case 1 Robert Boyles Experiments in Pneumatics INTRODUCTION If, in the last quarter of the seventeenth century, a welledu- cated person in England or France had been asked why water rises in a suction pump, the answer would have been in terms familiar to our cars. Phrases such as “pressure of the atmosphere,” “creation of a vacuum,” “aie pressure dependent on the height above sea level” would have been used 250 years ago much as we use them in our own time. But if we jump back in our imagination a little more than three cen- turies, say to 1620, the picture changes. We have clear evidence from the printed records of those days that no such explanation of the action of suction pumps was available even to the most learned and clear- hheaded men of that time. People were talking in terms of “nature's abhorring a vacuum” and were unable to account for the fact that at sea level a suction pump will not raise water more than about 34 feet. “The radical change that took place between the first and last quarters of the seventeenth century was not confined to discussions of the action cof pumps. During the fifty years in question there was a rapid develop- ‘ment of what we now call science and was then known as “experimental philosophy.” This changed attitude and the process by which the new knowledge was obtained are very well illustrated by a study of seven- teenth-century experiments with air and the effect of air pressure on liquids. This subject was called in those days pneumatics. By tracing the ‘growth of the new ideas (concepts) by which ever since that time people have explained a variety of phenomena, we obtain a “case history” of the ‘way in which the experimental sciences developed. For convenience, the study of pneumatics between 1630 and 680 may be thought of in terms of the following subdivisions: (@ Torricells experiment with a column of mercury, which included the invention of the barometer and his formulation of the conceptual Scheme of a “sea of air” surrounding the earths (Gi) Pascal’ repetition of the Torricellian experiment and his instiga- tion of the measurement of the barometric height at the foot and on the top of a mountain, in 1638;A CASE 1 (Git) Experiments with pumps to produce a vacuum, by von Guericke and by Boyle, 1650-1660; iv) Examination by Boyle of the phenomena accessible for study by ‘means of a vacuum pump, including the search for a “more subtle fluid” than air, 1660-16805 (jw) A sudy of the compressibility of air as compared with that of water, including the discovery of Boyle's Law, 1660-1680. Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647), an Italian mathematician, was strongly influenced by the writings on mechanics ofthe Italian physicist Galileo. He worked on projectile motion and hydrodynamics, but is probably best known for the experiment that bears his name. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) is at least as well known for his philosophic writings and his work in mathematics as for his contributions to pnew- matics, A mathematical theorem that bears his name was published ‘hen he was sixteen, and by the age of 3r he had assisted in establish- ing the mathematical theory of probability. He renounced scientific activity shorly thereafter, and during the lat eight years of his life he twas associated with the religious group known as the Jansenists, ‘Otto von Guericke (1602-1686), mayor of Magdeburg and a military engineer, performed many experiments similar to those of Boyle, and ft about the same time. He built a water barometer some three stories high, and observed the variations of the height of the water from day to day. Robert Boyle (1627-1691) is the central figure in this case. The seventh and last son of the “great” Earl of Cork, Boyle was a man of ‘wealth who devoted his life o religion and science. Too young to have taken part in the Civil War in England in the middle of the seventeenth Century, he resided in Oxford at the time when the Puritan element Seas in the ascendancy in the University It was the gathering of amateur ientists in Oxford in the 1650's that led to the formation of the Royal Society in 1660, after the Restoration. Tn Section 6 we shall consider briefly the relation of science to the practical arts in the seventeenth century. We shall see thatthe interest in pneumatics was connected to some degree with a concern of earned men with the performance of the common suction pump for raising water, The fact that water would not rise above a certain height in such 3 pump was almost certainly known to Torricelli, and it may well be that pondering on this phenomenon led him directly to his experiment ‘with a liquid about 14 times as heavy as water, namely, liquid mercury From this line of thinking may have developed the idea that a column cof mercury only about ¥4q as high as the column of water could be supported by atmospheric pressure. Quite apart from the new interest Technologic matters, interest in pneumatics was also probably in- BOYLE’S EXPERIMENTS 5 creased by the publication tion in 1575 of a Latin translation of an dian weter, Hero, on this subject. This new lion of ca fee catise was well known by the beginning of the seventeenth century sat 0 of the seventeenth cen called to peoples’ minds many phenomena, including the action e¢ a siphon and the fact that a liquid cannot flow from a closed vessel unless air can get it ‘We can start our ; 2 ase by considering the performance of the follow- ing experiment by Torricelli in 1643. Taking a glass tube (see Fig. 1) Fo, 1. Torticell’s experiment wit Pet Tai periment with a column of mercury in a tube longer somewhat less than an inch in diameter and abo one end closed he filled the abe with mercy. Thea, ree i over the anen upper end be inverted the tubes hat the cece immersed in an open. dh of mercury. When be removed his ogee we open end, the mercury in the tube fll until the top of the mercury column was about 3 inches above the level ofthe cee the open dt Between the top ofthe mercury column andthe upper cad of he abe wae an empty sae, which berame korn a Tor vacuum, We shall see Boyle referring to this experi experiment of Torcling oa the expeinent de tao few Prec mento epi ay called te Acai el Tons das Tay cba ec oeA CASE] “What led Torricelli to perform this famous experiment we cannot 5Y, Te may have been an accidental discovery, the consequence of a9 VShes dy ara iquid from small orifices; we know that Toriceli had than experimenting in this field. But more probably it was ch act of eer cgator who wished to text a deduction from a new igea ae ing Kypotbesis on a grand scale, For inthe earliest aecoune® of the “xperiment that we have in Torricli’s own words, there is clearly set Faenecw conceptual scheme. What most of us today regard a5 3 ‘ear gamely thatthe cath is surrounded by 2 ea of ir that evins pressure, was in the 160s 2 new conceptual scheme tat had still to Pressire Wat jes of experimental tests before it would be generally adopted. opts; would never have been able to formulate his ideas as cleuly a he di, however ft had not been for earlier work of those sear eee concerned with the pressure of iguids. The subject is known wi ydrosatis and the enunciation of the general principles involved goce back as far as Archimedes (nc. 287?