so great, that it was immediately felt and acknowledged by all those who were acquiring the science, who are the most likely to be free from prejudices, and who, in the course of a few years, must constitute the great body of those who are interested in the science. 2. The second circumstance, to which the rapid triumph of the new nomenclature was owing, is the superiority of Lavoisier's theory over that of Stahl. The subsequent progress of the science has betrayed many weak points in Lavoisier's opinions; yet its superiority over that of Stahl was so obvious, and the mode of interrogating nature introduced by him was so good, and so well calculated to advance the science, that no unprejudiced person, who was at sufficient pains to examine both, could hesitate about preferring that of Lavoisier. It was therefore generally embraced by all the young chemists in every country; and they became, at the same time, partial to the new nomenclature, by which only that theory could be explained in an intelligible manner. When the new nomenclature was published, there were only three nations in Europe who could be considered as holding a distinguished place as cultivators of chemistry: France, Germany, and Great Britain. For Sweden had just lost her two great chemists, Bergman and Scheele, and had been obliged, in consequence, to descend from the high chemical rank which she had formerly occupied. In France the fashion, and of course almost the whole nation, were on the side of the new chemistry. Macquer, who had been a stanch phlogistian to the last, was just dead. Monnet was closing his laborious career. Baumé continued to adhere to the old opinions; but he was old, and his chemical skill, which had never been _accurate_, was totally eclipsed by the more elaborate researches of Lavoisier and his friends. Delametherie was a keen phlogistian, a man of some abilities, of remarkable honesty and integrity, and editor of the Journal de Physique, at that time a popular and widely-circulating scientific journal. But his habits, disposition, and conduct, were by no means suited to the taste of his countrymen, or conformable to the practice of his contemporaries. The consequence was, that he was shut out of all the scientific coteries of Paris; and that his opinions, however strongly, or rather violently expressed, failed to produce the intended effect. Indeed, as his views were generally inaccurate, and expressed without any regard to the rules of good manners, they in all probability rather served to promote than to injure the cause of his opponents. Lavoisier and his friends appear to have considered the subject in this light: they never answered any of his attacks, or indeed took any notice of them. France, then, from the date of the publication of the new nomenclature, might be considered as enlisted on the side of the antiphlogistic theory.