wan , ▁James ▁Ke ir , ▁and ▁William ▁Nich ol son , ▁among ▁others , ▁argued ▁that ▁quant ification ▁of ▁subst ances ▁did ▁not ▁imply ▁conservation ▁of ▁mass . ▁R ather ▁than ▁reporting ▁fact ual ▁evidence , ▁opposition ▁claimed ▁Lav ois ier ▁was ▁mis inter pre ting ▁the ▁imp lications ▁of ▁his ▁research . ▁One ▁of ▁Lav ois ier ' s ▁al lies , ▁Jean ▁Bapt iste ▁Bi ot , ▁wrote ▁of ▁Lav ois ier ' s ▁method ology , ▁" one ▁felt ▁the ▁necessity ▁of ▁linking ▁accuracy ▁in ▁experiments ▁to ▁rig or ▁of ▁reasoning ." ▁His ▁opposition ▁argued ▁that ▁precision ▁in ▁experiment ation ▁did ▁not ▁imply ▁precision ▁in ▁infer ences ▁and ▁reasoning . ▁Despite ▁opposition , ▁Lav ois ier ▁continued ▁to ▁use ▁precise ▁instrument ation ▁to ▁conv ince ▁other ▁chem ists ▁of ▁his ▁conclus ions , ▁often ▁results ▁to ▁five ▁to ▁eight ▁decimal ▁places . ▁Nich ol son , ▁who ▁estimated ▁that ▁only ▁three ▁of ▁these ▁decimal ▁places ▁were ▁meaning ful , ▁stated : ▁ ▁Notable ▁works ▁ ▁E aster ▁mem oir ▁The ▁" o fficial " ▁version ▁of ▁Lav ois ier ' s ▁E aster ▁Mem oir ▁appeared ▁in ▁ 1 7 7 8 . ▁In ▁the ▁interven ing ▁period , ▁Lav ois ier ▁had ▁am ple ▁time ▁to ▁repeat ▁some ▁of ▁Pri est ley ' s ▁latest ▁experiments ▁and ▁perform ▁some ▁new ▁ones ▁of ▁his ▁own . ▁In ▁addition ▁to ▁studying ▁Pri est ley ' s ▁de ph log istic ated ▁air , ▁he ▁studied ▁more ▁thoroughly ▁the ▁resid ual