-212), Thanks to clear-headed aoe act ihe ateenth centory, and in particular to Simon Stevin of Bruges (x5q8-1620), Torricelli and many of his contemporaries were canes ccrth auch concepts as “pressure,” which is free per unit area errface, and “equilibrium.” Tey knew that the pressure on the boxtom croaevsoel filed with a liquid depended on the height ofthe liquid is oe eel but not on its volume or its shape [Fig (2)]. They realized aoe the stopcock joining two vessels, one containing wate, the other pty of water and open to the ai, is quickly opened che wate will Fen som one tothe other, and soon the heights ofthe Liquid wil be the same [Fig-2(8)]s the system is then in equilibrium, But for few a a Lioe equilibrium is reached, the liquid may surge back: and Heep de, The principles relating pressure and height of liquid were applicable only in the equilibrium state Tul In which various devices could be placed. The whole could then be filled a in icy and inverted in the usual way, 20 that the device would bein with rte Pacuuim: The results of these experiments were not published unt Torre aublcaon of Bay’ frst book, but he must have heard of them by ar oe pth of by Ieter, We shall se tha, although many of the exper Wet, performed in vacuo by Borle and by von Guetcke could alo be Pe ra ere Tomiclian vacuum, by using a vacuum produced by a sr pump tear ere ale to work ona larger scale and ina less awkward way. no we fan Tore to Carnal Ricci dated Florence, June 11,1644 For vA Teak wanslaon, ace The Physical Treatises of Patel vandated bY aa ee AG. HL Spier (Columbia University Pres, New Yorks 1937), tego. Saent of ths ease are wrongly urged tread this exchange of eters between Tericelt and Ried BOYLE’S EXPERIMENTS 7 ‘Armed with th ese concepts of hydrostatics, Torricelli and, after Pascal could formulate ideas about a sea of air. They could pens Fr, 2, Diagrams wi “hie 2 Disrame will eile dois own o Te se ee ics: (2) in a homogeneous body of liquid, the pressure (force fi ara pent ero the ert Bowe mr Hh uh dc i me mech ar a wa + (8) in equim, the level of the liquids ls are the same whatever the shapes of the vessels. ee eee dout yomases Soubring Thomats who asked why the barometer did ot fll if it were placed inside large gas veel that was sealed off from the sur Founding air (Fig. 3) (This is one ofthe fi objections on record rice’ new ica ofa ca of ate The annwer was of eoune that the —" a as = ce cirure when the ese was fret closed off. There would be no change Reis cae oc ft mere ots maa some ofthe air was remove i i eer ed. And it was precisely this that Boyle set outCASE 1 ‘om Torricelli's new conceptual scheme one could a Pascal saw that fc draw a logical conclusion susceptible of experimental test. For if the r nbinaruent the barometer were tmeeury column in Torieli's new ina rhe we wressure of a sea of air, this pressure s Nv nel he evel jm the Byes pres 8 Approximately {7 30 inches coche ina yee! DEF sano barons with he eva Bebe in veel DE Fee ara a ain the rere B i he ice © accan dimisishes asa diver asends from the bottom of 2 harbor the tac ace, so the pressure of the air should ciminish a one sevens 2 mountain. From ths line of reasoning came an experiment formed onthe Puj-de Dri, + mountain in cental France. any Fring Pascal deduction at spec experimental terms o a tht the ght ofthe mercy ina orilian experiment psoas Nigh o the mountain shouldbe considerably les than the experimets were conducted at the ot. The experient was pesformed J 4697 EE eee vata erin skeptical of the high degree of sant reported by Perier. To be able to repeat the Torrlian 5 eviment so tha there was less than a twelfh ofan inch (one “line iferance in accessive reading, as Perier claimed, is remarkable. The Sirens Hherasion of slight amount of air is very difficult to avoid. tor an Engh anion of Pee ep se The Phe Tet of ao eet of bis eats and stomps recommended. BOYLE’S EXPERIMENTS 9 ‘This report of Perict’s was written, it must be remembered, before standards of accurate reporting in science had been established. The contrast with Boyle's procedures is striking. It may be that Perier, per- suaded of the realty of the large differences in height of the mercury column at the top and bottom of the mountain, succumbed to the temptation of making his argument appear convincing by recording exact reproducibility of his results on repeated trials. Robert Boyle heard of these experiments of Perier’s in the 1650's, although the formal publication of Pascal’ treatise dealing with hydro. statics and pneumatics was delayed until 1663, Boyle also knew of the air pump that had been constructed by Otto von Guericke and had hheard of the Florentine method of performing experiments in a vacuum, (See footnote 1. The first full account of these experiments of the members of the Accademia del Cimento, however, was not pub- lished until 1667; von Guericke's pump was described briefly in a book by K. Schott in 1657.) Boyle saw the importance of having a more convenient method of removing the air from a glass globe in which various pieces of apparatus could be placed. In particular, he was inter- ested in testing one of the deductions from Torricelli's conceptual scheme, namely, that if the air is removed from above the mercury reservoir of a barometer, the mercury column will fall. In other words, he desired to have an instrument with which he could evacuate the vessel DEF in Fig. 3 (with C closed). ‘The following sections of the Case History deal with (i) the con- struction of Boyle's pump; (ii) the experiment for which it was partic. ularly designed; (iii) certain experiments on the transmission of sound which illustrate some of the many experiments Boyle was able to per- form with his new pump; (iv) Boyle's search for a more subtle fluid; (¥) his discovery, as a consequence of a controversy about the validity of his ideas, of what is now knowa a3 Boyle's law. Boyle's work in pneumatics is an excellent illustration of the signif: icance of improvement in experimental equipment for the advance of science. His improved pump made possible the exploration of a wide field of study; it was for his day the equivalent of the x-ray tubes of the late nineteenth century, the cyclotron of the twentieth century and per- haps even the experimental “piles” chat since 1945 have produced radio- active isotopes as a consequence of the release of “atomic” energy. Boyle's experiments offered many instances of the care with which an experi- Imenter in a new field must operate in order to obtain significant results, Mechanical difficulties must be overcome and this is by no means easy; moreover, new instruments must be invented, such as a gauge for showing the pressure in an evacuated vessel.ey CASE 1 'A careful analysis of Boyle's reports of his experiments will bring cout the distinction between the limited working hypothesis and its Serification of negation on the one hand, and the broad working hy- pothescs which, if sucessful, at will be seen, will soon become new Conceptual schemes. OF che latter we note inthis case four in particular: frst, the “sea of ait” hypothesis originating with Torricllis second, the concept of air as an clastic fuid, or in Boyle's words, that air has a springs tied, chat sound is transmitted by alr; fourth, one that was not ceccescta, namely, that there is a subtle uid which pervades all space. "The limited working hypotheses are as numerous as the experiments. “When Boyle built his engine he set out to test one deduction from Totriellis broad hypothesis. When he had his apparatus all arranged hhe reasoned somewhat as follows: “TE T now operate the pump, then the mercury eokurnn in the Torricellian tube should fal” This, be it noted, isa hypothesis strictly limited to that particular experiment. He pro- ‘ceeded with the experiment and the results were as predicted. He em- ployed a similar “if... then” type of statement when he considered Fatroducing air into the receiver; the mercury rose, as predicted. The student will find it profitable to identify a number of similar instances Of this use of the limited working hypothesis in the experiments on Sound and in Boyles search for a subtle fluid. ‘The connection between these limited working hypotheses and the broader idea that is being tested often involves a number of assumptions, sometimes not made texplicit by Boyle. This is particularly clear in the experiments recorded in Sec. 4. Boyle’s experiments did not disprove the existence of a subtle fluid in general. ‘They could only test the presence in the air he examined cof a specific fluid, more subtle than air, but having certain properties “These properties were such as to cause an effect on the instruments he manipulated in a vacuum (see pp. 39-48) ifthe subtle lid were present. “The experiments that Boyle performed in his search for a subtle uid may seem naive and foolish to us, but a little thought will make it clear that they were well conceived to test a real possibility. For all the seventeenth-century investigators knew, air might have been com- posed of two or more materials differing in ther ability to passthrough Nery fine holes; such a difference is taken advantage of whenever we Strain out a finely divided solid from a liquid, for example. Indeed, we how know that there is a very slight difference in the rate at which the Constituent gases