96 - CHAPTAL (Jean-Antoine). Signed autograph letter to a “dear colleague.” No place, November 13, 1787. 3/4 pp. in-4.

CHAPTAL (Jean-Antoine). Signed autograph letter to a “dear colleague.” No place, November 13, 1787. 3/4 pp. in-4. A BEAUTIFUL LETTER FROM THE CHEMIST AND FUTURE POLITICIAN, concerning his “Observations on the Distillation of Wines in the Province of Languedoc,” published in 1788 in the Recueil des actes de la Société royale des sciences de Montpellier, and on his “Observations on Some Benefits That Can Be Derived from Ochre-Rich Soils, Along with Methods for Converting Them into Red-Brown Ochre and for Producing Pozzolanas Capable of Economically Replacing Both Foreign and Domestic Varieties,” printed in 1787 by Firmin Didot for the Estates of Languedoc. “I have the honor of sending you… a copy of my work on ochres, which the province was kind enough to have printed by Didot. I would be grateful if you would set aside 10 minutes for me during your society’s public session; I WILL READ A PAPER ON THE DISTILLATION OF WINES, WHICH IS OF INTEREST TO BOTH SCIENCE AND THE GOVERNMENT; since I am leaving tomorrow for Toulouse, where I will remain until the Estates [until the session of the Estates of Languedoc], I ask that you inform your Academy...” IT IS VERY LIKELY ADDRESSED TO THE ASTRONOMER AND PHYSICIAN JACQUES POITEVIN, a member of the Royal Society of Sciences of Montpellier, who had published in 1773 a “Memoir on the Effervescence and Heat of Wine During Alcoholic Fermentation.” Jean-Antoine Chaptal would help revive the Montpellier Academy of Sciences in 1795.