We may lay it down as an incontestable axiom that, in all the
operations of art and nature, nothing is created; an equal
quantity of matter exists both before and after the experiment.
A. L. Lavoisier, Traite élémentaire de chimie, Paris: 1789
A paper
by Lavoisier located at Carmen Giunta's Classical Chemistry Page.
The
DuPont page about Lavoisier talks about the work of Lavoisier, and his assistance, Irenee Dupont, who came to America after
the French Revolution, and started a gunpowder industry.
