Boyle The Sceptical Chymist

Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist (New York, Everyman ed., 1949), i5- Carneades speaking. 

Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist (1661), facsimile edition (London Dawsons of Pall Mall, 1965), 37-46. 

See Cavendish, Observations, appendix, 59-60, where she argues in quite Boylean fashion against the Helmontian view that water is the fundamental principle since water can turn into air, why should air not be the ur-principle rather than water Cf. Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist, in Works, pt. 6, vol. 2, 344-372, for this argument and many others that are similar to those of Cavendish. 

The Gold and Silver of this fable represent false alchemists they suffer equally from ignorance and hubris. In contrast, the Philosopher s Stone is the True Adept—a natural philosopher pursuing truth and seeking the wisdom of God. He is the proto-scientist whose experimentation and reasoning will one day lead to a true chemical science. Or, does he somehow presage the birth of Robert Boyle, the Sceptical Chymist of our next essay ... 

Partington, A Short History of Chemistry (n. 2), 48-9. For tree-growing experiment, see 51-2. Boyle attempted a parallel experiment, successfully growing a Squash or Pompion (marrow or cucumber) in similarly des-sicated soil using only water Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist or Chymico-Physical Doubts and Paradoxes, London, 1661, 107-9. 

R. Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist or Chymico-Physical Doubts Paradoxes, touching the Spagylist s Principles commonly call d Hypostatical, as they are wont to be Propos d and Defended by the Generality ofAlchymists, London, 1661. Reprinted in the Everyman Series. See also T. Birch, Life of Boyle, Works, 1744 and L. M. Principe, The Aspiring Adept Robert Boyle and His Alchemical Quest, Princeton University Press, Boston, 2000. 

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