Antoine-Grimoald Monnet (1 November 1734 – 23 May 1817) was a French mineralogist and mining specialist who became a mine inspector and wrote several treatises on mining and geology based on his travels and observations across France and neighbouring regions. Along with

Jean-Étienne Guettard Jean-Étienne Guettard (22 September 1715 – 7 January 1786), French naturalist and mineralogist, was born at Étampes, near Paris. In boyhood, he gained a knowledge of plants from his grandfather, who was an apothecary, and later he qualif ...

he published the earliest geological maps of France. French_mineral_map

Monnet was born in

Champeix Champeix (; oc, Champeilhs) is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in central France. See also *Communes of the Puy-de-Dôme department The following is a list of the 464 Communes of France, communes of the Puy-de ...

in the district of

Issoire Issoire (; Auvergnat: ''Issoire'', ''Ussoire'') is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France. Geography Issoire is located on the river Couze, near its confluence with the Allier, SSE of Clermont-Ferrand on the P ...

in a large middle-class family. He was self-taught and moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

at the age of seventeen, attended lectures in chemistry by

Guillaume-François Rouelle Guillaume François Rouelle (, 15 September 1703 – 3 August 1770) was a French chemist and apothecary. In 1754 he introduced the concept of a base into chemistry as a substance which reacts with an acid to form a salt). He is known as ''l'Aîn ...

at the Jardin du Roi, and became a pharmacist's assistant to the apothecary Joseph Cigongne in

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

. He gained fame after he began to analyze samples sent to Cigonge, publishing papers on mineral spring waters from Bains,

Plombières Plombières (; german: Bleyberg or ''Bleiberg'', nl, Blieberg; wa, So-on-Mont-d'-Plomb) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On 1 January 2006, Plombières had a total population of 10,401. The total are ...

, and

Luxeuil Luxeuil-les-Bains () is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. History Luxeuil (sometimes rendered Luxeu in older texts) was the Roman Luxovium and contained many fine buildings at ...

in 1767 where he pointed out that there was hardly any dissolved minerals that could be responsible for any curative properties. An acquaintance with

who was related to

Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes (, 6 December 1721 – 22 April 1794), often referred to as Malesherbes or Lamoignon-Malesherbes, was a French statesman and minister in the Ancien Régime, and later counsel for the defense of Lou ...

who offered a private laboratory at his home in Vaugirard. This then led to his obtaining a position in the Bureau of commerce under Daniel Trudaine, succeeding

Gabriel Jars Gabriel Jars (26 January 1732 – 20 August 1769) sometimes confusingly referred to as Antoine-Gabriel Jars but more correctly as Gabriel Jars the younger was a French mining and metallurgical specialist who along with his brother Gabriel Jars the e ...

who died in 1769. In 1776 he became an inspector of mines. His work involved travel across Europe examining mines in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

, and other places. He recognized the Vosges sandstones as being sedimentary and produced by riverine rather than marine action. He examined the works of others like Axel Cronstedt whose work he translated into French.

References

External links

Nouveau systême de minéralogie, ou Essai d'une nouvelle exposition du regne minéral , auquel on a joint un supplément au Traité de la dissolution des métaux, avec des observations relatives au Dictionnaire de chymie (1779)

Exposition des mines, ou Description de la nature et de la qualité des mines : à laquelle on a joint des notices sur plusieurs mines d'Allemagne & de France ; & une dissertation pratique sur le traitement des mines de cuivre, traduite de l'allemand (1772)

Atlas et description minéralogique de la France entreprise par ordre du roi
(1780) {{DEFAULTSORT:Monnet, Antoine-Grimoald 1734 births 1817 deaths French geologists