BOYLE, Robert. A Disquisition about the Final Causes of Natural Things, London: H.C. for John Taylor, 1688, 8°, FIRST EDITION, later issue with author's name on title (title tatterd at margins and with ink stamp on verso, accession stamp at head of A2, inner margins wormed, severe dampstains, S4 with corner torn away at lower margin), contemporary calf. [Fulton 186a; Wing 3946] Provenance: Noel Lawson (contemporary ownership inscription on title)

Details

BOYLE, Robert. A Disquisition about the Final Causes of Natural Things, London: H.C. for John Taylor, 1688, 8°, FIRST EDITION, later issue with author's name on title (title tatterd at margins and with ink stamp on verso, accession stamp at head of A2, inner margins wormed, severe dampstains, S4 with corner torn away at lower margin), contemporary calf. [Fulton 186a; Wing 3946] Provenance: Noel Lawson (contemporary ownership inscription on title)

Lot Essay

While Boyle was himself a great early exponent of the experimental method, this treatise, written in his maturity, is described by Fulton as "a plea for the teleological interpretation of natural phenomena. He interprets, for example, the perpendicular pupil of the cat's eye as the result of having constantly to climb up and down walls and other steep places (p. 64), while the transverse slit of the pupil's of horses and oxen is adapted to their accustomed lateral gaze. The volume is replete with allusions indicating his powers of observation as a naturalist, and there are many references to physiology; perhaps the most interesting is the record of a conversation with William Harvey on how he discovered the circulation of the blood."

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