BOYLE

BOYLE, Robert, one of the greatest philosophers as well as best men that our own or indeed any other nation has produced, was the seventh son and the fourteenth child of Richard Earl of Cork, and was born at Lismore in the province of Munster in Ireland, on the 25th January 1626-7. Before he went to school, he was taught to write a very fair hand, and to speak Latin and French, by one of the earl's chaplains, and a Frenchman whom his lordship kept in the house. In the year 1635 his father sent him over to England, that he might be educated at Eton school, under Sir Henry Wotton, who was the Earl of Cork's old friend and acquaintance. Here he soon

discovered a force of understanding which promised great things, and a disposition to cultivate and improve it to the utmost. Whilst he remained at Eton, several very extraordinary accidents befell him, of which he has given us an account; and three of these were very near proving fatal to him. The first was the sudden fall of the chamber where he lodged, while he was in bed; when, besides the danger he incurred of being crushed to pieces, he had certainly been choked with the dust during the time he lay under the rubbish, if he had not had presence of mind enough to wrap up his head in the sheet, which gave him an opportunity of breathing without hazard. A little time after this he would have been crushed to death by a horse that reared suddenly, and threw himself backwards, if he had not happily disengaged his feet from the stirrups, and cast himself from the back of the animal before he fell. The third accident proceeded from the carelessness of an apothecary's servant, who, by mistaking the phials, brought him a strong emetic instead of a cooling medicine.

He remained at Eton, upon the whole, between three and four years; and then his father removed him to his own seat at Stalbridge in Dorsetshire, where he remained for some time under the care of one of the chaplains, who was the parson of the place. In 1638 he attended his father to London, and remained with him at the Savoy, till his brother Mr Francis Boyle espoused Mrs Elizabeth Killigrew; then, towards the end of October, within four days after the marriage, the two brothers, Francis and Robert, were sent abroad upon their travels, under the care of Mr Marcombes. Embarking at Rye in Sussex, they proceeded to Dieppe in Normandy, and travelled by Rouen to Paris, and thence to Lyons; from which city they continued their journey to Geneva, where their travelling companion had a family, and there pursued their studies without interruption. Mr Boyle, during his stay there, resumed his acquaintance with the mathematics, or at least with the elements of that science, of which he had before gained some knowledge.

In September 1641 he quitted Geneva, after having spent twelve months in that city, and, passing through Switzerland and the country of the Grisons, entered Lombardy; then, taking his route through Bergamo, Brescia, and Verona, he arrived at Venice, where he made a short stay, and returning to the Continent, spent the winter at Florence. Here he employed his spare hours in reading the modern history of Italy, and in studying the works of Galileo, who died in a village near this city during Mr Boyle's residence there. It was at Florence that he acquired the Italian language, which he understood perfectly, though he never spoke it so fluently as the French. Of the latter he was such a master, that, when occasion required, he passed for a native of France.

About the end of March 1642, he went from Florence to Rome, and surveyed the numerous curiosities of the Eternal City. Amongst these, he tells us, "he had the fortune to see Pope Urban VIII. at chapel, with the cardinals, who, severally appearing mighty princes, in that assembly looked like a company of common friars." He visited all the adjacent villages which had anything curious or antique belonging to them; and would probably have made a longer stay, had not the heats disagreed with his brother. He returned to Florence, thence proceeded to Leghorn, and so by sea to Genoa; then passing through the county of Nice, he crossed the sea to Antibes, and thence travelled by land to Marseilles. He was in that city in May 1642, when he received his father's letters, informing him that a rebellion had broken out in Ireland, and with what difficulty he had procured the £250 then remitted to them in order to defray the expenses of their journey home. They never received this sum; and were

obliged to repair to Geneva with their governor Marcombes, who supplied them with as much as carried them thither. They continued there a considerable time without either advice or supplies from England; upon which Marcombes was obliged to take up, upon his own credit, some jewels, which were afterwards disposed of with as little loss as might be; and with the money thus raised they continued their journey to England, where they arrived in the year 1644. On their arrival Mr Boyle found that his father was dead; and though the earl had made ample provision for him, by leaving him the manor of Stalbridge in England, as well as other considerable estates in Ireland, yet it was some time before he could receive any money. However, he procured protections for his estates in both kingdoms from the powers then in being; and he also obtained leave to go over to France for a short space, probably to settle accounts with his governor Mr Marcombes.

