B O E 



B O E 



namff, tranfcripts of his leftures, fo iiicorredlly taken as to 

 materially injure his fame, to vindicate himfelf from the 

 dlfgrace this might bring upon him, he found himfelf under 

 the neceffity of preparing his leiSurcU for the prefs ; and, in 

 1 7,; 2, he publifhcd them under the title of " Elementa 

 Chemix, qax anniverfario labore docuit, in publicis privatif- 

 qae fcholis, Hermannus Boerhaave," 2 volj-.i-to. The work is 

 dedicated by a moil affectionate addrefs to his brother James 

 Boerhaave. The firft volume contains the hiftory and the 

 theory of the art, and is furnifhed with numerous engravings 

 and defcriptions of furnaces, and other inftruments of che- 

 miftry. The fecond contains the procefles, or operationes 

 chemicce. In the firll volume he gives a catalogue of all 

 the works he had publidied, preceding it, with much mo- 

 defty, with this declaration; " Sciafque, me nihil edidifle 

 unquam, prastcr fequentia, quse non abfque verecundia re- 

 cenfenda puto." At the back of the title-page he fays, 

 " Ut certus fit leftor, hunc librun: a me editum prodire, 

 propria manu adfcribendum putavi ; nee pro meo agnofco, 

 ubi h^c adfcriptio aleft, IBo>.rhaave ;" uniting, as his 

 cuftom was, the H and the B. 



The charafter of Boerhaave, as a chemift, is thus given 

 by Macquer, in his Preliminaiy difcourle to his Didlionary 

 of Chemiftry. " Next to Stahl we place the immortal 

 Boerhaave, though he excelled in a different way. This 

 powerful genius, the honour of his co\;ntry, of his profcf- 

 fion, and of his age, threw light upon every fabjeft which 

 Retreated. To the view which he took of chemiftry, we 

 owe the fineft and moft methodical analyfis of the vegetable 

 kingdom ; his admirable treatifes on air, on water, and on 

 earth, and particularly on fire, which is an aflonifliing maf- 

 ter-piece, is fo complete, that the human underftanding can 

 fcarcely make an addition to it." To his moral charafter 

 his difciple Haller bears the following honourable teftimony : 

 " Some, though few, will rival him in erudition ; his divine 

 temper, kind to all, beneficent to foes and advtrfaries, de- 

 tradling from no man's merits, and binding by favours his 

 daily opponents, may, perhaps, never be paralleled." In 

 his converfation he was eafy and familiar, and in his de- 

 meanour grave and fober, but at the fame time difpofed to 

 pleafantry, and occafionally indulging in good-humoured 

 raillery ; fo that he was compared to the admirable Socrates, 

 whofe bull he is alio laid to have refembled in features. By 

 his pupils, whom he regarded with the kindnefs of a parent, 

 he was beloved and refpefted in a very high degree. Piety 

 formed a diftinguifhing feature of his charafter ; and devo- 

 tion was his daily exercife. 



As Boerhaave was of an athletic make, had accuftomed 

 himfelf to exercife on horfeback, to fpend much of his time 

 in the open air, and to ufe a frugal and plain diet, he had 

 been enabled thus far to endure the extreme fatigue of his 

 profeflional labours, with only fome occafional interruptions 

 from illnefs ; but being grown corpulent, and incapable of 

 riding, his conltitution began to be on the decline, fo that, 

 in 1729, he found it neceffary to refign his offices of pro- 

 feiFor in chemiftry and botany. The fpeech he made on 

 this occafion, was publifhed under the title of " Oratio cum 

 cathedrx chemias et botanices valediceret," ^to. In this he 

 recounts fome of the moft memorable occurrences of his life, 

 and fpeaks with gratitude of the patronage and favours he 

 had received from individuals, in enabling him to chufe his 

 walk in life, as well as from the members of his own pro- 

 feffion, who had admitted his improvements in the theory 

 and praftice of the arts he taught, with more kindnefs and 

 lefs oppofition than is ufually given to ir.novators of any 

 kind. This doubtlels arofe in part from the great learning 

 and abilities he was known to poficfs, and from the high re- 

 putation he had thence acquired, demanding refpeft ; and 



partly from his difpofition, averfe from contention, and think- 

 ing but modcftlv of his endowments. From whatever caufe 

 ■ it might arife, tliere was never perhaps fo great a revolution 

 in any fcience brought about with fo little oppofition as was 

 made to that p-oduced by Boerhaave. He had before, viz. 

