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A New Way to Read Boyle's Works

Rose-Mary Sargent

To cite this article: Rose-Mary Sargent (2002) A New Way to Read Boyle's Works, Annals of
Science, 59:3, 321-326, DOI: 10.1080/00033790110075734

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Annals of Science, 59 (2002), 321–326

Essay Review

A New Way to Read Boyle’s Works

Michael Hunter and Edward B. Davis, editors, The Works of Robert Boyle.
Volumes 1–14. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2000. 6500 pp. £1190/US$1950.
ISBN 1-85196-109-7 .

Reviewed by
Rose-Mary Sargent, Department of Philosophy, S7, Merrimack College, North
Andover, Massachusetts 01845, USA. Email: rsargent@merrimack.ed u

This new edition of The Works of Robert Boyle represents a truly impressive
achievement in the massive undertaking spearheaded by Michael Hunter known as
the ‘Robert Boyle Project’ that will also involve the eventual publication of six
volumes of Boyle’s correspondence and an electronic edition of his work diaries.1
Physically this edition, with its modern typeface and smaller pages, is a signiŽ cant
improvement over the standard eighteenth-century edition by Thomas Birch.2 Aside
from this slight modernization, however, the editors have wisely chosen to return to
the spelling and grammar of the seventeenth-centur y originals. It will not be possible
to discuss the contents of the fourteen volumes in depth here. Instead, after a general
overview, the primary focus of this review will be on what is new in this edition and
what features may prove diYcult for readers familiar with the Birch edition. All
readers, however, will be rewarded for any eVorts they expend in learning how to
read Boyle’s works in this new and exciting way.
Volume 1 has a general introduction by Michael Hunter as well as a note on the
text and a statement on editorial policies. Volumes 1–12 contain Boyle’s published
works arranged in chronological order. Each individual volume contains a list of
abbreviations used for footnote references in the text, a helpful glossary of unfamiliar
terms used by Boyle, and a brief introductory note covering the composition and
publishing history of the works included in that volume. Some previously unpub-
lished manuscript material is included as appendices to these introductory notes.
Most of the rest of the signiŽ cant manuscript material from the Boyle archive is
published in volumes 13 and 14, with an account of this material in the general
introduction to volume 13. Volume 14 concludes with a series of helpful technical
devices. The many diVerent lists of Boyle’s published and unpublished writings from
1650 to 1744 are included here as well as a list of manuscript texts that have been
published elsewhere since 1744 that are not included in this edition. There is also a

1For more information about the project, see http://www.bbk.ac.uk/Boyle.

2Robert Boyle, The Works of the Honourabl e Robert Boyle, ed. by Thomas Birch, 6 vols (London,
1772). This is the most often cited edition because it has been accessible during the second half of the
twentieth century through a facsimile edition (Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1965 ) with an introduction by
Douglas McKie. The 1772 edition has recently been reissued (Thoemmes Press, 2000 ) with a new
introduction by Peter Alexander.

Annals of Science ISSN 0003-3790 print/ISSN 1464-505X online © 2002 Taylor & Francis Ltd
http://www.tandf.co.uk /journals
DOI: 10.1080/00033790110075734
322 Essay Review

