Question

What were the first 16 elements known in 1760?

Answer 1

Those elements are:
sulphur
chlorine
argon
neon
carbon
oxygen
helium
silicon
calcium
hydrogen
nitrogen 
sodium
fluorine
lithium
aluminum

9 of these elements were known during BCE periods. The knowledge of these basic elements is enough for humanity to start the industrial revolutions by leveraging and combining one elements with another as a catalyze to be included either as ingredient of the products or to speed up the production process.

Answer 2

Gold, Silver, Copper, Iron. Lead, Tin, Mercury, Sulfur, Carbon, Arsenic, Anthimony, Phosphorous, Zinc, Cobalt, Platinum Nickel and Bismuth were the first 16 elements discovered until 1760. These were the early elements generally found in the environment and discovered upon its uses in the society.