of the atmosphere (chiefly oxygen and nitrogen) flow through a tube of very small diameter. But this difference js so slight that itis not reflected in any behavior of air in experiments that could be performed with the equipment available in the seventeenth or even the eighteenth century. The great difference in “subtlety” for which Boyle was looking does not exist in any mixture of gases. It is in the BOYLE’S EXPERIMENTS nu tore of gas that thee canbe no gros nonkomogensiy in the mic tur such tesa ina suspension of fn parce of ela in water o ven n water sltions ofthe materials that ar preset in blood milk, fore than a century elapsed, however, before it became obvious thay such wat ined the case Andie wa cnet to centres Scfoethe oe ceptual scheme was developed which we now use in all our explanations of ebb fai and ce gases (he knee tery of pees In reading the original records of the seventeenth-century invest tors the tent wl iho have Eel in mind the spl ese szoosere pres that are almost cmon knowlege toy. ‘There wo less obvious points that now seem clear to us but lon were puzzles to those who studied pneumatics in the seventeenth end Gigheenth centuries. The ist conceas the presence of water a the amperes the sesnd che apraton of lis beh bow temperate a which the bei and during the proces of boing itl Sin: she fet novos that devtoped about the evaporation of water atmosphere were either wrong or confused, the seventcenth-century experiments del neck aa ary experiments dealing with this subject. At Bit Boyle was confused by the fact that water en aga air, but he eventually came to understand the relation between boilin point and the pressure of the surounding amespher; indeed, he es ented an apparatus for ditiling in enewo, The question of the chemical sgenity ofthe atmosphere had to be explored before a satisfactory picture could be developed and the relation of liquid water to water ‘anor propery understood. This hate miu be mentioned, fr ea creo ae of he weer eprom oe aly wi etna fh :mospheric pressure but also with the degree of humidity on a giv day. For along time ite or no sense could be made ofthe Nuctustons in the barometer because it was belived that these fuctuatons a Gil seated to what we now cll humidity (hat iy the relive amount of water vapor inthe ait). The det wil ntrally wonder ‘at Boyle and is contemporaries male of thir obserratons ofthe changes inthe atmospheric pressure and of the behavior of water ia the cum hat they prdused:Bol nd is enteporati ed exe phenomena but came to no satisfactory and enduring cond This serves to illtrate the slow sages by which sence cn advanees, 1. THE AIR PUMP OR VACUUM am PUMP AS A NEW SCIENTIIC ‘There were three models of Boyle's “ i es joyle's “pncumatical engine,” as for producing a vacuum. The frst, described in a book published in 1660 (dated December 3,165) ie shows FigsCASE 1 (gand 53 2 second is described in another book: dated March 24 1667 ind published in 1669; and a third was described in a volume published jo rh8o, In the construction of the first ewo of these engines Robert Hlooke played an important and perhaps determining role; the third ‘was designed by Denis Papin in 676 and was brought with him from France in the same year that he joined Boyle, As compared with the fst air pump of von Guericke, Boyle's first model was far more con- venient for those who wished to perform experiments in vacuo. The pening atthe top of the glats bulb was the important new addition Phe second model of Boyle's engine (Fig. 7) allowed various types of receivers to be evacuated, such as those shown in Fig. 8. Much larger Crquipment could be placed in eacuo than with the first model, The x periments were correspondingly more ambitious. The thied model was rrore rapid in its action because it had two plungers and two pistons dnd was operated by foot power. The valves were automatic. Boyle lke- ‘vise devived methods of measuring the diminished pressure by means Of what are now called vacuum gauges; he also built compression pumps that enabled him to study ai under pressure. jouncement of the construction of his fist pump Boyles public anne and the description of the experiments he performed were given in his book of 1660, carrying the title page: NEW EXPERIMENTS Physico-Mechanicall, Touching ‘The Sonne of the Ars, and its Errecrs, (Made, for the most part in a New PNEUMATICAL ENGINE) Written by way of Lerrex ‘To the Right Honorable Charles Lord Vicount of Dungarvan, Eldest Son to the Eaxt. of CORKE. 2 ‘The first sections of the preface are of some general interest even today and therefore are given below: * To the Reader [Although the following treatise being far more prolix than becomes a letter, and than «AM quotations of Robert Boyle's writings are taken from a late edition of his collected writings, The Works of the Hon: at Bist intended it, I am very unwilling to encrease rourable Robert Boyle (London, 1773)+ BOYLE’S EXPERIMENTS 3 the lady ecnive bul of the book ; eee ae paricry Gat inkryel lged ot ele ee es thing that wil ter ance int kw ot met = In the frst place then: If tbe demanded why publish to the word : : cake Taue ee srw hy he ead dren pray, spe he Ba ite awl spc nk Ae diy a to era the one, that the experiments therein related, havi cans having made some noise among the Vi i (ins cae tome of them have ben seat into forgn counts; wie ey Rene ad th uc not ob desea) T could nt, without coleum one aman, give ot halla many copie of the 2 ume deed hat I could not cil fe the. The ot that intelligent persons in matters of this kind persuade me, that the publi Cio’ of what I had ered ouchng the tar of th ai, wold ote we othe word nd tha in an age v0 ken a 2 ou Use new experiments woud be gael to the love of fs een hat | gt oc aly ih a ign erating reel sed tl fy a he great satisfaction of giving some to ingenious inet kel eretoe wd fan empath exe ean Ot my ing oc pr my fy aie 1h shes reason rede that some of them being hoger new med ted te bg manly rc bp ee a gt th de eens fe ad he fox fn of fering they when T may hear ave scone cot pi wn bec gt ice deer ng ela fs ed thm iw ak snd mie lle is hc pen th nro pene and athe Tee tok my chron be made pig tem ear Yeon oy ee ty was, that foreseeing, that such a trouble as I met with is i ng those tril carefully, and the great expence of time that er cenG sry rete (Bt to mention he eae of aking the engine and eet, ae to manage it) will probably keep most men “From SE nthe pint hug igh ery fay no unacceptable piece of service, by so punctu: icy ot Teal ebieved, that they may lok upon thes 1 meee ing recordin or new poeumaticy and need not sca tems ot periment to have as distinct an idea of it, as may suffi ts Bround their reflexions and speculations upon. " Dea sanarls description ofthe construction of his engine is very long and = een Paragraphs wil llutrate the great kcal ch for mibequentsentine Unies experiment we Yepned teat ot———™”——s CASE 1 i cn unable to repeat the experi- ith accuracy, other scientists are often, una ‘ with secure, The more compliested the phenomena invents, ment in ution, Tore ena he pace of rng 58 ws Yet bestrection of the apparatus and the results ol reporting dell of these sues he eretenth and Sights daa een made worthless the reports of many iavens gsi" published works of Stevin, Galle and Pal (sae the mie cane of Boyle's predecessors), are writen forthe mos f = impor geometric propositions and it it often not dear wees the ee cere nly coin ae as possible demonstrations. 