concordance of the works in this edition with those in Birch’s, an index of the many
Biblical references made by Boyle, and a general index.
The copy texts for the works are normally the Ž rst editions, which Hunter and
Davis argue tend to be more authoritative than the later editions published by Birch.
Variations between these copy texts, later English and Latin editions, and manuscript
material are indicated in footnotes. The editors have provided helpful annotations
concerning Boyle’s references to the works of others, as well as translations of
passages in languages other than English (mainly Latin and Greek). The editors’
decision to arrange the works in chronological order is also a departure from the
Birch edition and is a particularly helpful policy for some material, especially the
works originally published as essays in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society, included here in volumes 5–7. However, the editors’ contention that such
an ordering can best illustrate the evolution of Boyle’s thought (vol. 1, p. xci) needs
some qualiŽ cation. The chronological order does make it easier to follow the publica-
tion history of Boyle’s works and corrects some misunderstanding s created by Birch’s
failure to provide the title pages or to indicate the dates of additions to second
editions of Boyle’s works. As Hunter mentions in his general introduction, however,
it is not always the case that Boyle published his works immediately after their
composition. Indeed, in many instances he held works back for ten years or more
(vol. 1, p. xliii).
Although this edition is massive, it is not entirely self-contained. It does not
include all of the material originally published by Birch or manuscript material that
has been published elsewhere since 1744. The concordance in volume 14 only covers
material from Birch that is included in Hunter and Davis. If the selections are not
in Hunter and Davis, then there is no reference to their place in Birch. Such is the
case with the unfortunate omission in this edition of Boyle’s juvenile autobiograph -
ical essay ‘An Account of Philaretus in his Minority’. There is an index entry for
the essay that refers the reader to a footnote in volume 1 that indicates one could
Ž nd the essay in ‘RBHF, pp. 1–22’. Then, from the list of abbreviations at the front
of the volume, one can learn that this refers to Robert Boyle by Himself and his
Friends, edited by Michael Hunter (London: Pickering & Chatto, 1994). Obviously,
this tactic would only be available to those who know of the existence of the essay.
Someone new to Boyle scholarship would have to read the general introduction in
order to gather this information. For other reasons as well, it is essential to read
the general introduction and editorial policies in volume 1 before attempting to
make extensive use of this edition.
Hunter’s general introduction (vol. 1, pp. xxi–lxxxviii) begins with an account
of Boyle’s overall intellectual development in the Ž rst two of Ž ve sections, but he
appears to take familiarity with Boyle’s natural philosophy for granted. A brief
synopsis of Boyle’s experimental and speculative contributions to natural philosophy
would have been welcome here, particularly since I would assume his work in that
area is what made this undertaking feasible. Instead, Hunter’s discussion of Boyle
as author provides a complement to other studies. Hunter mentions in section 1,
for example, that Boyle is known for his experiments and his epistemology (p. xxi),
but he then quickly moves on to other topics concerning his religious beliefs, early
moral writings, and his evolution as a writer as he became more interested in natural
philosophy. In section 2, covering the post-1660 era, Hunter brie y mentions Boyle’s
general defence of the experimental philosophy and his use of it to promote the
mechanical philosophy (p. xxxiii). This is followed by a lengthy and interesting
 Essay Review 323

account of the composition of Boyle’s works as they correlate with his moves to
Oxford and London, as well as an account of his many amanuenses. In these sections
there is a somewhat disproportionat e amount of attention given to Boyle’s religious
beliefs. Hunter draws heavily on his previously published work on Boyle’s ‘scrupulos-
ity’ and ‘religiosity’, without a parallel discussion of the epistemological and method-
ological themes from Boyle’s works in natural philosophy.
Although the editors provide a few more details in the introductory notes to
individual works, the focus there continues to be on Boyle as author. In the Ž rst
section of the note concerning the composition of New Experiments Physico-
Mechanical Touching the Spring of the Air and its EVects, for example, there is simply
a passing reference to Boyle’s interest in ‘the issue of the vacuum’ (vol. 1, p. cxxix).
Not only is the general content of the work ignored, but the impression is given
that the work is about the existence of a vacuum rather than about showing the
experimental eVects produced by variations in air pressure. In the Ž nal section on
the impact of and sequels to the work, there is some discussion of how it made
Boyle’s reputation as a leading natural philosopher and how it elicited numerous
responses, but these remarks are left largely unexplained. This section does provide
interesting information on where to Ž nd reviews of Boyle’s works by his contempor-
aries as well as a few citations for twentieth-century sources. Given the chronological
ordering of the Works, the sequels section is crucial for ensuring that readers know
all of the works by Boyle relating to a particular theme. Unfortunately, this is not
always successfully completed. In the introductory note for New Experiments
Physico-Mechanical, the location for the ‘Defence against Linus’ and the ‘Examen
of Hobbes’ included in the second edition of that work is given, as well as references
for the First Continuation and the various individual tracts Boyle published on the
topic (vol. 1, p. cxxxiii). No reference is given for the Second Continuation, however,
although its existence is alluded to in a separate discussion (vol. 1, p. cxxxi).
Some other editorial decisions create unnecessary problems. The individual essays
in Boyle’s Certain Physiological Essays, for example, are not listed in the main table
of contents in volume 1. In volume 2, where the collection of essays is published,
some of the essay titles are listed in the contents, such as the ‘Two Essays Concerning
the Unsuccessfulness of Experiments’, ‘Some Specimens’, and ‘History of Fluidity
and Firmness’. It is only in the introductory note to this work (vol. 2, p. xi) that
one will Ž nd some discussion of Boyle’s ‘Proemial Essay’, his major statement on
how to write an experimental essay, and the seminal ‘Physico-Chymical Essay’ on
the ‘Redintregation of Salt-Petre’. The essay titles are not listed in the index and
there are no separate running heads in the text for the individual essays. For someone
new to the Works, Ž nding the location of these essays could be quite diYcult.
The decision to employ new short titles exclusively for Boyle’s works is also
troublesome. Cross-referencing works in the new edition with citations from second-
ary literature will be diYcult unless one knows the full title of Boyle’s individual
works. His Free Inquiry into the vulgarly received Notion of Nature, for example, is
listed as Notion of Nature in the concordance, the short titles list, and the index,
while in the synopsis it is listed as Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature. Those
unfamiliar with the work, or those new to Boyle studies, may Ž nd it hard to track
down references to the work which has been frequently cited as Free Inquiry. Other
works with new short titles include New Experiments Physico-Mechanical that is
now Spring of Air and the Origin of Forms and Qualities that is now Forms and
Qualities. In addition, most of Boyle’s histories are now referred to by the single
324 Essay Review

