Volume 5

The works of the Honourable Robert Boyle. In six volumes. To which is prefixed the life of the author / [by T. Birch].

  • Robert Boyle
Date:
1772
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The works of the Honourable Robert Boyle. In six volumes. To which is prefixed the life of the author / [by T. Birch]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    139/1052 page 133
    “< J expected, that if I fubjoined what at firft I defigned to add to it, it would prove “a mif-fhapen book, and inconvenient to be opened. Wherefore it feemed expe- *¢ dient to divide the whole intended work in two volumes or tomes, whereof what. “< had already paft the prefs fhould make the firft; which, that it might be the fooner ** ferviceable, fhould forthwith come abroad by itfelf,; and the fecond fhould confit. ** partly of the other papers abovementioned, as relating to the Materia Medica,. and partly of .a fupplement to the firft tome, containing divers hiftorical paralipo--: *< mena, that by miftake were omitted, and are-fit to be there fupplied out of a fuller “* copy than that, which by an overfight was made ufe of at the prefs.” But this. fecond tome never appeared. Inthe fame year he publifhed likewife another ex-. cellent work, entitled, The Chriftian Virtuofo, fhewing, that by being addicted to ex-- perimental philofophy a man is rather affifted than indi[pofed to be a good Chriftian. The: Jirft part. To which are fubjoined, 1. A Difcourfe about the Diftinétion that repre- Jents fome things as above reafon, but not contrary to reafon. Ul. The firft Chapters: of a Difcourfe, entitled, Greatnefs of Mind promoted by Chriftianity. Printed in the Savoy, in 8vo. Inthe Advertifement prefixed to the Refleftions upon a Theological DiftinEtion, according to whichit is faid, that fome Articles of Faith are above Reafon, but not againft Reafon, he obferves, that after he had begun the /econd part of the Chriftian Virtuofo, and made fome progrefs in it, which he defigned to continue till. he had completed it, he was obliged to leave the country, where he enjoyed fome leifure, and to remove to London; where ficknefs, and bufinefs, and a multitude of vifits he could not avoid receiving, did io diftraét him, that thefe remoras,, added to. the fertility of the fubjects that remained to be treated of, which he found much. greater than he was at firft aware of, made him lay afide the materials he had pre- pared for the /ecoud part to a fitter opportunity, and comply with the occafions he had to publith fome tracts that required more. He did not live to finifh this /econd. part, but the papers, which he left behind him for that purpofe, as well as for an , _ Appendix to the firft part, are printed in the prefent edition. Tue year following he communicated to Monfieur de Ja Crofe, author of the Hi- Story of Learning, an Account. of fome Obfervations made in the great Congregation of. Waters, by lowering Bottles down into the fea fix hundred feet deep from the Jurface, Fa~ nuary the 2d,, 1677-8, which was printed in that work.tor the month of July 1691 ‘y with a fhort letter from Mr. Bayle to the author, in which he obferves, that: this. “ experiment made a great noife in the court of King Charles I]. and will, /ays be,. “< refolve all the difficulties in the. queftions,, which you propofed to me,. concerning « the coldnefs of water.. It was. made by a captain of a fhip, a.man.of very. good. «< fenfe, and in the prefence of a great many perfons., infomuch that. there can be no, «© manner of doubt concerning it.” Tue laft work, which he publifhed himfelf, was his Experimenta 8 Obfervationes: Phyfice : wherein are briefly treated of feveral Subjeéts. relating to Natural Pbhilofophy in: an experimental Way. Lo which is. added,. a fmall Collection. of ftrange Reports. Part I. London 1691, in 8vo. ‘The fecond part never appeared. Betne now fenfible from the decays of his health, that his death could not be very remote, he determined upon drawing: up his laft. will, which he figned and fealed upom the 18th of July 1691, and.of which I fhall fubjoin a copy. in the Appendix. to. this Life; but before he proceeded to.the perfecting of it, he wrote down. the following: protefiation. n ¢ © Page 57,5, §8>. Ss WHEREAS
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