Ancien régime: part 3

Lavoisier's wife often helped take notes in the laboratory and she was also an artist. She would sketch out the scenes of what was going on in the laboratory. Lavoisier was the tobacco inspector for the General Farm and he wanted to test for adulteration. He wanted to test for if there was ash in the tobacco. Ash in the tobacco could be bad because it could harm the people and it is tax fraud. Jacques Turgot took over as head of te General Farm. He did a great job and Lavoisier got along with him but after 29 years, Turgot got let go. The government was not able to pay back loans and people were counterfeiting and this made the general farm less effective. The French were making gunpowder at the time but there were taxes on every ingredient in making it. There was especially a high tax on salt. Lavoisier began to start programs that would make gunpowder. These programs became tests that all militaries would do in France and it would be a big experiment for all of them. Soon e nought, there was a gunpowder administration that would override all gunpowder projects and experiments. Lavoisier helped out with the administration and he felt comfortable working with them. He would wake up and spend 3 hours in the lab and then the rest of the day out and about with the gunpowder work.