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time lie contributed very liberal'-/ to the publication of Bur- 

 net's Hillory of the Reformation, as the author acknowledges 

 in his preface to the fccond volume. It was probably about 

 the beginning of the year 1681, that he exerted iiimftlf for 

 rromoting the propagation of the gofpel among the In- 

 dians ; as his letter 011 this fubjeft was a reply to one from 

 Mr. John Elliot, of New Er.gland, dated Nov. 4, 1680. 

 From this letter, which is preferved by Dr. Birch, it apjuars 

 that he was a declared enemy to periecution on account of 

 religious opinions. In this year (1681) he publilhcd his 

 " Difeourfe of things. above rcafon ;" and in the following 

 year, " New experiments and obfervations made upon the 

 icy noCtiluea," 8vo. ; and alfo a " Continuation of new 

 experiments phyfico-mechanicai, touching the fpring and 

 weight of the air, witli a large appendix." It appears that 

 hi.-i icy noflilnra was the folid pholphoius, which at firil he 

 found fome difliculty in making ; but from a paper left 

 with the fecretaiy of the Royal Society, to be opened after 

 his death, which was ntverthelefs communicated to his 

 friend Dr. Be:.le during his life, we find that he evaporated 

 urine bv dillillation till it acquired the confidence of fyruj), 

 then mixed it with filiceous land, and diitilled by a ilrnng 

 beat into a refcrvoir containing water. See Phosphorus. 

 In 16S3 he wrote a letter, fanftioning and enccjuraging 

 an undertaking of Mr. Fitzgerald for rendering fea-water 

 frefh ; and in the f(,llowing year, he publilhcd his " Natural 

 hillory of human blood," and his " Experiments and con- 

 fiderations about the porofity of bodies," both in 8vo. 

 From a letter addrcfied to Mr. Boyle in 1684 by the learned 

 Dr. Cudivorth, it appears how highly he appreciated his 

 talents and labours. After recommending a coUeftion of 

 his fevcral treatifes, he concludes in thefe terms : " You 

 have much outdone Sir Francis Bacon in your natural expe- 

 riments ; and you have not infinuated any thing, as he is 

 thought to have done, tending to irreligion, but the con- 

 trary." The year ibSi, produced his " Short memoirs for 

 the natural espeiimental hillory of mineral waters," and an 

 " EITay on the great cfFcfts of even languid and unheeded 

 motion ;" to which is annexed an " Experimental difeourfe 

 of fome hitherto little regarded canfes of the fahibrity and 

 infalubrity of the air," Svo. In the courfe of that year 

 appeared in the Philofophictil Tranfatlions, " An account 

 of a ilrangcly ftlt-moving liquor," which was a compound 

 of oils and bitumens, the ingredients of which, though 

 known to himfelf, he has not fpecified : and alfo a dillindl 

 treatife " On the reconcileablencfs of fpecific medicines to 

 the coipufcular ; hilolcphy, to which is annexed, a difeourfe 

 about the advantages of fimple medicines," Svo. Befides 

 thefe philofophical trafts, he prefented the world in this 

 year with a theological treatife, entitled, " Of the high 

 veneration man's intelledl owes to God, particularly for his 

 wifdom and power," Svo. The only work that appeared 

 in 16S6, was his " Free inquiry into the vulgar and re- 

 ceived notion of nature." This treatife was much admired 

 by the advocates for pure religion and found philofophy ; it 

 was tranflated into Latin, and reprinted in the following 

 year in i2mo. In this year, 1687, he publiflied a work, 

 written in his youth, entitled " The martyrdom of Theo- 

 dora andDvdimia," and five decades of " Choice remedief," 

 to which when the work was reprinted in 1692, five more 

 were added. In 16K8 appeared " A difquifition about the 

 final caufes of natural things ; wherein it is inquired whe- 

 ther, and if at ail, with what caution, a iiaturalift fliould admit 

 them ; to which was fubjoined, by way of appendix, " Some 

 uncommon obfervations about vitiated fight." About the 

 beginning of this year our author found it expedient to 

 apprize the public, by way of preface to his mutilated and 



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unflniflied writings, and as a general apology for the fiatein 

