALTON attempted to explain the
definiteness of chemical combinations by the atomic theory,
in which he assumed that the atoms of the various elements
unite with one another in definite proportions depending
upon their weight; he discovered also the law of multiple
proportions.* The stoichiometrical investigations of
* A. WBRTZ : Geschichte der chemischen Theorien,\Deutsche Ubersetzung*
Berlin 1879, S. 29 et seq.