The Sceptical Chymist

<p>It is my intent to beget a good understanding between the chymists and the mechanical philosophers who have hitherto been too little acquainted with one another's learning.<br /><br />Published in 1661 many people believe that this book was one of the first to argue in favour of what we now know as modern chemistry and against the pseudo-science of alchemy. In doing so Boyle was taking on some of the great historical names in the field we now call the philosophy of science.<br /><br />The Dutch historian of science Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis perhaps best summed up the influence the book had:<br /><br />After the appearance of The Sceptical Chymist Aristotle's doctrine of the four elements as well as Paracelsus' theory of the three principia gradually passes into disuse.</p>