's book is in the form of a letter to his “ 1¢ introduction of Boyle's ee wef which the first sections are printed below. om Paris a desire, that 1 would add some Seog ne a such yous seemed, without thinking myself ebliged w cops Se tters from some other ingenious Ad the es ie Ea the were 7 EN on (Cengage oat of Tonics (sep. and a peeing your hi ont yar tu evan oo abe ase) nd ee sae ep ls ‘And shoogh Tn ey ll vo apy, 8 a3 sore ezme things, which you did formerly but Sppos and bal a ‘with new theories, at east with new proofs of fnew tt cee Ph ea ‘and assist you to prosecute the ints it some ma ao a mye in psng fe dat Yom Be done sf recto ta ernest oye LF es 2 cy in Sa rather ploy the ‘And T am not ey ofthe expected chymical es BOYLE’S EXPERIMENTS 5 by these two considerations: the one, that the air being so necessary to hhuman life, that not only the generality of men, but most other creatures that breathe, cannot live many minutes without it, any considerable discovery of its nature seems likely to prove of moment to mankind. ‘And the other is, thatthe ambient air being that, whereto both our own bodies, and most of the others we deal with here below, are almost per- petually contiguous, not only its alterations have a notable and manifest share in those obvious effects, that men have already been invited to ascribe thereunto, (such as are the various distempers incident to human, bodies, especially if crazy in the spring, the autuma, and also on most of the great and sudden changes of weather:) but likewise, the further dis- covery of the nature of the air will probably discover to us, that it con- czars more or less to the exhibiting of many phenomena, in which it hath hitherto scarce been suspected to have any interest. So that a true account cof any experiment that is new concerning a thing, wherewith we have such constant and necessary intercourse, may not only prove of some vantage to human life, but gratify philosophers, by promoting the speculations on a subject, which hath so much opportunity to solicit their curiosity. ‘You may be pleased to remember, that a while before our separation in England, I told you of a book, that I had heard of, but not perused, published by the industrious Jesuit Schortus; wherein, it was said, he related how that ingenious gentleman, Otto Gericke, consul of Magde- ‘burg, had lately practised in Germany a way of emptying glass vessels by sucking out the air at the mouth of the vessel, plunged under water. ‘And you may also perhaps remember, that I expressed myself much de- lighted with this experiment, since thereby the great force of the external air (cither rushing in at the opened orifice of the emptied vessel, of vio- lently forcing up the water into it) was rendered more obvious and conspicuous than in any experiment that I had formerly seen. And though it may appear by some of those writings T sometimes shewed your Lordship, that I had been solicitous to try things upon the same ‘ground; yet in regard this gentleman was before-hand with me in produc. ing such considerable effects by means of the exsuetion of air, I think myself obliged to acknowledge the assistance and encouragement the seo of his pefomancs hath forded me jut as few inventions happen to be at frst so complete, 2s not to otherwise capable of improvement; so when the engine, we have been speaking of, comes to be more attentively considered, there will appear two very considerable things to be desired in it. For frst, the wind- ump (1s somebody not improperly els it) is wo conve that to evacuate the vessel, there is required the continual labour of two st ten for divers ours. And next (which ie an imperection of muck ‘greater moment) the receiver, or glass to be emptied, consisting of one ‘entire and uninterrupted globe and neck of glass; the whole engine is 30 ‘made, that things cannot be conveyed (0 it, whereon to try exper6 CASE 1 ens: so that there seems but litle (if any thing) more to be expected sree ie than thove very few phaenomena, that have been already ob- rom by the author, and recorded by Schorts. Wherefore to remedy Shoe inconveniences, pot both Mr. G. and R. Hook (who hath also the honour t0 be known to your Lordship, and was with me when T feat these things under consideration) to contrive some air-pump, that rege no ike the other, need to be Kept under water (which on dives muaifons(s inconvenient) and might be more easily managed: and after seriMcnccessfal teal of two of ways proposed by others, the last-named ferson fted me with a pomp, anon to be described. And thus the Set Topefection of the German engine was in good measure, though not pertecly remedied: and to supply the second defect, it was considered, Frat it would not perhaps prove impossible to leave in the glass to be emihied's hole large enough to put in man’s arm clatheds and con- sequently other bodies, not bigger than it, or longer than the inside of Sho vase. And this design seemed the more hopeful, because I remem- tered; that having several years before often made the experiment de tacuo (see p. 5] with my ovn hands; T had, to examine some cones- cae ee sCeatred to me about it, caused glastes to be made with a hole that end, which uss to be sealed up, and had nevertheless been able, SS oncasion required, to make use of such tubes, as if no such holes had thesn left in them, by devising stopples for them, made of the common plaister called diachylon [a sealing wax]; which, I would, by reason of the exquisite com Tres ofits texture, deny all access tothe external air, Wherefore, supposing that by the help of such plaisters carefully laid upon the commissures Of the stopple and hole to be made in the receiver, the external air ‘night be hindered from insinuating itself between them into the vessel, Wercaused several such glasses, as you will ind described a file lower, wo be blown a the glasshouse, And though we could not get the workmen to blow any of them so large, or of so convenient a shape a8 re would fain have had; yet finding one to be tolerably ft, and less Uindt than any of the rest, We were content to make use of it in that aging; of which, T suppose, you by ths time expect a description, in ‘der tothe rectal of the phinomena exhibited by it. “To give your Lordship then, in the first place, some account of the engine itself it consists of two principal parts; a glass vessel, and a pump to draw the air out of it [Figs. g and 5]. "The former of these (which we, with the glass-men, shall often call 1 reetiver, for ils affinity to the large vessels of that name, used by ghymist) consists of a glass with a wide hole at the top, of a cover to that hole, and of a stopcock fastened to the end of the neck, at the bottom, "The shape of the glass, you will nd expressed in the first figure of the annexed seheme. And for the size of it, it contained about 30 wine ‘quarts, each of them containing near two pound (of 26 ounces to the ound) of water. We should have been better pleased with 2 more BOYLE’S EXPERIMENTS 7 capacious vessel; but the glass-men professed themselves unable low Ee fee nea 3.inch hole sealed Brass pug Hollow fitting hole oylinder (walve) eather washer At Piston or Handle sucker whan turned SSE] Ratchet raises ani lowers cos eee piston Fro. 4, Diagram of the first model of Boyles aie pump. 2, THE BEHAVIOR OF A TORRICELLIAN BAROMETER IN A VACUUM ‘The seventeenth experiment reported by Boyle in his volu Daria cise ps a asl oa be tn ap one had ever pu ds parla consequence of the ae oneal scheme to the experimental test. This experiment is, therefore, typical of a procedure repeatedly used with great effectiveness in the advance ofthe experimental sciences, From a new eoncept or conceptual scheme one can deduce that ifthe concept or set of concepts isa satisfacto stems ten cain deductions flow that may be cep o = erimental test Boyle saw that a new apparatus (von Guericke's pump), if improve and smeha hanged, woud enable hi tpt 6 Dae another consequence of the new concepts al atmog sad in prasure, Ths he din the mame dened ia tie ees presented below. This combination of the possibilities inherent in a new type of machine —or a new chemical process —and the necessary Consequences of a new concept has been one of the most fruitfel sources of progres in the experimental sciences. For this reason, 28 48 Fo, 5. Reproduction of a wood engraving of Boyle's frst ‘own book. pump, from his BOYLE’S EXPERIMENTS w case in point, the details of Boyle's reasoning merit careful consideration by anyone who attempts to understand the methods of modern science, Boyles description of his seventeenth experiment now follows (the footnotes and the material enclosed in brackets have been added to assist the reader). Proceed we now to the mention of that experiment, whereof the satisfactory trial was the principal fruit I promised myself from our ‘engine, it being then sufficiently known, that in the experiment de vacuo, the quicksilver in the tube is wont to remain elevated, above the surface of that whereon it Jeans, about 27 digits [about 2955 inches, a8 Boyle ‘explains later]. I considered, that, if the true and only reason why the