Details
BOYLE, Robert (1627-1691). Certain physiological Essays, written at distant Times, and on several Occasions. London: for Henry Herringman, 1661.
4o (187 x 148 mm). Contemporary English blind-ruled sheep (front joint starting near head, rear cover skinned at several areas, edges rubbed).
FIRST EDITION, containing the first clear outline of Boyle's corpuscular theory of matter. "A disciple of the empiricism and rationalism of Bacon and Descartes, Boyle devoted his life to establishing an empirically based, mechanistic theory of matter, and to devising a scienfific, rational theoretical chemistry based upon this theory" (Norman). Certain Physiological Essays announced Boyle's firm support for the particulate theories of matter, which at the time was slowly displacing the Aristotelian view of the joint role of matter and form. It contains Boyle's first published accounts of chemical experiments. "The title represents a late use of the word Physiological in its original Greek sense of signifying all natural knowledge. It contains discourses on Physics, Chemistry, Meteorology and kindred natural knowledge" (Duveen). Duveen, p. 92; Fulton Boyle 25; Garrison-Morton 665.1; Heirs of Hippocrates 564; NLM/Krivatsy 1666; Waller 10754; Wing B-3929; Norman 298.
4o (187 x 148 mm). Contemporary English blind-ruled sheep (front joint starting near head, rear cover skinned at several areas, edges rubbed).
FIRST EDITION, containing the first clear outline of Boyle's corpuscular theory of matter. "A disciple of the empiricism and rationalism of Bacon and Descartes, Boyle devoted his life to establishing an empirically based, mechanistic theory of matter, and to devising a scienfific, rational theoretical chemistry based upon this theory" (Norman). Certain Physiological Essays announced Boyle's firm support for the particulate theories of matter, which at the time was slowly displacing the Aristotelian view of the joint role of matter and form. It contains Boyle's first published accounts of chemical experiments. "The title represents a late use of the word Physiological in its original Greek sense of signifying all natural knowledge. It contains discourses on Physics, Chemistry, Meteorology and kindred natural knowledge" (Duveen). Duveen, p. 92; Fulton Boyle 25; Garrison-Morton 665.1; Heirs of Hippocrates 564; NLM/Krivatsy 1666; Waller 10754; Wing B-3929; Norman 298.