Boyle, Robert

8vo (7 x 4 1/2 in.; 178 x 114 mm, uncut). Title within double-ruled border; quires A and F browned and stained, terminal leaf blank. Modern olive calf, spine lettered gilt. 

A. Arnold (presentation inscription on title-page)

Wing B3966; ESTC R17645; Fulton 149

First edition. "To a modern physiologist the Porosity of Bodies is of signal interest, for it marks the beginning of the study of osmotic pressure and of the exchange of substances through living membranes, which is at the basis of the regulation of all bodily processes. He commences by considering the skin and sweating, confirming Santorio's celebrated observations on loss of weight through insensible perspiration. There are interesting observations upon the absorption of medicines through the skin and through wounds. The second part of the essay deals with the porosity of solid bodies, and once more we find Boyle speaking in terms of atomic structure and arrangement" (Fulton).