Keill, James

For biographical details on James Keill see also Valadez, F.M., O Malley, C.D. (1971). James Keill of Northampton, Physician, Anatomist, and Physiologist. MedicalHistorj,pj, 317-335. 

According to Guerrini, James Keill was the first to develop a physiology based upon the Newtonian forces of attraction. In his Essays upon Several Parts of the Animal O economy (1717) Keill wrote on animal secretion ... 

Guerrini, A. (1985). James Keill, George Cheyne and Newtonian Physiology, i6 o-i-/40. Journal of the History of Biology, 18, 147-166. 

Nicholas Lemery, A Course of Chymistry,— The Third Edition, taken from the Eighth in French, trans. James Keill, London, 1698. 

Freind s work was well received by the Newtonian circle at the Royal Society, but it is less clear that he set a new precedent for the teaching of chemistry. Were Newton s ideas simply too abstract, too difficult, for an undergraduate audience While Keill and Freind may not themselves have fully understood the implications of Newton s theory of matter, they certainly knew more about Newton than their lectures imply. But in the context of the university, the concept of short-range attraction appeared fanciful and did not convey the desired practical information about specific chemical operations, especially those relevant to medicine. Such at least was the view of the Scot James Crawford, professor of chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, who in his 1714 lectures severely criticized the theorizing of Keill and Freind. 

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