Progress in Chemistry

Madame Lavoisier immediately smiled and nodded, "Your Highness, I would be happy to do my part. 💜🍫 ➅9ѕᕼᵘχ.Ć๏м ♞♨ if needed."

Joseph hadn't expected Lavoisier to speak so highly of his wife. Though somewhat surprised, he said gratefully, "It's so kind of you to come and help."

Lavoisier continued, "Your Highness, although Marianne didn't attend university, you can absolutely trust her experimental skills. In fact, she has been managing my laboratory for many years."

"I plan the experiments every week, but when it comes to the actual experimental procedures, she's even more efficient than me."

After Lavoisier's explanation, Joseph learned that Lavoisier's wife had been by his side learning chemical experiments after marrying him, and had become his de facto assistant. It can be said that she made an indelible contribution to Lavoisier's experimental achievements.

Joseph thanked the Lavoisier again and then chatted with them.

As they were talking, Joseph suddenly noticed a strange oil painting hanging on the wall of Lavoisier's house. It had a yellow background and was decorated with a neat bunch of strange symbols—two triangles stacked together, a circle with a "trident," a glowing "sun," and so on—looking like a wizard's potion recipe.

Lavoisier followed his gaze and immediately smiled proudly, "Your Highness, that is the Table of Elements I created. I have discovered 33 Elements, and the countless dazzling objects in this world are made up of these little things!"

"Look, that's hydrogen, that's oxygen, and this is gold..."

Seeing Joseph's blank stare, he quickly explained, "Oh, what we call Elements is, in chemical terms, a simple substance that cannot be broken down by any method."

"Ah, thank you for your explanation." Joseph finally realized what he meant.

He was certainly not ignorant of what Elements were, but he was astonished that Lavoisier and his contemporaries had conducted a great deal of fruitful research using these "magician's spell"-like Elements symbols.

He suddenly felt that he might be able to help Lavoisier improve the efficiency of his research, which might allow him to devote more time to the trial production of Fulminate of Mercury.

He considered it for a moment, then pointed to the Table of Elements on the wall and asked, "Mr. Lavoisier, is there any special significance to the way these symbols are drawn?"

Lavoisier paused for a moment, then shook his head. "There's nothing special about them, Your Highness. In fact, most of them are painted according to traditional methods."

What he called "traditional practices" is actually Alchemy. In the early stages of chemical Elements research, many concepts even came from Alchemy, such as "Phlogiston," which was disproven by Lavoisier, and "Wind Element." Therefore, it was perfectly logical to directly use the Elements symbols from the Alchemy era.

Joseph looked thoughtful and said, "If they don't have any special meaning, why draw them so complicatedly?"

"It might be much more convenient to represent the Elements directly using Latin. Oh, do you have any paper and pen here?"

Lavoisier quickly gestured towards the Study: "Over there, Your Highness."

Joseph followed him to the Study on the second floor, picked up a pen and wrote a "C" and an "O" on a piece of paper. "For example, these represent carbon and oxygen respectively."

"So, Carbon Dioxide..."

He recalled his previous studies in 18th-century chemistry, noting that Carbon Dioxide is now called Carbonic Acid, and thus changed his approach. "So Carbonic Acid can be written like this."

He then wrote down "CO2" and added some symbols between the letters, making it "C+2O=CO2".

Lavoisier, standing nearby, widened his eyes in astonishment. "Your way of writing the reaction process... is indeed very clear and concise!"

He glanced at the "wizard spells" he had written on the manuscript beside him, and said with barely concealed excitement, "I dare say, if students were taught using your method, they would spend half the time in each lesson!"

Joseph added, "We can use the first letter of the Latin word for each Elements as its Elements, and if there are repetitions, we can use the first two letters. This not only makes the writing simpler, but also makes it easier to remember."

"Absolutely! Your suggestion is incredibly creative!"

Lavoisier pulled out a piece of paper and quickly wrote 33 letters on it in less than 20 seconds. He immediately became even more excited. "Your Highness, you are simply a genius... Oh, no, your mind must have been kissed by God!"

"If we use the old method, we wouldn't even be able to finish half of it in such a short time, and it's far less clear than using letters, especially when representing reaction processes. This method will definitely greatly improve the efficiency of chemical research! Your Highness, may I use this method in my ' Elementary Treatise on Chemistry '?"

"Of course." Joseph proposed using alphabetic symbols for Elements so that "Elementary Treatise on Chemistry" could be completed more quickly.

Seeing that Lavoisier was engrossed in organizing the new symbols, he prepared to take his leave, but as he turned his head, he caught a glimpse of a document on the corner of the table—"Proposal on Length Standards".

He casually picked up the three-page document and discovered it was written by Lavoisier and the Mathematics Monge together for the French Academy of Sciences. It suggested using the meter as the standard unit of length and urged the Academy of Sciences to establish a "Standard Committee" as soon as possible.

Joseph then remembered that Lavoisier was a key member of the future "Standard Committee".

He wanted to promote the standardization of measurement standards in France, and the most suitable person to take charge of this matter was right in front of him!

Lavoisier looked up and saw the Crown Prince reading his "Proposal," and explained, "Your Highness, the use of units of measurement in academia is currently very chaotic. This has had a significant negative impact on everyone's research. For example, scholars in Paris and Marseille who want to discuss a problem have to waste half an hour first determining which measurement method to use."

Joseph nodded. "You're absolutely right! And it's not just in academia; in actual production, the lack of unified measurement standards also causes many problems."

He put the document back on the table and looked at Lavoisier, saying, "I've heard that the preparations for the Academy of Sciences's ' Standard Committee ' are progressing very slowly. If necessary, perhaps I could push things forward."

"For example, I will handle the funding issues, while the Royal House will form a committee."

"That's wonderful!" Lavoisier with delight. He had long been fed up with the Academy of Sciences's dawdling, while the Crown Prince's reputation for being young and capable had already spread throughout Paris. If the Crown Prince could take charge of this matter, France would surely soon have its own standard unit of length.

"You have brought a ray of hope to the France academic community!"

Joseph continued, "Moreover, I hope that this opportunity will not only be used to standardize units of length, but also units of mass, temperature, heat, and so on."

(End of this chapter)

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