STEPHEN HALES 121 



So that what was said of Hales' chemical position 

 is again true of him considered in relation to 

 nutrition ; he did not live to see the great dis- 

 coveries made at the close of the i8th century. 



There is in his writing a limpid truthfulness and 

 simplicity, unconsciously decorated with pretty 

 1 8th century words and half-rusticities which give 

 it a perennial charm. And inasmuch as I desire to 

 represent Hales, not only as a man to be respected 

 but also to be loved, it will be as well to give what 

 is known of the personal side of his character before 

 going on to a detailed account of his work. 



He was, as we have seen, entered at Corpus 

 Christi College, Cambridge, in June 1696. In 

 February 1702 — 3 he was admitted a fellow of 

 the College. It was during his life as a fellow that 

 he began to work at chemistrj'- in what he calls 

 "the elaboratory in Trinity College." The room 

 is now occupied by the Senior Bursar, and forms 

 part of the beautiful range of buildings in the bowl- 

 ing green, which, freed from stucco and other 

 desecration, are made visible in their ancient guise 

 by the piety of a son of Trinity and the wisdom of 

 the College authorities. It was here, according 

 to Dr. Bentley, that "the thieving Bursars of the 

 old set embezzled the College timber,"* and it 

 was this room that was fitted up as "an elegant 

 laboratory" in 1706 for John Francis Vigani, an 

 Italian chemist, who had taught unofficially in the 



* Quoted by Caroe. in his paper read before the Cambridge 

 Archaeological Society on King's Hostel, etc., and "Printed for the 

 Master and Fellows of Trinity College," in 1909. 



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