In March 1646 he retired to his manor at Stalbridge, where he resided for the most part till May 1650. He made excursions sometimes to London, sometimes to Oxford; and in February 1647 he went over to Holland, but made no considerable stay anywhere. During his retirement at Stalbridge he applied himself with incredible industry to studies of various kinds, particularly to those of natural philosophy and chemistry. He omitted no opportunity of making the acquaintance of persons distinguished for parts and learning, to whom he was always a ready, useful, and generous assistant, and with whom he maintained a constant correspondence. He was also one of the first members of that small but learned body of men which, when all academical studies were interrupted by the civil wars, secreted themselves, about the year 1645, and held private meetings, first in London, and afterwards at Oxford, for the purpose of canvassing subjects of natural knowledge upon the plan of experiment which Lord Bacon had delineated. They then styled themselves the Philosophic College; and after the Restoration, when they were incorporated and openly recognised, they took the name of the Royal Society.

In the summer of 1654 Mr Boyle executed a design which he had formed for some time of residing at Oxford. Oxford was indeed the only place at that time in England where he could have lived with much satisfaction; for here he found himself surrounded with a number of learned friends, such as Wilkins, Wallis, Ward, Willis, Wren, and others, suited exactly to his taste, and who had resorted thither for the same reasons as himself. It was during his residence here that he improved the air-pump, and by numerous experiments was enabled to discover several qualities of air. He was not satisfied with what he had done, however, but laboured incessantly in collecting and digesting, chiefly from his own experiments, the materials requisite for his purpose. He declared against the philosophy of Aristotle, as having in it more words than things, as promising much and performing little, and as giving the inventions of men for indubitable proofs, instead of building upon observation and experiment. He was so zealous for the true method of learning by experiment, that though the Cartesian philosophy then made a great noise in the world, yet he could never be persuaded to read the works of Descartes, lest he should be amused and led away by plausible accounts of things founded on conjecture, and merely hypothetical. But philosophy, and inquiries into nature, though they engaged his attention deeply, did not occupy it entirely. We find, indeed, that he still continued to pursue critical and theological studies. In these he had the assistance of some great men, particularly Dr Edward Pococke, Mr Thomas Hyde, and Mr Samuel Clarke, all of great emi-

nence for their skill in the oriental languages. He had also a strict intimacy with Dr Thomas Barlow, at that time head keeper of the Bodleian library, and afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, a man of various and extensive learning. In the year 1659 Mr Boyle, becoming acquainted with the unhappy circumstances of Saunderson, afterwards bishop of Lincoln, who lost all his preferments on account of his attachment to the royal party, conferred upon him an honorary stipend of £50 a year. This was given to encourage him to apply himself to the writing of "Cases of Conscience;" and accordingly he printed his lectures De Obligatione Conscientiae, which he read at Oxford in 1647, and dedicated to his friend and patron.

On the restoration of Charles II. Mr Boyle was treated with great civility and respect by the king, as well as by the Lord Treasurer Southampton, and the Lord Chancellor Clarendon. He was solicited by the latter to enter into holy orders, not only out of regard to him and his family, but chiefly with a view to serve the church itself; for Mr Boyle's noble family, his distinguished learning, and, above all, his unblemished reputation, induced Lord Clarendon to think that any ecclesiastical preferments he might attain would be worthily discharged, so as to do honour to the clergy and service to the established communion. Mr Boyle considered all this with due attention; but he also reflected, that, in the situation of life which he then occupied, whatever he wrote with respect to religion would have much greater weight as coming from a layman; that, in point of fortune, he needed no accessions, and indeed never had any appetite for such; and that, by taking orders, he would neither enhance his character nor enlarge the sphere of his usefulness, but rather the reverse. He chose, therefore, to pursue his philosophical studies in such a manner as might conduce to the support of religion, and began to communicate to the world the fruits of these studies.

The first of these were printed at Oxford in 1660, in 8vo, under the title of New Experiments, Physico-mechanical, touching the Spring of the Air and its Effects; and Seraphic Love, or some Motives and Incentives to the Love of God, pathetically discoursed of in a letter to a friend. Certain physiological essays and other tracts, in 4to, appeared in 1661; and the Sceptical Chemist, in 1662, but it was reprinted about the year 1679, in 8vo, with the addition of divers experiments and notes.

In the year 1663, the Royal Society having been incorporated by King Charles II., Mr Boyle was appointed one of the council; and as he might be justly reckoned among the founders of that learned body, so he continued one of the most useful and industrious of its members during the whole course of his life. In June 1663 he published Considerations touching the usefulness of Experimental Natural Philosophy, 4to, and Experiments and Considerations upon Colours; to which was added, a Letter, containing Observations on a Diamond that shines in the Dark, 8vo. This treatise, which is full of curious and useful remarks on the hitherto unexplained doctrine of light and colours, shows great judgment, accuracy, and penetration; and it may be said to have led the way to that more full and ample development of the subject which was reserved for the mighty genius of Sir Isaac Newton. Considerations on the style of the Holy Scriptures, in octavo, also appeared in 1663, and was an extract from a larger work, entitled An Essay on Scripture, which was afterwards published by Sir Peter Pett, a friend of Mr Boyle's.

