He had likewife his fet hours for receiving fuch as came, either to defire his help, or to communicate to him any new discoveries in fcience. Befides which, he kept a very extenfive correfpondence with perfons of the greateft figure, and moft famous for learning in all parts of Europe.

In 1669 he publifhed his Continuation of new Experiments, touching the Spring and Weight of the air; to which is added, A Difcourfe of the Atmospheres of Confiftent Bodies; and the fame year he revised, and made many additions to feveral of his former tracts, fome of which were now tranflated into Latin, in order to gratify the curious abroad, with whom Mr. Boyle flood in as high reputation, as with all the lovers of learning at home. In the fucceeding year he published a book that occafioned much fpeculation, as it feemed to contain a vaft treasure of new knowledge, that had never been communicat ed to the world before, and this grounded upon actual experiments and arguments juftly drawn from them, instead of that notional and conjectural philofophy, which, in the beginning of this century, had been so much in fashion. The title of this treatife was, Of the Cofmical Qualities of Things.

About this time Dr. Peter de Moulin, the fon of the famous French divine of the fame name, who had travelled with Mr. Boyle's nephews, dedicated to him his Collection of

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Latin Poems, But in the midst of his ftudies, and other useful employments, he was attacked by a fevere paralitic diftemper, of which, tho' not without great difficulty, he got the better, by adhering ftrictly to a proper regimen.

In 1671 he published Confiderations on the Ufefulness of Experimental and Natural Phi lofophy, the fecond Part; as alfo, A Collection of Tracts upon several useful and important Points of Practical Philofophy, both which works were received as new and va luable gifts to the learned world. In 1672 came abroad his Effay about the Origin and Virtue of Gems, in which, according to his ufual custom, he treated an old and beaten fubject in a very new and useful manner; fo that it may be truly faid, that he not only threw an additional light upon a very dark and difficult fubject, but also pointed out the only certain method of acquiring a perfect knowledge of the nature and virtues (if any fuch there be) of all kinds of precious ftones. He published alfo, the fame year, another Collection of Tracts, touching the Relation between Flame and Air and several other ufeful and curious fubjects, befides furnishing in this, and in the former year, a great number of fhort Differtations upon a vast variety of topics, addreffed to the Royal Society, and inferted in their Tranfactions.

In the year 1673 he fent abroad his Effays on the frange Subtilty, great Efficacy, and determinate Nature of Effluvia; to which were added, Variety of Experiments on other Subjects. The fame year Anthony Le Grand dedicated to him his Hiftory of Nature, which he published in Latin: and in this dedication the author gives a large account of the great reputation which Mr. Boyle had acquired in foreign parts. In 1674 Mr. Boyle published A Collection of Tracts on the Saltneis of the Sea, the Moisture of the Air, the natural and preternatural State of Bodies. to which he prefixed, A Dialogue concerning Cold.

In the fame year he fent abroad a piece that had been written near ten years before, intitled, The Excellency of Theology compared with the Natural Philofophy, in an Epiftolary Difcourfe to a Friend. This treatife, in which are contained a multitude of curious and useful, as well as just and natural, obfervations, was written in the time of the great plague, when the author was forced to go from place to place in the country, and had little or no opportunity of confulting his books. He also communicated to the world, the fame year, another Collection of Tracts, comprehending fome Sufpicions about hidden Qualities of the Air, Animadverfions upon M. Hobbes's Problem about a Vacuum, A Difcourfe of the Caufe of Attraction by Suction; in which feveral pieces, as there are ma

ny

ny new discoveries made, fo feveral old errors, and groundless, notions, are refuted and exploded.

In 1675 he printed Some Confiderations about the Reconcilableness of Reafon and Religion, by T. E. a Layman; to which was annexed, A Difcourfe about the Poffibility of the Resurrection, by Mr. Boyle. The reader will obferve, that the former, as well as the latter, was of his writing, only he thought fit to mark that with the final letters of his name, and tho' the firft of thefe dif courses promises a fecond part, that however, was not published. Amongst other pieces that he this year communicated to the Royal Society, there were two papers connected into one difcourfe, that deferve particular notice; the former was intitled, An Experimental Difcourfe of Quickfilver growing hot with Cold; the other related to the fame fubject, both of them containing difcoveries worthy of fo great a man, and facts that only on his credit could be believed.

In 1676 Mr. Boyle publifhed his Experiments and Notes about the Mechanical Origin of particular Qualities, by feveral difcourfes on a great variety of fubjects, and, amongst the reft, he treats very largely, and, according to his wonted method, very accurately, of Electricity. He had been for many years a Director of the Eaft-India company, and very useful in this capacity to that great bo

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dy, more especially in procuring their charter and the only return he expected for his labour in this refpect, was, the engaging the Company to come to fome refolution in favour of the propagation of the gofpel, by means of their flourishing factories in that part of the world; and, as a proof of his own inclination to contribute, as far as in him lay; for that purpose, he caufed five hundred copies of the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, in the Malayan tongue, to be printed at Oxford, and fent abroad at his own expence, as appears from the Dedication prefixed by his friend Dr. Thomas Hyde, to that tranflation, which was published under his direction.

There came abroad, the fame year, a Mifcellaneous Collection of his Works in Latin, printed at Geneva, but without his knowledge, of which there is a large account given in the Philofophical Tranfactions. In 1678he communicated to Mr. Hooke, afterwards Dr. Hooke, the fhort Memorial of fome Obfervations made upon an artificial Substance that shines without any preceding Illuftration, which that gentleman thought fit to make public. He publifhed, in the fame year, his Hiftorical Account of a Degradation of Gold, made by an Anti-Elixir. This made a very great noife both at home and abroad, and is looked upon as one of the moft remarkable pieces that ever fell from his pen, the facts contained in which would have been esteemed