59 



gross pursuits, unless endowed with the perilous 

 distinctions of alchemy and sorcery. Unfortunately 

 this charge upon the dignity of man was made 

 heavier rather than lighter by Petrarch, and by the 

 later humanists of the Renascence ; even in the 17th 

 century we find in Oxford that Boyle was bantered 

 by his friends as one "given up to base and 

 mechanical pursuits." As Boyle himself put it 

 in his delightful way " There are many Learned 



Men who are apt to repine when they see any 



Person capable of succeeding in the Study of solid 

 Philosophy, addicting himself to an Art (Chemistry) 

 they judge so much below a Philosopher, and so 

 unserviceable to him. Nay, there are some that 

 are troubled when they see a Man acquainted 

 with other Learning countenance by his example 



sooty Empiricks '' "whose Experiments may 



indeed be useful to Apothecaries, and perhaps to 

 Physicians, but are useless to a Philosopher that 

 aims at curing no Disease but that of Ignorance ." 



1 Boyle, Essays, 2nd Ed. 1669, p. 119. In his Edition of 

 1661 Boyle speaks of the discovery of Harvey "our English 

 Democritus" (published 1628) as commonly accepted. Where- 

 by, he says, other "very plausible and radicated opinions" 

 (the old schemes of the circulation)... "are generally grown 

 out of request." 