term of their subject matter, such as Cold and Colours, although for some, such as
the General History of Air, the full title has been retained ( presumably because there
are other works on the air).
The above problems could have been alleviated somewhat if the editors had
chosen to provide references in the index to individual essays and cross-references
to other common titles of Boyle’s works. The index itself is, of course, much more
complete and useful than that found in the Birch edition. In addition to the lack of
suYcient cross-referencing, however, the index tends to be somewhat idiosyncratic
in places. One troubling aspect is the frequent use of prepositions and adjectives for
alphabetizing. Under ‘Boyle, Robert’, for example, one would Ž nd the entry for
references to his health not under ‘h’ but under ‘g’ for ‘general ill health’. Similarly,
his views on authorities, composition, and plagiarism, will be found alphabetized
under ‘Boyle, Robert’ at ‘o’ for ‘on citing authorities’, ‘on composition’, ‘on plagiar-
ism’, and ‘on quoting other writers’. Basically, it is necessary to read the index in
order to learn how it can be used most eYciently.
The many advantages of this edition compensate for such minor problems.
Although Hunter’s introduction lacks a full discussion of Boyle’s natural philosophy,
for example, the wealth of new information that he provides in the last three sections,
gleaned from his years of study on the Boyle archive, represents a signiŽ cant
contribution to Boyle scholarship. Here one can learn not only about the various
amanuenses, publishers, and translators that Boyle employed, but also about the
strategies that he used for the Latin editions of his works. Hunter discusses corres-
pondence that highlights the problems associated with Ž nding Latin words for the
new technical terms Boyle had coined in English and how the translations were
crucial because they shaped ‘how Boyle was presented to his continental readers’
(vol. 1, p. lxiii). The introduction concludes with a discussion of Boyle’s somewhat
novel concerns about authors’ rights, particularly in association with unauthorized
collections and translations of his works. Despite the fact that it was extremely
diYcult to collect a complete set of Boyle’s individual works during his lifetime, he
resisted suggestions for a published collection and was particularly critical of a 1677
collection of his works published by de Tournes in Geneva. Boyle took exception
to the thematic arrangement of the collection in large part because the dates for the
original publication of the works included there were not provided.
The editors’ annotations and notes on Boyle’s texts also represent a signiŽ cant
contribution. Numerous references are given for the famous ( Descartes, Mersenne,
Pascal, Kircher, Sennert) and the not so famous (Collins, Piso, Battel, Monardes,
Palissy, Clayton) together with the particular works by these authors to which Boyle
probably refers. This will greatly assist new readers of Boyle and will probably spark
future research on his use of and relations with these other naturalists, investigators,
and scholars. Likewise, the editors’ introductory notes include valuable information
especially about the composition and reception of Boyle’s works that is crucial for
a full understanding of his contributions to natural philosophy. In the notes to
Experimenta et Observatione s Physicae they provide evidence for dating the various
material collected for this hastily put together compilation and for how Boyle set
about its composition. The notes to his History of Cold indicate that this was the
Ž rst of Boyle’s books to be discussed in the Philosophical Transactions. In addition
to its generally favourable reception, the editors refer as well to its severe criticism
by Margaret Cavendish. In the impact statement about the History of Colours, they
refer to the well-known reactions to the work by Newton and Pepys and to the
 Essay Review 325