 which they appeared, that fome of his papers had been 

 ftolen from him, and that others had been dellroyed by cor- 

 rofive liquors. The decay of iiis health, and the derange- 

 ment ol his afTairs in Ireland, obligul him to diminifli the 

 number of his communications to the Royal Society, and 

 induced him to refign the oflice of governor of the corpo- 

 ration for propagating the gofpel in New England. From 

 other arrangements with regard to bis private affairs, hi» 

 papers, and the numberofvifits which he reciived, it appeared 

 that he was not without apprehenfions of an approaching 

 change. The time, however, which he thus referved to 

 himfelf, he induftrioufly improved ; as he availed himfelf of 

 it for coUefting various elaborate procefli;s in chemilliy ; 

 which, as we are informed in a letter preferved by Dr. Hircli, 

 " he left as a kind of hermetic legacy to the ilndious dif- 

 ciples of that art." This collecli(-n he committed to the 

 care of a friend, enjoining him to impart it to the public 

 fiiithfully, and without envy, verbatim in his own cxprtf- 

 lions. This friend is unknown, and the work was never 

 p'.iblifhed. From many circnmllances, however, we are led 

 to conclude, that Mr. Boyle concurred, with many other in- 

 genious alchymiiU of the age in v.-h^ch he lived, in believing-, 

 what is now rtjeiled as a groundlefs opinion, the poffibility 

 of tranfmuting the bafer metals into gold ; and hence, pro- 

 bably, he was led to take pains in procuring, in 1681;, the 

 repeal of the ftatute of the 5th of Henry IV. againll the 

 multiplying of gold and lilver. 



In 1690, he publifhed his " Medicina hydroftatica, or 

 hydrollatics applied to the materia mcdica," Svo. with the 

 promife of a kcond volume, which never appeared ; and 

 " The chrillian virtuofo, iheiving, that by being addided 

 to experimental philofophy, a man is rather afiilled, than 

 indifpoied to be a good chnllian ;" a fecond part of which 

 waspublilhed in an imperfefl ilate, after his death. In 1691, 

 he communicated to M. de la Croze, " An account of fome 

 oblcrv;,tioiis made in the great congregation of waters, bf 

 lowering down bottles into the fea 600 feet from the fur. 

 face," which was printed by that author in the " Hillory 

 of learning." Mr. Boyle's laft work, publifiicd by him- 

 felf, was his " Experimeuta et obfervationes phyficae ," to 

 which is added " A fmall colleftion of llrange reports," Svo. 



In July of this year, Mr. Boyle executed his lall will, 

 and in the fucceeding months his health rapidly declined. 

 On the 2jd of December, he loll his filler, lady Ranelagh, 

 to whom he was afiettionately attached, and within a week 

 afterwards, viz. on the 30th of Decem.ber, 1 691, he de- 

 parted this fife, in the 65th year of his age, and was in- 

 terred at the upper end of the fouth fide of the chancel of 

 St. Martin's in the fields, n.ar the remains of his filler, 

 with whom he had lived for the greatctl part of 47 years. 

 His funeral fermon was preached by Dr. Burnet, bilhop of 

 Salifbury. 



Mr. Boyle's pollhumous works areas follow: i. "The 

 general hillory of the air, defigned and begun," 1692, 410. ; 

 2. " Medicinal experiments, or a colle&ion of choice re- 

 medies, for the moll part fimple, and eafily prepared," 

 1692, i2mo ; 3. " General heads for the natural hillory of 

 a country, great or fmall, drawn out for the ufe of tra- 

 vellers and navigators," 1692, izmo.; 4. "A paper of 

 the honourable Robert Boyle's, depofited with the fccreta- 

 rics of the Royal Society, Oel. 14, 16S0, and opened fince 

 his death ; being an account of his making the pholpliorus, 

 &c. Sept. ,jO, 16S0;" 5. " An account of a way of ex- 

 amining waters, as to frcdmefs or faltnefs;" 6. " A free . 

 difeourfe againft cullomary fwearing, and a dilTuafive from 

 curfuigj" 1605, Svo. 7. "Medicinal experiments, or a 



Y i " coilec- 