quicksilver falls no lower, be, that at that altitude the mercurial cylinder in the tube is in an equilibrium with the cylinder of air supposed to reach from the adjacent mercury to the top of the atmosphere [this is the con. ceptual scheme, suggested by Torricelli and elaborated by Pascal, that hhas been accepted ever since; note the use ofthe concept of equilibrium]; then if this experiment could be tried out of the atmosphere, the quick~ silver in the tube would fall down to a level with that in the vessel, since then there would be no pressure upon the subjacent, to resist the weight of the incumbent mercury. Whence I inferred (as easily I might) that if the experiment could be tried in our engine, the quicksilver would subside below 27 digits, in proportion to the exsuction of air, that should bbe made out ofthe receiver. For, as when the air is shut into the receiver, it doth (according to what hath above been taught) continue there as strongly comprested, as it did whilst all the incumbent eylinder of the atmosphere leaned immediately upon it; because the glass, wherein itis penned up, hinders it to deliver itself, by an expansion of its parts, from the pressure wherewith it was shut up. So if we could perfectly draw the air out of the receiver, it would conduce as well to our purpose, as if ‘we were allowed to try the experiment beyond the atmosphere. 1k should be noted that throughout the descriptions of his experi- ments Boyle spelis everything out in great detail. That the pressure Within the glass receiver is just as great after the receiver is closed off as {it was before is obvious today, but it was far from clear at frst. One of the first objections (see p. 7 and Fig. 3) to Torriceli's new ideas was that ifthe weight of the air on the outside mercury was responsible for the mercury’s standing about 30 inches in the Torricellian tube, then sealing the whole apparatus inside a box should cause the mercury to fall, since the weight of the air would then only be that of the small amount in the surrounding box (Fig. 3). The error here, as Torricelli thowed, is a confusion of weight and pressure, Boyle had probably Acard of these arguments but had probably not read the account of them that is now available to us.20 CASE 1 Wherefore (after having surmounted some litle diffculties, which occurred at the beginning) the experiment was made after this manner: sre took a slender and very curiously blown cylinder of glass, of near Three foot in length, and whose bore had in diameter a quarter of an inch, wanting a hair's breadth: this pipe being hermetically sealed at tne end [ie the glass being melted together so that no air could sub- Scquently leak in], was, a the other, filled with quicksilver, care being faken in the filling, that as few bubbles as was possible should be lef in the mercury. Then the tube being stopt with the finger and inverted, twas opened, according to the manner of the experiment, into a some ‘what long and slender cylindrical box (instead of which we now are wont to use a glass of the same form) half filled with quicksilver: and so, the liquid metal being sulfered to subside, and a pice of paper being pasted on level with its upper surface the box and tube and all were by strings carefully let down into the receiver [through the opening at the top; see Fig, 6]: and then, by means of the hole formerly mentioned to be left in the cover, the said cover was slipt along as much of the tube 35, reached above the top of the receiver; and the interval, left betwixt the Sides ofthe hole and those ofthe tube, was very exquisitely filed up with imelted (but not overhot) diachylon, and the round chink, betwixt the cover and the receiver, was likewise very carefully closed up: upon which Closure there appeared not any change in the height of the mercurial cylinder, no more than if the interposed glass-eceiver did not hinder the fimmediate pressure of the ambient atmosphere upon the inclosed air, which hereby appears to bear upon the mercury, rather by virtue of is spring than of its weight; since its weight cannot be supposed to amount to above two or three ounces, which is inconsiderable in comparison to such a eylinder of mercury as it would keep from subsiding. ‘All things being thus in a readiness, the sucker (Fig. 4] was drawn down; and, immediately upon the egress of a cylinder of air out of the receiver, the quicksilver in the tube did, according to expectation, sub- fide: and notice being carefully taken (by a mark fastened to the ovt- tide) of the place where it stopt, we caused him that managed the pump to pump again, and marked how low the quicksilver fell at the second txsuetion; but continuing this work, we were quickly hindered from accurately marking the stages made by the mercury, in its descent, be- ‘aus it soon sunk below the top of the receiver, s0 that we could hence- forward mark it no other ways than by the eye. And thus, continuing the labour of pumping for about a quarter of an hou, we found ourselves tunable to bring the quicksilver in the tube totally to subside; because, Shen the receiver was considerably emptied ofits air, and consequently that ite that remained grown unable to resist the irruption of the ex tema that air would (in spight of whatever we could do) press in at Some litle avenue of other; and though much could not thereat get in, yet a litle was suficient to counterbalance the pressure of so small 2 Zplinder of quicksilver, as then remained in the tube. BOYLE’S EXPERIMENTS a1 Boyle subsequently used the length of such a column of mercury oi equivalent as 2 measure of the completenes ofthe vacuum he succeded in producing in any experiment. We do the same today, but express four results in millimeters of mercury or in fractions of a millimeter of mercury. A well-constructed pump of Boyle's type today will hardly lower the pressure below a quarter of an inch of mercury. Pumps of a Paper scale on tube Glass lobe half filled with uickslver” To pump Fr. 6 Diagram of Boyle's appara fr the experiment of above the reservoir of a barom W indicates “i va ” fil Sia deebyoa meter; Windies “neva filled with “ichyion™ ‘The pump was that shown in Fig. 4. alles different type are required to produce the high din the tuce the high vacua used in the modern Jaboratory and in the manufacture of electric light bulbs and radio tubes. Now (to sattyourives farther, tha the flog of the quiksilver in the tbe toa determinate eight, prceedth from the equllbiom, ene it is at that height with the external air, the one gravitating, the other pressing with equal force upon the subjacent mercury) we reomed hehe [Pg] and ein Sone new crayon whee mercury immediatly bogeh to send (or athe tobe impelled upwards in the te, and continued sucnding tl, having returned the key, imumelely ested at the height which it had then ataned: and 0, by————————— 2 CASE 1 apa i arming and returning the key, we did several tes at please Spl eming nd sing 1M ty hn pense ee saa a es ah ofthe eteral as wold come i the ike the a ett te hight 1 yas, Deas serum athe perm oh ey Hope ea 2 ed thi inter a as al this ed wh pl of engaged among tose of the Ui periment) some Ha Papo the ect ofthe quiver, id mane ‘se up in bubbles towards the top of the tube, and byte pres “ Cn pe eine y stm oom a they former al ie er ap ate eet in the presen of hte ec erly tanaue MathennicProfeor, De, Walt Dr ee ern’ wm weve led honor ib De pe 8 a nas th loin = one vs ‘and as being glad of such judicious and illustrious wit own to a as ae was by thei gues thatthe tp of the nes tone ma defined tobe bot within an inch af the wc of tae in the veel . face of that in he, ston of the foregoing experiment, it wil in Bee fo ome oer particlar lating to zis mendon soe soured to make the experiment wih ‘he earn ee ene end ith dichylon instead of an hermetic sea, we ne ihe raving seo thea ot fhe ee vere ta ged ingin fl bt connie afervards ob ta tn eid not cotnue pumping. When i appeared dt Se eon to nop te edo tea wee fk nd Choa eats euld ot pes iy (as expen 2 sca; there bad bee but ite of i) ye ee Se a ere ie hgh dom) fo inne emees Oe arse platen which seems was not of 3 dose 2 ee the eapiment de aco some Yas ago, So hat 20" rae ey a perhape one season, why we ent perfec) ve Bi ay tytn the veo alos emp, me Pik ‘ the pressure of atmos- Pa osdes part