lesser-known letters from Nathaniel Highmore and Benjamin Worsely expressing

their pleasure with the book.
The numerous footnote references for variants in later Latin or English editions
are often informative as well and shed light on Boyle’s continuing engagement with
these experimental works. In the Latin edition of the History of Colours, Boyle
included new theoretical discussions and experimental reports, particularly in the
second part on ‘Experiments in Consort touching Whiteness and Blackness’ and the
third on ‘The Experimental History of Colours Begun’, that he never made to either
English edition. In experiment XXIX of the third part, for example, Boyle added a
lengthy discussion of new experiments to his original description of the colour
changes produced by acids and alkalis because he thought that this type of experi-
ment could ‘be of use to physicians and chemists’ (vol. 4, pp. 133–37). In the same
amendment, he returned as well to his original contention that such colour changes
could be used as support for the corpuscular philosophy noting that the ‘diVerent
colours in  owers…can in fact arise from an important diVerence in their textures’
(vol. 4, p. 136). It is extremely helpful to have these collations with materials previ-
ously unavailable to readers of the Birch edition. With them one can see the
continuity and development of Boyle’s general experimental programme.
As mentioned above, volumes 13 and 14 contain substantial previously unpub-
lished material by Boyle. Volume 13 begins with Boyle’s early moral and literary
eVorts and includes a comprehensive selection from the Boyle Papers housed at the
Royal Society of London, with the exception of his Aretology that has been published
elsewhere.3 Although the titles of these short pieces are not listed in the contents,
there is a brief description of each in the introductory notes to the sections and the
essays themselves are easy enough to scan. Some of the more interesting, and some
that have been the subject of controversial interpretations, such as ‘The Gentleman’,
‘A mere Fine Gentleman’ and ‘Scaping into his Study’, can now be read by a more
general audience. Of most signiŽ cance in volume 13 is the publication of Boyle’s
original version of the Martyrdom of Theodora, dating from 1649/50, taken from a
manuscript copy of John Mallet’s that was recently discovered at St. John’s College,
Oxford. The version that was published by Boyle in 1687, when he thought that his
original had been lost, is included in volume 11. The publication of both versions
allows for an interesting comparison between the two works that is instructive
concerning the evolution of Boyle’s writing style. The original version of this moral
narrative was clearly meant to be a literary eVort, whereas the later version seems
to place more emphasis on content rather than form. Once again, the editors have
given helpful comments on the context of these works in the introductory notes for
both of these versions. In their notes in volume 11, for example, they trace the
details of the complex compositional history of the work from 1650 to its publication
in 1687. They note as well that Samuel Johnson regarded it highly and that in 1750
both Handel and Morell used the story as inspiration for musical compositions.
Many of Boyle’s early scientiŽ c writings, also included in volume 13, can be used
to trace the development of his ideas and style as well. In ‘The Study of the Book
of Nature’ Boyle argues that man has a religious duty to study nature, a theme that
he would often repeat in his later works. Likewise, his short ‘Of Atomicall
Philosophy’ contains a number of arguments that he would employ in his ‘Excellency

3Robert Boyle, The Early Essays and Ethics of Robert Boyle, ed. by John Harwood (Carbondale, IL:
Southern Illinois University Press, 1991 ).
326 Essay Review

and Grounds of the Mechanical or Corpuscular Hypothesis’ (1674). Among material

dating from the late 1650s is a version of Boyle’s ‘Requisites of a Good Hypothesis’.
This, however, is not the much discussed version published by Westfall in Annals of
Science, to which the editors refer vaguely as among the ‘later mnemonic summaries
of this work’ that have been published elsewhere.4 After the chronological ordering
of the texts in the early sections of volume 13, the remainder of the manuscript
material is grouped thematically. Volume 13 ends with two sections on material
relating to the Usefulness essays and material on petrifaction and mineralogy. Volume
14 begins with material related to the Mechanical Origin of Qualities, followed by
miscellaneous scientiŽ c papers, material relating to A Free Inquiry into the vulgarly
received Notion of Nature, a planned appendix for A Disquisition about the Final
Causes of Natural Things, miscellaneous theological papers and medical papers.
With all of this new material, the planned publication of Boyle’s letters and work
diaries, and the previously published manuscript material listed in volume 14, there
is very little, and that merely fragmentary, left unpublished from the Boyle archive.
Reading Boyle’s works in this new format has been a rewarding experience. The
Hunter and Davis edition will surely supplant the Birch, but a long transition period
is likely. The Birch edition will retain its historical signiŽ cance, of course, but it will
also need to continue to be consulted because the massive amount of Boyle scholar-
ship produced over the last twenty years has relied on it. In eVect, Boyle scholars
will need to have easy access to both editions. It is becoming an expensive undertak-
ing to pursue the historical study of science. University and college libraries may
balk at the price tag for the Hunter and Davis edition. The price is small, however,
when the new material is taken into consideration. The editors have returned Boyle’s
texts to their original presentation, have corrected centuries of errors surrounding
his works, and have provided a wealth of information that will save many the
enormous eVort that previously had to be expended on understanding his intellectual
context and tracking down his references. The Hunter and Davis edition must now
be considered the deŽ nitive one.

4Richard S. Westfall, ‘Unpublished Boyle papers relating to scientiŽ c method’, Annals of Science, 12
(1956), 63–73, 103–17.