Lavoisier proposed a new theory of oxidation to replace the early chemical phologistic theory in which combustible materials were believed to be partly composed of a material called “phologiston,” which was released when the materials burned. In a letter to the Reverend James Madison, president of the College of William and Mary and cousin of the U.S. president, Jefferson observed: “It is probably an age too soon to propose the establishment of system. The attempt therefore of Lavoisier to reform the chemical nomenclature is premature.”