Rouelle and Stahl—The Phlogistic Revolution in France

Abstract

When Lavoisier began his work in chemistry, the phlogiston theory was the generally accepted chemical doctrine in France. As a unifying principle, this theory had much to recommend it; phlogiston was used primarily to explain combustion reactions, but also to account for physical and chemical properties ranging from the nature of color to the causes of fluidity and volatility. Despite its shortcomings, the phlogiston theory was so adaptable that to question its validity was to raise a host of difficult theoretical problems.