 in 172S, been admitted foreign affociate of the Royal Aca- 

 demy of Scienees in Paris; and in 1730, he was eledled a 

 fellow of the Royal Society in London. The fame year he 

 was again made i-eclor of the univerfity at Leyden. On 

 quitting that office, he 4:ead his " Oratio de honorc medici 

 fervitute," which was alfo pubhilicd in 410. In this he agaitt 

 infills on the neceffity of attending to the method nature 

 takes in curing difcafes, or the manner in which they teimi- 

 nate fpontaneonfiy, .;s praftifed by Hippocrates. Though 

 this feceffion from public employm.ent procured him fome 

 refpite from his labours, he ilill continued revifing and cor- 

 redling his original works. He alfo fpent much of his time 

 in revifing the works of other writers, and publifhed more 

 correft editions than were before extant ; as the " Opera 

 Anatomica et Chirurgica And. Vcfalii," fol. ; Albinus con- 

 tributed to this work ; of Bellinus, " De urinis et pulfibus," 

 4to. 1730; of Profper Alpinus, " De prxfagienda vita et 

 morte," 4to. 17.33 ; Aretasus, " De caufis, fignifque mor- 

 borum," fol. 17.31 ; Luifinus, " De lue venerea," fol. 

 172S, and fome other works. Still, however, he enjoyed 

 eafe and relaxation from the more fatiguing part of his bufi- 

 nefs, and he paflTed the principal part of his time, during the 

 remainder 'of his life, at his manfion, a fmall diftance from 

 Lcydcn, in domeftic recreations, with his wife and daugh- 

 ter, to whom he was much attached. Here he had a gar- 

 den well-ftocked with every thing that could contribute to 

 his pleafure, and here he amufed himfelf with his violin, in 

 which he was a proficient. Towards the end of the year 

 1/37, he became fenfibly affefted with difficulty of breath- 

 ing, and a fenfe of fuffocation, which incommoded him, 

 whether walking or lying down. This went on increafing ; 

 and a fmall time before his death, he perceived a ftrong pul- 

 fation on the right fide of his neck, which he attributed to 

 a polypous concretion in the aorta. No remedy being com- 

 petent to combat this dreadful difeafe, he expired calmly, in 

 the midft of his family, on the 23d of September 1 73S. He 

 was buried in the church of St. Peter's at Leyden, where 

 his fellow-Citizens ercfled an elegant monument to his 

 memory. The pedeftal is of black marble, fuppoiting 

 an urn, decorated with emblematic figures, reprefenting the 

 four 3ges of man's life, and the fciences in which he excelled. 

 On one face of the pedeftal is a medallion with the head of 

 Boerhaave, furrounded with fuitable decorations, his feal 

 hanging under it, on which is engraved his favourite motto, 

 " Simplex figillnm vein," Cmplicity the feal of truth ; and 

 underneath, " Salutifero Boerhavii gcnio facrum," facred to 

 the health-reftoring genius of Boerhaave. 



In the courfe of this flcetch of the life •f Boerhaave, his 

 principal works have been noticed ; for a more complete ca- 

 talogue of them, fee Haller's Bib. Med. Pradl. Anatom. et 

 Botan. and Eloy's Dift. Hift. 



Boerhaave, Abraham Kaav, profeffor of medicine in 

 the univerfity of Petcrfburgh, was born at the Hague in 

 1715. He was the fon of James Kaan, and of Margaret the 

 daughter of Herman Boerhaave. After receiving a good 

 claffical education, he went to Leyden, where applying to 

 the ftudy of medicine, under the celebrated Albinus Gaubius, 

 and other mafters, he was admitted to the degree of doftor 

 in 173S. He had be"fore obtained an honorary medal from 

 the univerfity, for his dilcourfe, " De gaudiis Alche- 

 miftarum ;" thouvih he was more particularly attached to 

 anatomy, which he cultivated with great fucccfs. The year 

 following he took the name of his uncle Boerhaave. In 

 4T 2 1740 



