Lavoisier's gasometer was the first instrument to make accurate measurements of gases. Because gases can be compressed, in order to measure the amount of a gas used in an experiment, Lavoisier had to find a way to measure both changing volume and changing gas pressure simultaneously or to hold one constant while measuring the other. Lavoisier used a piston in his gasometer to hold gas pressure constant while measuring the volume of gases used in his experiments. In the 1850s, British and Australian physician John Hutchinson (18111861) modified a gasometer to make the first spirometer for measuring the volume of a patient's breath.
Plate 12
Photographic reproduction of Marie-Anne Lavoisier's illustration
from Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (17431794), Traité
élémentaire de chimie (Elements of Chemistry),
Paris, 1789