In 1664 he was elected into the company of the royal mines, and all this year he was engaged in the prosecution of various good designs, which prevented his sending abroad any treatises either of religion or philosophy. The year following came forth Occasional Reflections upon se-

veral Subjects, 1665, 8vo. This piece is addressed to Sophronia, under which name he concealed that of his sister the Viscountess of Ranelagh, and it exposed him to the only severe censure that ever was passed upon him. In order to ridicule these discourses, Dean Swift wrote A Pious Meditation upon a Broomstick, in the style of the Honourable Mr Boyle. But, as his noble relative Lord Orrery observed, "To what a height must the spirit of sarcasm arise in an author, who could prevail on himself to ridicule so good a man as Mr Boyle? The sword of wit, like the scythe of time, cuts down friend and foe, and attacks every object that lies in its way. But, sharp and irresistible as the edge of it may be, Mr Boyle will always remain invulnerable."

The same year he published an important work, entitled New Experiments and Observations upon Cold, 1665, 8vo. In the year 1666 he published Hydrostatical Paradoxes made out by new Experiments, for the most part physical and easy, in 8vo; and also the Origin of Forms and Qualities, according to the Corpuscular Philosophy, illustrated by considerations and experiments. This last treatise did great honour to Mr Boyle, whether we consider the quickness of his wit, the depth of his judgment, or his indefatigable pains in searching after truth. But we must not forget to observe, that, both in this and the former year, he communicated to Mr Oldenburg, secretary to the Royal Society, several curious and excellent short treatises of his own, and others transmitted to him by his learned friends both at home and abroad, which are printed and preserved in the Philosophical Transactions.

In the year 1668, Mr Boyle, having resolved to settle in London for life, removed for that purpose to the house of his sister, the Lady Ranelagh, in Pall-Mall. This proved beneficial to the learned in general, and particularly to the Royal Society, to whom he gave great and continual assistance, as the several pieces communicated to them, and printed in their Transactions, abundantly testify. Those who applied to him, either to desire his help or to communicate any new discoveries in science, he had fixed hours for receiving; and, besides, he carried on an extensive correspondence with persons of learning in all parts of Europe. In the year 1669 he published A Continuation of New Experiments, touching the Weight and Spring of the Air; to which is added, A Discourse of the Atmospheres of Consistent Bodies; and the same year he revised and made many additions to several of his former tracts, some of which were now translated into Latin, in order to gratify the curious abroad. He also gave to the world, at this time, Tracts about the Cosmical Qualities of Things, the Temperature of the Subterraneous Regions, and the Bottom of the Sea; to which is prefixed, an Introduction to the History of Particular Qualities. This book occasioned much speculation, as it seemed to contain a vast treasure of knowledge which had never before been communicated to the world, and which, too, was grounded upon actual experiments, or arguments justly drawn from them, instead of that notional and conjectural philosophy which in the beginning of the seventeenth century had been so much in fashion.

In the year 1671 he published Considerations on the Usefulness of Experimental and Natural Philosophy (part second), 4to; and, A Collection of Tracts upon several useful and important points of Practical Philosophy, 4to; both of which works were received as new and valuable gifts to the learned world. An essay concerning the Origin and Virtues of Gems, 8vo, appeared in 1672; also, A collection of tracts upon the relation between flame and air, and several other useful and curious subjects; besides which he furnished, in this and the former year, a great number of short dissertations upon a variety of topics, addressed to

the Royal Society, and inserted in their Transactions. Essays on the strange Subtlety, great Efficacy, and determinate Nature of Effluvia, to which were added a variety of Experiments on other Subjects, came out in 1673, 8vo. A collection of tracts upon the saltiness of the sea, the moisture of the air, the natural and preternatural state of bodies, to which is prefixed a dialogue concerning cold, was published in 1674, 8vo. The excellency of theology, compared with philosophy, appeared in 1673. This discourse was written in the year 1665, while Mr Boyle, to avoid the great plague which then raged in London, was forced to wander from place to place in the country, and had little or no opportunity of consulting books. It contains a great number of curious and useful, as well as just and natural observations. A collection of tracts containing suspicions respecting hidden qualities of the air, with an appendix touching celestial magnets, animadversions upon Mr Hobbes's problem about a vacuum, and a discourse of the cause of attraction and suction, was published in 1674; and some considerations about the reconcileableness of reason and religion, by a layman; to which is annexed a discourse about the possibility of the resurrection, appeared in 1655. Both these pieces were of his composition; but he thought fit to mark the former with the final letters of his name. Amongst the papers which he communicated to the Royal Society this year, were two connected into one discourse; the one entitled An experimental discourse of quicksilver growing hot with gold; the other relating to the same subject; and both of them containing discoveries of the utmost importance.

