A.D. 1675.—Boyle (Robert), Irish natural philosopher and chemist, seventh son of Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, and one of the first members of what he calls the “Invisible” or “Philosophical” College, which has since become the Royal Society,[47] gives, in his “Philosophical Works,” the result of his many experiments upon magnetism and electricity.
John Evelyn in his letter to Mr. Wotton, March 30, 1695 (“Memoirs, Diary and Correspondence,” by Wm. Bray, London, p. 716), says of Boyle: “It must be confess’d that he had a marvailous sagacity in finding out many usefull and noble experiments. Never did stubborn matter come under his inquisition but he extorted a confession of all that lay in her most intimate recesses; and what he discover’d he as faithfully register’d, and frankly communicated....”
Prof. Tyndall remarks (“Lecture,” February 4, 1875): “The tendency to physical theory showed itself in Boyle. He imagined that the electrified body threw out a glutinous or unctuous effluvium, which laid hold of small bodies, and, in its return to the source from which it emanated, carried them along with it.”
A few of his many characteristic remarks and observations are, however, best given in his own words, as extracted from the “Philosophical Works” above alluded to:
“The invention of the mariner’s needle, which giveth the direction, is no less benefit for navigation than the invention of the sails, which give the motion” (London, 1738, Vol. I. p. 62).
“I, with a certain body (rough diamond), not bigger than a pea, but very vigorously attractive, moved a steel needle, freely poised, about three minutes after I had left off rubbing it” (Vol. I. p. 508). Speaking elsewhere of his experiments with diamonds, he says: “But when I came to apply it (the loadstone) to one more, which look’d somewhat duller than almost any of the rest, I found that it had in it particles enough of an iron nature to make it a magnetical body and observed without surprise that not only it would suffer itself to be taken up by the strongest pole of the loadstone, but when the pole was offer’d within a convenient distance it would readily leap through the air to fasten itself to it.”
“I removed a piece of amber in the sunbeams till they had made it moderately hot and then found it would attract those light bodies it would not stir before” (Vol. I. p. 400, and Vol. III. p. 52).
“Whether from such experiments one may argue that it is but, as it were, by accident that amber attracts another body, and not this the amber; and whether these ought to make us question, if electrics may, with so much propriety, as has been generally supposed, be said to attract, are doubts, that my design does not oblige me to examine” (Vol. IV. p. 350).
References.—John Evelyn’s “Diary,” Letter to Mr. Wotton, March 30, 1696; Libes’ “Histoire Phil. du Progrès de la Physique,” Paris, 1810; Boyle’s “Mechanical Origine or Production of Electricity,” 1675; Birch, “Life of Hon. R. Boyle,” 1743–1744; Secondat’s “Histoire d’Electricité” (Observations physiques), 1750, p. 141; Whewell, “Hist. of Ind. Sciences,” 1859, Vol. I. pp. 395, 396. Priestley’s “History of Electricity,” 1775, pp. 5–8; M. Reael, “Observ. a. d. Magnectsteen,” 1651, alluded to at note, p. 486, Vol. I. of Van Swinden’s 1784 “Recueil,” etc.; Van Swinden, Vol. II. pp. 353, 359–361; “Biblioth. Britan.” (Authors), Robt. Watt, Edinburgh, 1824, Vol. I. pp. 142–3; Aikin’s “G. Biography,” and Martin’s “Biog. Philosophica,” in “General Biog. Dict.,” by John Gorton, London, 1833, Vol. I; Phil. Trans., Vol. VIII for 1673, p. 6101 and Hutton’s abridg., Vol. II. p. 90; Boyle, London, 1673, “Essays of the ... Effluviums” (Subtility), pp. 38–42, 52–53; (Efficacy) pp. 18, 19, 32, 33; (Determinate Nature) pp. 21, 57; “An Essay ... of Gems,” London, 1672, pp. 108–129; Ch. W. Moulton, “Library of Literary Criticism,” Vol. II. pp. 416–420; “Critical Dict. of Engl. Lit.,” S. Austin Allibone, Philad., 1888, Vol. I. pp. 232–233; “Essays in Historical Chemistry,” T. E. Thorpe, London, 1894, pp. 1–27; Eighth “Britannica,” V. p. 259 for notes of Boerhaave, also the “Britannica” 1st Dissertation, p. 47, and 4th Dissertation p. 597; “History and Heroes of the Art of Medicine,” J. Rutherfurd Russell, London, 1861, pp. 233–246.
Consult also Boyle’s “New Exper. Physico-Mechanical,” etc., in which the 16th Exp. is “concerning the operation of the loadstone”; Boyle’s “A Continuation of New Exp.,” etc., in which the 31st Exp. is “about the attractive virtue of the loadstone in an exhausted receiver,” and in which are “Notes, etc., about the atmospheres of consistent bodies,” etc., as well as “Observations about the exciting of the electricity of bodies,” and concerning the electrical emanations and effluviums. Boyle’s “Tracts Containing Some Suspicions Concerning some Occult Qualities of the Air; with an Appendix Touching Celestial Magnets,” etc. His “Phil. Works,” London, 1744, Vol. III. pp. 65, 67 and 70, 647, etc., give “Experiments and Notes about the Mechanical Origin or Production of Electricity.”