REVIEWS 527 



Robert Boyle: A Biography. By Flora Masson. [Pp. ix + 323.] (London: 

 Constable & Co., 1914. Price ys. 6d. net.) 



This book is rather a history of Richard Boyle and his children, including Robert 

 Boyle, than of the latter only — and it is a most interesting one. Mr. Richard 

 Boyle, the second son of the second son of a country squire — one of the Boyles of 

 Herefordshire — was born in 1566. He was apprenticed to the law, but as he 

 thought he would not make a fortune in that, emigrated to the then foreign 

 country of Ireland, where he soon advanced in the favour of men of influence, 

 married a fairly wealthy wife, and after her death acquired great landed posses- 

 sions by the purchase of the estates of Sir Walter Raleigh. After successfully 

 rebutting a serious charge against him, he acquired the favour of Queen Eliza- 

 beth and was ultimately made Earl of Cork. He seems to have been a man of 

 wonderful character and capacity, and his wealth appears to have been due to 

 the admirable manner in which he developed his estates, he being one of the 

 first of that type of Englishman who do such things. By his second marriage he 

 had a large number of children, and Robert Boyle, the great man of science and 

 discoverer of Boyle's Law, was the youngest of his sons. 



Robert was born on the 25th January, 1626, when his father was sixty years old, 

 was partly educated at Eton, and was then sent for five years to Geneva and Italy. 

 Before he returned, the Earl of Cork was nearly ruined by one of the Irish 

 rebellions ; but a small estate still remained in the possession of Robert — enabling 

 him to devote himself to science and literature. 



The book is chiefly derived from the information contained in the Lismore 

 Papers, especially the private diary of the great Earl, and is full of what might 

 almost be called family gossip. We say this in no depreciatory vein, because this 

 gossip throws much fascinating light on the history and the manners of the time. 

 Amongst other details, the life of Robert Boyle is very prettily delineated. He 

 was never married, but always lived in the closest relations with his sister, Lady 

 Ranelagh, and the other members of his family, most of whom acquired high 

 positions and titles. His life covers the periods of the great rebellion, the plague, 

 and the fire of London ; and he was one of those who originated the Royal 

 Society ; and Newton came after him. He died at the age of sixty-five, full of 

 works and honour. 



The book should be read by all those who are interested in the history of 

 science. It makes no pretence to analyse Boyle's contributions to "philosophy" 

 with any completeness ; but it describes in a charming style the life and the times 

 of one of the first and also of one of the greatest of men of science. Boyle did not 

 possess the great genius either of Descartes or of Newton. His was a gentle, 

 studious, and eminently truthful and thoughtful character ; but he broke ground 

 which has ultimately yielded an immense crop of benefits to humanity in the lines 

 of physics and chemistry. Miss Flora Masson is to be warmly congratulated on 

 her book. The portrait of Boyle is an excellent reproduction from that in the 

 possession of the Royal Society. 



Memorabilia Mathematica ; or, The Philomath's Quotation Book. By Robert 

 Edouard Moritz, Ph.D., Ph.N.D., Professor of Mathematics, Wash- 

 ington. [Pp. vii + 410.] (New York : The Macmillan Co., 1914. Price 

 12s. 6d. net.) 



No books are more interesting than analecta ; and no analecta are more in- 

 teresting than scientific ones ; and no scientific ones more interesting than those 