In the year 1676 he published Experiments and Notes about the mechanical origin or production of particular qualities, in several discourses on a great variety of subjects, and, among the rest, on electricity. In 1678 he communicated to Mr Hooke a short memorial of some observations made upon an artificial substance that shines without any preceding illustration; which that gentleman thought fit to publish in his Lectones Cutlerianæ. His historical account of a degradation of gold produced by an anti-elixir, made a great noise both at home and abroad, and is looked upon as one of the most remarkable pieces that ever fell from his pen; since the facts contained in it would have been esteemed incredible, if they had been related by a man of less integrity and piety than Mr Boyle. The regard which Newton had for Mr Boyle appears from a letter which the former wrote to him, towards the close of this year, stating his sentiments of that ethereal medium which he afterwards considered in his Optics as the cause of gravitation. This letter is to be found in the life of Mr Boyle by Dr Birch.

In the year 1680, Mr Boyle published the Aerial Noctiluca, or some new phenomena, and a process of a factitious self-shining substance, 8vo. This year the Royal Society, as a proof of their sense of his great worth, and of the services which, throughout a course of years, he had rendered them, elected him as their president; but being extremely sensitive in regard to oaths, he declined the intended honour, in a letter addressed to "his much respected friend Mr Robert Hooke, professor of mathematics at Gresham College." He published a Discourse

of things above Reason, inquiring, whether a philosopher should admit any such, 1681, 8vo; New Experiments and Observations upon the icy Noctiluca, to which is added a chemical paradox, grounded upon new Experiments, 1682, 8vo; and a continuation of New Experiments, Physico-mechanical, touching the spring and weight of the air, 1682, 8vo. In 1683 he published nothing except a short letter to Dr Beale, in relation to the making of fresh water out of salt; but in 1684 he gave to the public two very considerable works, namely, Memoirs for the natural history of Human Blood, especially the spirit of that liquor, 8vo; and Experiments and Considerations about the porosity of bodies.

In 1685 Mr Boyle obliged the world with Short Memoirs for the natural experimental history of Mineral Waters, with directions as to the several methods of trying them; an essay on the great effects of even languid and unheeded motion, which was received with great and general applause; a treatise of the Reconcileableness of specific medicines to the Corpuscular Philosophy, to which is annexed a discourse about the advantages of the use of simple medicines, 8vo; and a theological tract of the high veneration man's intellect owes to God, peculiarly for his wisdom and power, 8vo.

In the beginning of the succeeding year came out his Free Inquiry into the vulgarly received notion of Nature, a piece which was greatly admired; and in 1687 he published the martyrdom of Theodora and Didymia, a juvenile performance. But his Disquisition about the final causes of natural things, in 8vo, appeared in 1688.

Mr Boyle now began to find that his health and strength, notwithstanding all his care and caution, gradually declined; a circumstance which put him upon using every possible method of husbanding his remaining time for the benefit of the learned. With this view he no longer communicated particular discourses or new discoveries to the Royal Society, because it could not be done without withdrawing his thoughts from occupations which he thought of still greater importance. In order the more steadily to attend to these, he resigned his post of governor of the corporation for propagating the gospel in New England; and even went so far as to signify to the world, by public advertisement,¹ that he could no longer receive visits as usual.

Among the other works which by this means he gained time to finish, there is reason to believe that one was a collection of elaborate processes in chemistry, concerning which he wrote a letter to a friend, stating, that "he left it as a kind of hermetic legacy to the studious disciples of that art." Besides these papers, which were committed to the care of one whom he esteemed his friend, he left many behind him at his death relating to chemistry, which, by a letter directed to one of his executors, he desired might be inspected by three physicians whom he named, and that some of the most valuable might be preserved.

In the meantime Mr Boyle published some other works, as Medicina Hydrostatica, or, Hydrostatics applied to the Materia Medica, 1690, 8vo; The Christian Virtuoso, to which are subjoined, A discourse about the distinction that represents some things as above reason, but not con-

trary to reason; and the first chapters of a discourse entitled Greatness of mind promoted by Christianity. Lastly, he published, in the spring of 1691, Experimenta et Observationes Physicae, treating of several subjects relating to natural philosophy, in an experimental way, &c.

