BOYLE, ROBERT
Medicina Hydrostatica: or, Hydrostaticks applied to the Materia Medica. Shewing, how by the Weight that divers Bodies, us'd in Physick, have in Water; one may discover whether they be genuine or adulterate. To which is subjoyn'd, a previous Hydrostatical Way of estimating Ores ...
8vo (cm 16.5), contemporary vellum, a few browning, a very good copy. pergamena coeva, Half-title ('Experiments and observations relating to the materia medica'), an engraved plate before titlepage, pp. [26], 217, [7]. Then: A Catalogue of the philosophical Books and Tracts, written by the Honourable Robert Boyle, London: Printed for Samuel Smith ... 1690, pp. [2], 14. First edition. This is the first tract in English on the determination of specific gravity and its use, written by Boyle the year before his death. 'The principle of weighing bodies in the air and in water dates from the time of Archimedes or probably earlier, but it was Boyle who first directed the attention of physicists and chemists to the importance of specific gravity' (Fulton). He explains the procedure of weighing an object in air and then in water, and then, by calculating the proportion between the measurements, determining its specific gravity, that is, its density relative to the density of water. He also explains how to determine the specific gravity of objects lighter than water, and how to compare two liquids. The fly-title reads 'Experiments and Observations, relating to the Materia Medica. Tome I', and the postscript promises a supplementary volume on how to improve the Materia Medica, but, presumably owing to Boyle's death, this was never written. Wing B 3988; Fulton 189.
London, Printed for Samuel Smith ... 1690
€ 4.000,00