ofthe eternal ir may, by the pe = oa et rough te sey Body of the dahon ioe the PART Bu thi is only conjecture, sess men wer al at Oxford in th prod 165-1to when the enon Fre ce fovming Ween the famous architect who rebuilt Londo Bore crWals and Ward wee dvinguiied mathematisant ato Panamera Arte the Civil Wa by deciphering Ro Wa ed Seco whieh il was poly ad aftr the Restoration i i ders Sradd” in All Sule Coleg by a patamentary com tres during te Crome rtd BOYLE’S EXPERIMENTS 23 Here we see Boyle recording his experimental troubles. A tube sealed at the upper end with wax (diachylon) was often not leakproof. The conjecture that air might be a mixture of materials of differing degrees cof “subtlety” is the basis of the experiments described in Sec. 4 of this Case History, and we see here how this thought could well have arisen from the experimental problem of obtaining airtight seals. Another circumstance of our experiment was this, that if (when the quicksilver in the tube was fallen low) too much ingress were, at the hiole of the stopcock, suddenly permitted to the external air; it would rush in with that violence, and bear so forcibly upon the surface of the subjacent quicksilver, that it would impel it up into the tube rudely enough to endanger the breaking of the glass. ‘We formerly mentioned, that the quicksilver did not, in its descent, fall as much at a time, after the two or three first exsuctions of the air, as at the beginning. For, having marked its several stages upon the tube, we found, that at the first suck it descended an inch and %, and at the second an inch and %; and when the vessel was almost emptied, it could scarce at one exsuction be drawn down above the breadth of a Barleycorn. And indeed we found it very dificult to measure, in what proportion these decrements of the mercurial cylinder did proceed; pactly, because (as we have already intimated) the quicksilver was soon drawn below the top of the recsiver; and partly because, upon its descent at each exsuetion, it would immediately reascend a litle upwards; either by reason of the leaking of the vessel at some imperceptible hole or other, or by reason of the motion of restitution in the air, which, being some- what compressed by the fall as well as weight of the quicksilver, would repel ita litte upwards, and make it vibrate a litte up and down, before they could reduce each other to such an equilibrium as both might rest in, But though we could not hitherto make observations accurate enough, concerning the measures of the quickslver's descent, to reduce them into any hypothesis, yet would we not discourage any from attempting it; since, fit could be reduced to a certainty, itis probable, that the discovery ‘would not be unuseful And, to illustrate this matter a little more, we will add, that we made a shift to ty the experiment in one of our above mentioned [in a section fof Boyle's book not reproduced herein] small receivers, not containing quart; but (agreeably to what we formerly observed) we found it as difi- cult to bring this to be quite empty as to evacuate the greater; the least extemal air that could get in (and we could not possibly keep it all per- fectly out) suffcing, in so small a vessel, to display a considerable pressure upon the surface of the mercury, and thereby hinder that in the tube from falling to a level with it. But this is remarkable, that having two or three times tried the experiment in a small vessel upon the very frst cylin- der of air that was drawn out of the receiver, the mercury fell in the tube 18 inches and a half, and another trial 29 inches and a half24 CASE 1 “The ratio of the volume of the receiver—ie, the vessel being ‘evacuated —-to the volume of the cylinder of the pump determines the ‘lee of each stroke of the piston. With Boyle's large receiver, probably his ratio was something like 20 to 1. Each stroke of the piston would thus reduce the pressure by about 1/21 which for th first stroke would nean a fall in mercury level of about 144 inch; with a smal receiver ‘hove volume was less than that of the pump cylinder the pressure Would be reduced by more than one half (by 18 or 19 inches, Boyle records). ‘The next few paragraphs of the book, which are omitted here, discuss Boyle's futile attempts to reason in numerical terms about the phe- nomena he had observed. He was unable to reduce his qualitative Shrervations to a quantitative basis; he was unable to use the new onceptual scheme for he did not see at that time that if ewo vessels of fqual volume, one full of air at atmospheric preseure, the other essn- tially empty, are connected, the pressure becomes the same in both vessels, namely, half of what it originally was in the first vessel. For farther confirmation of what hath been delivered, we likewise tsied the experiment in a tube of less than two foot long: and, when there was caesar air drawn out of the vessel, that the remaining air was not able 1 munterbalance the mercurial cylinder, the quicksilver in the tube sub- ‘Raed so visibly, that (the experiment being tried in the litle vessel lately ‘rentioncd) a¥ the first suck it fll above a span, and was afterwards Mew lower and lower for a litle while; and the external air being let Jn upon it impelled it up again almost to the top of the tube: so litle we woes it, how heavy or light the cylinder of quicksilver to subside is provided its gravity overpower the pressure of as much extemal tr at bears upon the surface of that mercury into which itis to fall In other words, it is unnecessary to start with a barometer in this experiment, for a short inverted tube filed with mercury will ufics. ‘This is the equivalent of the lower portion of the Torricellian tube; it ie far more convenient than the Tong tube, and the simplest vacuum gauges sed today in chemical and physical laboratories are constructed in this way. Lastly, we also observed, that if (when the mereury in the tube had eee dezwn down, and by an ingress permitted to the external aie, im- Pulled up again toi former height) there were sme more air thm by the help ofthe pump into the recive, the quicker inthe tube ve yt ascend mmuch above the wonted height of 27 digits, and immedi- Tel upon the letting oot ofthat air would fall again to the height i te etpefore, [Here Boyle pumps ar into the receiver and shows that TeeSparemed pressure causes the height of the mercury to increase be- yond the barometric height] BOYLE’S EXPERIMENTS 25 one lang wl he pet ese, tat tom, vie Pesce cae are ee ata car se nempia ice neo ere thet eee AE: pec an lo eo tipsy on ing icc vt ant hee a eae coena it alc poe ie pes el Gye ll ate ely cmp i ee fl cree Pie a hap wee el enter into a solemn debate of so nice a question; your Lordship may y if for tink word he trouble fa the Delogues 2 long ne eared ‘i dio bl sine, hen me Si ete eens i cee tang sa {he quesion nor dae f ye take upon me to determine so diel + ee Tage apart stn te enin o a het ay a dso a De Sy Meats Sar ae veoh wad pot yi wet gee ee oa las a gis neh sg fm i en tithes uh be oto ea de ae soca same do iw ee Sey convey doh ret fom the bk mtn ose be maces, el neice aeany aioe gee ace Seine Ieee fee arta pend meaty ogee SRR els oe ny el)» In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as in the seventeenth, it would have been taken for granted that light was cither a beam of particles that would pass through glass or else a motion in a medium that pervaded glass. The latter view seemed to be established by experi- ‘ment early in the nineteenth century and the medium was given the name “luminiferous ethee” or “ether” (not to be confused with the eee vit eae name). The same medium could be invoked to explain the action of magnetism (see Boyle’ next two paragraphs). This medium was imagined tobe far oo subtle, to use oye ie Rs be subject to mechanical rarefaction or compression as is air. As the study of radiant energy proceeded, the conceptual scheme that postu- Tated ether as a medium became inadequate because it failed to account for certain phenomena. The answer to the question raised by Boyle's contemporaries, if a vacuum is rally empty how can you see through it, cannot be given today in terms of any one simple conceptual scheme. Modern views simply challenge the assumption that seemed so obvious to Boyle and many later scientists, namely, that