About the beginning of summer he began to feel such an alteration in his health as induced him to think of settling his affairs; and accordingly, on the 18th of July he signed and sealed his last will, to which he afterwards added several codicils. In October his distemper increased; and on the last day of December 1691 he departed this life, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. He was buried in St Martin's Church in the Fields, Westminster, on the 7th of January following; and his funeral sermon was preached by Dr Gilbert Burnet, bishop of Salisbury. In this discourse the bishop tells us, that he was the better able to give a character of the deceased from the many happy hours he had spent in conversation with him in the course of twenty-nine years. He gives a large account of Mr Boyle's sincere and unaffected piety, more especially of his zeal for the Christian religion, without having any narrow notions concerning it, or mistaking, as so many do, a bigoted heat in favour of a particular sect, for that zeal which is an ornament of a true Christian; and he mentions as a proof of this, his noble foundation for lectures in defence of the gospel against infidels of all sorts. Mr Boyle was at the charge of the translation and impression of the New Testament into the Malayan tongue, which he sent over all the East; he gave a noble reward to the person who translated Grotius's book On the Truth of the Christian Religion into Arabic; and he was at the charge of a whole impression, which he took care to have distributed in all the countries where that language was understood. He had resolved to have carried on the impression of the New Testament in the Turkish language; but the Levant Company thought it became them to be the promoters of the design, and so suffered him only to contribute largely towards it. He expended £700 on the edition of the Irish Bible, which he ordered to be distributed in Ireland; and he contributed liberally to the impression of the Welsh Bible. He gave, during his life, £300 to advance the design of propagating the Christian religion in America; and as soon as he heard that the East India Company were entertaining propositions for a similar design in the East, he sent £100 as a beginning and an example, intending, however, to extend his contribution as soon as the scheme had been fairly commenced. In other respects his charities were so bountiful and extensive, that they amounted to upwards of £1000 a year. Of his merits as an inquirer into nature, Dr Boerhaave, after declaring Lord Bacon to be the father of experimental philosophy, says, that "Mr Boyle, the ornament of his age and country, succeeded to the genius and inquiries of the great Chancellor Verulam. Which (he adds) of Mr Boyle's writings shall I recommend? All of them. To him we owe the secrets of fire, air, water, animals, vegetables, fossils; so that from his works may be deduced the whole system of natural knowledge." This may now appear extravagant and exaggerated; but at the time it was not unreasonably considered as only a just tribute to extraordinary merit and indefatigable perseverance.

In his person Mr Boyle was tall, but slender; and his countenance was pale and emaciated. His constitution was so delicate, that he had divers sorts of cloaks to put on when he went abroad, according to the temperature of the air; and in this he governed himself by the thermometer. He escaped the small-pox indeed; but for nearly forty years he laboured under such feebleness of body, and such depression of strength and spirits, that it is astonishing how he could read, meditate, make experiments, and write, as

he did. He had likewise a weakness in his eyes, which made him very tender of them, and extremely apprehensive of such distempers as might affect them. He also imagined, that if sickness should confine him to bed, it might increase the pains of the stone to a degree above his strength to support; and this was the ground of the caution with which he was observed to live. But as to life itself, he had that just indifference for it which became a philosopher and a Christian. Mr Boyle was never married. In the memorandum of his life set down by Bishop Burnet, it is remarked that he abstained from marriage, at first out of policy, but afterwards more philosophically; and we find from a letter of Dr John Wallis to him, dated Oxford, 17th July 1669, that he had had an overture made to him in regard to the Lady Mary Hastings, sister to the Earl of Huntingdon. But it does not appear from any of his papers that he had ever entertained the least thoughts of the kind; and there is a letter of his, written when he was young to Lady Barrymore, his niece, which almost shows that he never did.

We shall conclude this account of Mr Boyle with a list of his posthumous works, which are as follow: 1. The General History of the Air designed and begun; 2. General Heads for the Natural History of a Country, great or small, drawn out for the use of Travellers and Navigators; 3. A paper of the honourable Robert Boyle's, deposited with the secretaries of the Royal Society, October 14, 1680, and opened since his death, being an account of his making the phosphorus, September 30, 1680; 4. An Account of a way of examining Waters as to Freshness or Saltness; 5. A free Discourse against customary Swearing, and a Dismissive from Cursing, 1695, 8vo; and 6. Medical Experiments, or a Collection of choice remedies, chiefly simple and easily prepared, useful in families, and fit for the service of the country people; being the third and last volume published from the author's original manuscript, 1698, 12mo. Editions of all his works have been printed at London, in five volumes folio, and six volumes 4to.