Elementary Treatise on Chemistry

work by Lavoisier

Also known as: “Traité élémentaire de chimie”

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July 16, 2026

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Antoine Lavoisier's Elementary Treatise on Chemistry (1789) was a foundational text in the chemical revolution. It introduced a new system of chemistry based on the careful, quantitative study of chemical reactions. Lavoisier established that combustion involves the absorption of oxygen, a gas he named, and that air is a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen. He also demonstrated that water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen.12

Key contributions from Lavoisier include:
* Defining elements as substances that cannot be broken down further by chemical reactions.1
* Establishing the principle of the conservation of mass in chemical reactions.13
* Developing a systematic nomenclature for chemical substances that is still used today.23

Lavoisier's work shifted chemistry from a qualitative to a quantitative science, earning him the title "father of modern chemistry".23

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Antoine Lavoisier
The chemical revolution
…Traité élémentaire de chimie (Elementary Treatise on Chemistry) that described the precise methods chemists should employ when investigating, organizing, and explaining their subjects. It was a worthy culmination of a determined and largely successful program to reinvent chemistry as a modern science.
Read More
…Traité élémentaire de chimie (Elementary Treatise on Chemistry) that described the precise methods chemists should employ when investigating, organizing, and explaining their subjects. It was a worthy culmination of a determined and largely successful program to reinvent chemistry as a modern science.
Read More