Viii PREFACE. 



service done by Robert Boyle, and continued by his son, 

 in the cause of sanitary science. They have accomplished 

 so much in popularizing the subject of healthy homes, and 

 in bringing it from the region of theory to simple practice, 

 that I have taken special pleasure in collecting facts to 

 illustrate their successful progress. In doing so I have 

 departed somewhat from the strict limits of a biographical 

 sketch, but the exceptional circumstances must be my 

 excuse. The late Mr. Robert Boyle left many great 

 t schemes but partly developed, and it remained for his son 

 to carry them out. He has virtually lived again in the 

 genius of his successor, and we can only measure the prac- 

 tical outcome of the late Mr. Robert Boyle's industrious 

 life by following the undertakings which he initiated, until 

 we reach the extraordinary developments of to-day. 



L. S. 



