[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
been established at Grenelles, near Paris; but it was insufficient for
the immense demand. Chaptal soon, by his skill and activity, so improved
this establishment, that it supplied all that was wanted, and this at a
time when France had about 1,400,000 soldiers.[3]
[3] The theory of this artificial formation of saltpetre is
detailed by Chaptal, in _Annales de Chimie_, tom. xx.--The bulk
of saltpetre used in this country is brought from the East
Indies, where, at certain seasons of the year, it is found
deposited on the surface of the soil. It is swept off once or
twice a week, and as often renewed. At Apulia, near Naples,
there is a bed containing 40 per cent. of it; and in Switzerland
the farmers extract it in abundance from the earth under the
stalls of the cattle. In the reign of Charles I. great attention
was paid to the making of saltpetre in England. Certain
patentees were authorized by royal proclamation to dig up the
floors of all dove-houses, stables, &c. In France, the plaster
of old walls is washed to separate the nitrate of lime, which is
a soluble salt, and this, by means of potash, or muriate of
potash, is afterwards converted into nitre. Mr. Bowles, in his
Introduction to the Natural History of Spain, assures us there
is enough saltpetre in that country to supply all Europe for
ever.
Chaptal returned to Montpellier in 1794, and soon obtained a place in
the administration of the department of Herault, and a professorship of
chemistry in the university of Montpellier, which the Directory created
expressly as a reward for his services. In 1798, Chaptal revisited
Paris, and aided the Revolution by which, in 1799, Buonaparte became
First Consul. In the following year Chaptal was made Minister of the
Interior, in which important office he imparted new energy to all the
manufacturing establishments of France, as well as founded many public
schools upon improved systems of education. In 1804 he was dismissed
from the Ministry for his refusing to sanction a report stating sugar
from beet-root to be superior to that from the cane.[4]
[4] This was twenty-eight years since. A writer in an English
journal observed three years since, “it is difficult to conceive
that one half of the sugar consumed in Great Britain, or in all
Europe, will not, in a few years, be home-made beet-root sugar.”
In France the manufacture of sugar from beet-root, like that of
saltpetre, was dictated by necessity, the former through the
capture of the French colonies by Great Britain, during the late
war. It is now an important manufacture in that country, as well
as a branch of domestic economy, the sugar being made by
housewives, and requiring not more skill or trouble than
cheese-making or brewing.
Chaptal now retired from political life, and established a chemical
manufactory in the neighbourhood of Paris; but he was soon after chosen
a member of the Conservative Senate, and made grand officer of the
Legion of Honour. In 1806, he was present at the placing of the trophied
column in the Place Vendome, to commemorate the battle of Austerlitz.
Chaptal was soon after made a Count, and received the grand cross of the
Legion of Honour.
In 1813, when the Allies began to approach the French frontiers, Chaptal
was dispatched to support the falling power of Napoleon; he failed to do
so; and when the Austrians approached the capital, he retired to
Clermont, but after the taking of Paris he hastened to the city. He was
made a member of the Academy of Sciences upon its re-organization.
Upon the return of Napoleon from Elba, he named Chaptal director-general
of manufactures and commerce, and immediately after minister of state,
in which latter capacity he pronounced, in the name of all the
ministers, a very flattering address to Napoleon. At the restoration of
the Bourbons, Chaptal again retired into private life, and continued to
enjoy the society of a large circle of literary and scientific friends
till his death.
Upon the application of chemistry to the arts of life, Chaptal is
considered to have been the most distinguished writer of his time. His
works are, Conspectus Physiologicus de Fontibus differentiarum relat. ad
Scientias, 1777; Analytical Table of a Course of Chemistry delivered at
Montpellier, 1783; Elements of Chemistry; Treatise on Saltpetre and Tar;
a Table of the principal Earthy Salts and Substances; an Essay on
perfectioning the Chemical Art in France; a Theoretical and Practical
Treatise on the Cultivation of the Vine; the Art of making Wines, &c.;
the Art of Making, Managing, and Perfectioning Wines, a work which has
been productive of great improvement in the wines of many districts in
France; the Art of Dyeing Cotton Red; Chemistry applied to the Arts; the
Chemical Principles of the Arts of Dyeing and Scouring. M. Chaptal has
also furnished many excellent articles to the Annals of Chemistry, and
the Dictionary of Agriculture. Among his miscellaneous productions, a
paper on Geological Changes is entitled to special mention as one of the
most beautiful compositions of its class.
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