light must for its con- veyance require “a body for its vehicle.”6 CASE 1 By the sitcench experiment, it also appears that the closeness of our reecler hinders it not from admitting the efluvia of the load-tones* wersch makes it very probable that it also freely admits the magnetical ancy if the earthy concerning which, we have in another treatise en- Seam id to manifest that numbers of them do always permeate our ait Doron the other side it may be said, that as forthe subtle matter which mai the abjects enclosed in our evacuated receiver, visible, and the aanceticalefflvia ofthe earth that may be presumed to past through seiogh we should grant our vesel not co be quite devoid af them, yet acre co reasonably afirm it to be replenished with them, as we ae scanppose, that if they were gathered together into one place without may ep Fo fhem they would ill bat a small part of the whole aanerver As in the thirteenth experiment, a piece of match was incon- ASSerable for its bull, whilst its parts lay close together, that afterwards {Geben the fread scattered them into smoke) seemed to zepenish all ener aL For (as csewhere our experiments have demonstrated) both Tight and the efluvia of the loadstone may be readily admited into = tuts, ermetcally sealed, though before their admision, a fll of si 3 ow bodies here below are wont to be; so that upon the exsuction een, the large space deserted by it, may remain empty, notwith- SKanding the pretence of those subtle corpuscles, by which lucid and nagoetical bodies produce theic effects. In short, “those subtle corpuscles, by which lucid and magnetical bodies produce their effects” are quite independent of the particles that compose the air. This may be considered a preview of the doctrine of the caher as it was expounded by ll scientists 75 years ago. The relevance of the experiment with the match is not obvious. The thirtenth experi- ment consisted in allowing the smoke from a “slow match” —a slow: burning material ued for ignition of cannon—to fill an evacuated rccciver, which it did, of course, rapidly. This phenomenon inspired Boyle perhaps unduly; he saw in it a visualization of the way “subtle agerial” such as air will expand at once and fill a spaces he likewise fecognized that a very minute amount of match was consumed in producing enough smoke to fill a large receiver. Therefore; he argues ter the still more subtle corpuscles that convey light need be of but Title bulk if solidified all together. "The controversy between the Vacuists and the Plenists, referred to in the next paragraph, goes back at lest to Aristotle. In the form referred yhat we would now call the fed of a magnet. In short, a magnet —a piese cPike Seurally occurring, magnetized iron ofc is called a loadstone — will Sea force on iron placed in a vacuum. This had been demonstrated by the Flsentine experiments and also by von Guericke before Boyle's experiments ‘The plate “magnetical steams of the earth” inthe same sentence refers (9 the cath magnetic Feld, about which Boyle speculated in another book. BOYLE’S EXPERIMENTS a toby Boyle it continued until the close of the cen le close of the century. The plenstscon- finch the Se neil he veil of ight” wih leo hes the explanation of why water will not run out of an inverted botle with a narrow neck (unless ar is shaken in or another opening made) was 2s follows: ifthe water comes out the surrounding medium must be dplct and can be diced ny if Ute somewhere fo © go. Ifa second opening is provided inthe botle, the displace See isae ie ae ni According tthe Plas the wo was fll by dfn; vacuum was unthinkable; these were the postulates of their position [A fur prin of ck posiea, bt one ot rcogulee! was tet the medium vas essentially incompressible; otherwise the water might run cot of an inverted bottle by compressing rather than displacing the surrounding medium, It may be left to the reader to sce how the pos- (oa a See EERSTE iment unless some additonal and arbitrary assumptions were introduced ea 5 any sensible eects, or operations of (of which dvs new trials ee a Bree ar yet (one cesar Be ae are a ‘or to manifest wherein it is erroneous, and substitute a beter i But though we are unwilling to examine any farther the inferences wont to be made from the Torricellian experiment, yet we think it not "This curious use of the word “physiological” is now obsolete; in the seven- teenth century the word “physiology” wi eas century d “physiology” was sometimes used as equivalent to28 CASE 1 impeinent w present your Lordship with «couple of advertisements coucming Tit eo in trying the experiment here or chewhere, you make we of the Englsh measures that mathetstans and wademen are here Groat to clay, you will unless you be forewarned off, be apt © ape at thie ha have writen of the experiment have been mise StEn For whereas men are wont generaly to talk ofthe quicklver's Teaning sapended atthe height of Beween sx of seven and twenty Trees, commonly observed, when divert yeart since we fst were tists abou ths experiment, that the quctaver in the tbe rened stout ay Inche and half above the surface of the remagnant quick Scere eel, which dats both amaze and perplex us because though we held 4c not improbable that the difereer of the groser English, and tha of lly and France, might keep the quicker from fling quite as low in this colder, atin those warmer climates Jere col aot believe that that difernce inthe air should sone be Able to make so great an one inthe Heights ofthe mercurial ender; tnd acordingly upon enquiry we fond that though the various density Ofte a hot ube overtone in this experinnt yo the main reason sry e found the ender of meteury to consi of 0 many ince, was th th ou agi hese uh infer neg whe pt take eof in foreign parts bythe writers ofthe experiment Mi na hing T dee your Lordi to take notes of i that he eight ofthe mercurial eyindr is not wont to be found aogther so treet ss relly thmight prove by taon ofthe negligence of ineogancy BE tnom that make the experiment. For oftentimes upon the opening Gf the invened tbe into the velled mercury, you may observe 4 Sune of si to asend fom the bottom ofthe tbe through the sb. {ling quickiver to the tp; and almost sways jou may, sf yu lok toe nt of oe of wpa bel ng te > Tc ofthe eae bein the guikalver and the glans (nt ow to men- fon the patter of a that ie conceted inthe very body ofthe mer 2) ay of which, upon the quickalve’ fosang the upper pat SER ee Wo break iat tat deserted pace where they Gnd ile oF no Eisner other expanding of themocves, [tis difiein suchas thi that are the bus of one's skeptics about the azaracy of Pere’ thats (ce p-8).] Whether ths be the reson, that upon the api BFtwam bodies tothe emptied pact ofthe abs? the subjacent mereary Grol Te depressed somevhat lower, we shall ot determine; though i * Difculies of tis sort have led to an international agreement on standards of measurement. The accuracy required in modern experiments has meant that providing standards has beeome a rather elaborate mater. i "Weare now quite certain that ths isthe reason. To the extent that there i ai in the space above the mercury in the Torrcelian tube, warming and cooling this space will affect the height of the column since air expands and contracts ‘with changes in temperature, a fact well known by 1660 BOYLE’S EXPERIMENTS 29 seem very probable, especially since we found, that, upon the application of linen cloths dipped in water, tothe same part of the tube, the quick: silver would somewhat ascend; as if the cold had condensed the im: prisoned air (that pressed upon it) into a lesser room. But that the de. serted space is not wont to be totally devoid of air, we were induced to think by several circumstances: for when an eminent mathematician, and excelent experimenter, had taken great pains and spent much time in sccuratly filling up a tube of mercury, we found that yet there remained store of inconspicuous bubbles, by inverting the tube, letting the quick- silver fall to its wonted height; and by applying (by degrees) a redchot iron to the outside of the tube, over against the upper part of the mer curial eplinder, (for hereby the litle unheeded bubbles, being mightily ‘expanded, ascended in such numbers, and so fast to the deserted space, that the upper part of the quicksilver seemed, to our