g«c*. in] DISSERTATION SECOND. 117 



thought of employing a sphere of glass, when the experi- 

 ment succeeded, and a vacuum was obtained. This was 

 about the year 1654. 



The elasticity of the air, as well as its weight, now be- 

 came known ; its necessity to combustion, and the absorp- 

 tion of a certain proportion of it, during that process ; its 

 necessity for conveying sound ; — all these things were 

 clearly demonstrated. The necessity of air to the respi- 

 ration of animals required no proof from experiment, but 

 the sudden extinction of life, by immersion in a vacuum, 

 was a new illustration of the fact. 



The first considerable improvements made on the air- 

 pump are due to Mr. Boyle. He substituted for the glass 

 globe of Otto Guericke a receiver of a more commodious 

 form, and constructed his pump so as to be worked with 

 much more facility. His experiments were farther extend- 

 ed — they placed the weight and elasticity of the air in a 

 variety of new lights, — they made known the power of air 

 to dissolve water, &c. Boyle had great skill in contriving, 

 and great dexterity in performing experiments. He had, 

 indeed, very early applied himself to the prosecution of ex- 

 perimental science, and was one of the members of the 

 small but distinguished body, who, during the civil wars, 

 held private meetings for cultivating natural knowledge, on 

 the plan of Bacon. They met first in London, as early as 

 1645, afterwards at Oxford, taking the name of the Philoso- 

 phick College. Of them, when Charles the Second as- 

 cended the throne, was formed the Royal Society of Lon- 

 don, incorporated by letters patent in 1662. No one was 

 more useful than Boyle in communicating activity and vi- 

 gour to the new institution. A real lover of knowledge, he 

 was most zealous in the pursuit of it ; and having thorough- 

 ly imbibed the spirit of Bacon, was an avowed enemy to the 

 philosophy of Aristotle. 



If, 



/ 



