Alexander Crum Brown

“ Thénard went to Vauquelin and asked to be allowed to do any menial work for him, if only he would let him assist in his laboratory. One of Vauquelin's sisters bad slipped into the room and heard part of the conversation; she said to her brother, "He is a good lad; you should keep him; he will help you in the laboratory, and look after our pot au feu; your dandy assistants always let it boil." Thénard was engaged on these terms. ”

“ THÉNARD, Louis Jacques (1777-1857) , was born on the 4th of May 1777, at Louptiere, near Nogent-sur-Seine, in Champagne. His father, though a poor man, sent him to the academy of Sens, where he received a liberal education. At the age of sixteen he went to Paris to study pharmacy. He attended the lectures of Fourcroy and Vauquelin, and saw that the only way to learn chemistry was to work at it. Vauquelin, himself a poor man, ad mitted a few students to his laboratory on payment of a fee of 20 francs a month. ”

“ Immediately after lecture he mixed peroxide of barium and nitric acid, keeping the temperature low by means of ice. He was surprised to see the peroxide dissolve without any evolution of gas. He left the mixture standing, and next day, before lecture, noticed small bubbles of gas rising from it. Pour ing some of the liquid into a test-tube and warming it, he saw a large amount of gas escape, which he easily recog nized as pure oxygen. At first he thought the acid had been oxidized, but he soon saw the true explanation of the phenomena, and discovered the peroxide of hydrogen. ”