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158 Wilkins, Ward, Willis, Wren, &c. who were all members of the Philosophical College, and with whom he passed his time in the pleasing reciprocation of imparting and receiving information.

During bis stay at Oxford he resided in the house of Mr. Crosse, an apothecary, which he preferred to a college, as it afforded more room for his experiments, and agreed better with his health. It was here that he invented that admirable machine, the air-pump; the immense utility of which those only who devote themselves to his studies can justly appreciate: a machine which has developed so many facts as to have led to a nearly complete theory of the air, and laid the foundation on which chemistry has been raised to that high pinnacle of perfection on which she now stands. By the assistance of Mr. Robert Hooke, professor of mathematics at Gresham College, it was at length perfected in 1678, or 1679. Mr. Boyle laboured incessantly in framing and conducting new experiments; such, he said, being the only true foundation of science, and true foundation of science, and the sole means by which it was possible to arrive at a knowledge of the operations of nature; and so devoted was he to this opinion, that, although the Cartesian philosophy was at that time much applauded, he would never suffer himself to be persuaded to read the works of Des Cartes, lest, by plausible hypotheses and delusive theories, he might be led away from that truth for the establishment of which he was continually engaged in collecting materials.

Deeply, however, as he was devoted to inquiries into nature, his attention was not exclusively directed to them, he still continued to pursue critical and theological studies, in which he was assisted by Dr. Edward Pocock, Mr. Thomas Hyde, and Mr. Samuel Clarke, all of whom were eminently skilled in the oriental languages. He also cultivated a strict intimacy with Dr. Barlow, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, a man of the greatest variety and extent of learning, who was at that time keeper of the