[601] ‘From this I do compute or calculate my nativity.’ Ibid. vol. ii. p. 64.
[602] Religio Medici, sec. ix. in Browne's Works, vol. ii. pp. 13, 14: unfortunately too long to extract. This is the ‘credo quia impossibile est,’ originally one of Tertullian's absurdities, and once quoted in the House of Lords by the Duke of Argyle, as ‘the ancient religious maxim.’ Parl. Hist. vol. xi. p. 802. Compare the sarcastic remark on this maxim in the Essay concerning Human Understanding, book iv. chap. xviii. Locke's Works, vol. ii. p. 271. It was the spirit embodied in this sentence which supplied Celsus with some formidable arguments against the Fathers. Neander's Hist. of the Church, vol. i. pp. 227, 228.
[603] Inquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors, book iii. chap. xxviii. in Browne's Works, vol. ii. p. 534.
[604] Ibid. book i. chap. vii. vol. ii. p. 225.
[605] ‘A supinity, or neglect of inquiry.’ Ibid. book i. chap. v. vol. ii. p. 211.
[606] ‘A third cause of common errors is the credulity of men.’ Book i. chap. v. vol. ii. p. 208.
[607] See two amusing instances in vol. ii. pp. 267, 438.
[608] Vulgar and Common Errors, book vii. chap. xi., in Browne's Works, vol. iii. p. 326.
[609] Monk (Life of Bentley, vol. i. p. 37) says, that Boyle's discoveries ‘have placed his name in a rank second only to that of Newton;’ and this, I believe, is true, notwithstanding the immense superiority of Newton.
[610] Compare Powell on Radiant Heat (Brit. Assoc. vol. i. p. 287), with Lloyd's Report on Physical Optics, 1834, p. 338. For the remarks on colours, see Boyle's Works, vol. ii. pp. 1–40; and for the account of his experiments, pp. 41–80; and a slight notice in Brewster's Life of Newton, vol. i. pp. 155, 156, 236. It is, I think, not generally known, that Power is said to be indebted to Boyle for originating some of his experiments on colours. See a letter from Hooke, in Boyle's Works, vol. v. p. 533.