302 STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE, ETC. 



Hermetic thoughts," and occupied his mind with 

 anatomy and confirming Harvey's discovery of the 

 circulation of the blood. A year later, he settled 

 at Oxford, where he arranged a laboratory and 

 had as assistant Robert Hooke. Meetings were 

 held alternately, at Boyle's lodgings and at John 

 Wilkins's lodge at Wadham, and were frequented 

 by Seth Ward and Christopher Wren and by 

 many others. 



Stimulated by Otto von Guericke's contrivance 

 for exhausting air from a vessel, Boyle, aided by 

 Hooke, invented what was called the " Machina 

 Boyliana," which comprised the essentials of 

 the air-pump of to-day. At this time, Boyle 

 busied himself with the weight, with the pressure 

 and with the elasticity of air the part it played 

 in respiration and in acoustics. Like Newton, he 

 took a deep interest in theology, and not only 

 spent considerable sums in translating the Bible 

 into foreign tongues, but learnt Greek, Hebrew, 

 Syriac and Chaldee so that he might read it at 

 first hand. He was, indeed, a very notable char- 

 acter. Suffering under continued ill-health, with 

 weak eyes, a slight stammer, and a memory 

 treacherous to the last degree, he was yet one 

 of the most helpful of friends and universally 



