Antoine LAVOISIER and his position as farmer general.

Antoine LAVOISIER (1743-1794)

Signed autograph letter.

One pages in-4°. Paris. April 6, 1774.  

Rare handwritten testimony of the office of farmer general held by Lavoisier.

 _____________________________

 “I, the undersigned, promise as soon as my funds in the new lease of the general farms under the name of Laurent David have been made, to provide to Mr. Count of Maulde a delegation in front of notaries on my funds in advance up to thirty one thousand pounds as security for such a sum which he took from my father and me for our private affairs following the obligation passed before Me Garnier Deschesne notary in Paris today, and to deposit with the d. Me Deschesne for safety of the d. delegation a return of the sum of thirty-one thousand pounds to remain in his hands until repayment of the d. obligation. In Paris this sixth of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four. Lavoisier »

 _____________________________

In 1770, Lavoisier acquired the position of farmer general. It was this position as farmer general which was at the origin of his main scientific discoveries in chemistry. Assigned to the secretariat responsible for collecting taxes at the Paris tax office, he has a scale there which is used to detect fraud, the most precise in Europe, and it is this scale that he uses to carry out molecular weighings of various gases with a previously unmatched margin of error.