wonder, to boil) We farther observed, tht in the trials of the Torricellian experiment, we have seen made by others, and (one excepted) all our own, we never found that, upon the inclining of the tube, the quicksilver would fully reach to the very top of the sealed end: which argued, that there wat some ai retreated thither that kept the mercury out ofthe unreplenished space. (This i the forerunner of many such methods of checking on the performance of an apparatus. If Perier had reported that he had made this test in each instance, one would be more inclined to take seriously the reported accuracy of his results. But despite Perier's statement that he “carefully rid the tube of air,” one remains skeptical of his ability to repeat the Trl expeiment with an acurey of wah ofan If your Lordship should now demand what are the best expedients to hinder the intrusion of the air in this experiment; we must answer, that of those which are easily intelligible without ocular demonstration; we can at present suggest, upon our own trials, no better than these. Fist, atthe open end of the tube the glass must not only be made 25 even at the edges as you can, but it is very convenient (especially if the tube be Jarge) that the bottom be every way bent inwards, that so the orifice fot much exceeding a quarter of an inch in diameter, may be the more casly and exactly stopped by the experimenter's finger; between which and the quicksilver, that there may be no air intercepted (a8 very often it happens that there is) it is requisite thatthe tube be filled as fll at possibly it cam be, that the finger whichis to stop it, pressing upon the accumulated and protuberant mercury, may rather throw down some, than not find enough exactly to keep out the air. It is also an useful and compendious way not to fil the tube at frst quite of mercury, but to leave near the top about a quarter of an inch empty; for if you then stop the open end with your finger, and invert the tube, that quarter of an inch of air will ascend in 2 great bubble tothe top, and in its passage thither, wll gather up all the little bubbles, and unite them with itselé into one great one; so that if by reinverting the tube, you let that bubble return to the open end of it, you will have & much closer mercurial eyine30 CASE 1 der than before, and ned but toad very lite quiksiver more rfl de the abe ee And yo he eer ad npn velo ac which cannot tis way be gleaned ip, you may endeavour, Keto you inver the tbe, o faethe quicker from then by shaking the abe and genly knocking on the ati ff ar every Hide pare of qucksver which you por in; and afterward by foreng the small Tang bobble of air wo dows themselves and bre, by imploying » ot an in ch manne a we ly mentioned enembe hat by carefully ling the tube, though yet were not quite fee from ar we Ieee ered ie two ie dcr an gy and his in avery shor ube: which ‘we therefore mention, beste we fave found by expenenc, tat in short tuber aie ae x more peje Calvo the exfeizcat than in lng onc, where the at having more ‘oom expan toc, doth es peel pros upon the obj rey Note the type of extremely helpful suggestions given by Boyle for the benefit of others who wished likewise to experiment; before the publication of this book in 1660 few if any instances are on record of a similar concern with the difficulties of other experimenters except in so far as the recipes of the alchemists can be considered in this category. 3, BOYLE'S EXPERIMENTS ON AIR AS A MEDIUM FOR TRANSMIT: ‘TING SOUND Boyle's published record of two experiments on air as a medium for transmitting sound is given in this section. The first is Experiment 27 in his book of 1660; the second is Experiment 41 of his second book ‘on pneumatics, published in 1669. Boyle's description of his twenty-seventh experiment in his account of 1660 follows. ‘That the sir is the medium, whereby sounds are conveyed to the ear, hhath been for many ages, and is yet the common doctrine of the schocls. But this received opinion hath been of late opposed by some philosophers ‘upon the account of an experiment made by the industrious Kircher, and other learned men; who have (as they assure us) observed, that if a bell, with a steel clapper, be so fastened to the inside of a tube, that ‘upon the making the experiment de vacuo [see footnote x] with that tube, the bell remained suspended in the deserted space at the upper end of the tube: and if also a vigorous load-stone be applied on the outside of the cube t0 the bell, it will attace the clapper, which, upon the removal af the oaatone fang back wl ike agains the oposite side of the bell, and thereby produce a very aualible sound; whence divers have con cluded, that it is not the air, but some more subtle bedy, that is the medium of sounds. But because we conceived, that, to invalidate such a consequence from this ingenious experiment, (though the most luciferous that could well be made without some such engine as ours) some things a BOYLE’S EXPERIMENTS a1 might be speciously enough alledged; we thought ft to make a trial or two, in order tothe discovery of what the aie doth in conveying of sounds, reserving. divers other experiments triable in our engine concerning sounds tll we can obtain more leisure to prosecute them. Coneziving it then the best way to make our wal with such a noise, as might nat be Jond enough to make it dificult to discern slighter variations in it, bot rather might be, both lasting (that we might take notice by what degrees it deceased) and so small, that it could not grow much weaker without becoming imperceptible; we took a watch, whose case we opened, that the contained air might have fre egress into that ofthe receiver. And this watch was suspended in the cavity ofthe vessel only by a pack thread, 4s the unlikeliest thing to convey a sound to the top ofthe receiver; and then closing up the vessel with melted plaster, we listened near the sides of it, and plainly enough heard the noise made by the balance. [Boyle clearly recognized the importanee of controlling the conditions in an ‘experiment. The method of supporting the source of the noise st fst sight appears irrelevant. On further reflection, however, itis dear that the sound might be transmitted through this suppor. If so, a thread seemed less likely to convey sound than a metal ot wooden support. To make sure that a watch so suspended by a thread in sir could still be heard, Boyle proceeded to determine whether he could hear the watch Aefore he pumped out the air.) Those also of us, that watched for that circumstance, observed, thatthe noise seemed to come directly in a stright line from the watch unto the ea. And it was observable to this purpese, that we found a manifest disparity of noise, by holding our ears neat the sides of the receiver, and near the cover of it: which diference semed to proceed from that of the texture ofthe glass, from the structure ofthe cover (and the cement) through which the sound was propagated from the watch to the ear. But let us prosecute our experiment [that i, let us start pumping the air out ofthe receiver in which the watch is suspended by a thread]. The pump after this being employed, it semed, that from time to time the sound grew fainter and fainter; so that when the re- cciver was emptied as much as it used to be for the foregoing experi ments, neither we, nor some strangers, that chanced to be ther in the zoom, could, by applying our ears to the very sides, hear any noise from within; though we could easly perezive, that by the moving ofthe hand, Which marked the second minutes, and by that ofthe balance, that the watch nether stood stl, nr remarkably varied from its wonted motion And to satisfy ourselves farther, that it was indeed the absence of the air about the watch, that hindered us from hearing it, we let in the ex- ternal ai at the stopcock; and then though we turned the key and stopt the valve, yet we could plainly hear the noise made by the balance, though wwe held our ears sometimes at two foot distance from the outside ofthe receiver; and this experiment being reiterated into another place, sue- czeded after the like manner. Which seems to prove, that whether or no the air be the only, itis at leas the principal mediom of sounds. [A very cautious interpretation of the experimental findings, Boyle recognizes