Workdiary 8 ('Memorialls Philosophicall Beginning this First day of the Yeare 1651/2')

Content: Medical recipes from 1652-4; sources include George Starkey, Gerard Boate, Thomas Cox, William Butler, Nicholas Davies, Lady Ranelagh, et al.

General Information

• Creation: 1652 (1654?)
• Hands: Robert Boyle (all entries)
• Source: Royal Society, Boyle Papers 25, pp. 343-6
• Languages: English (9 entries) Latin (5 entries)
• Length: 14 entries, unnumbered
• Format: Foolscap sheet folded to form four pages on which the entries were recorded; this sheet was then folded again once vertically and twice horizontally (into thirds). P. 1 has its original pagination.
• Note 1: The entries on the first page of this workdiary are written on the right-hand side of the page, as if as a right column. In the succeeding pages, though, the entries are written across the entire page, and not in columns. The workdiary of the previous year, Workdiary 7, is written in its entirety in this columnar format
• Note 2: The repeated folding of the leaves has led to tears and faded, illegible, letters in the creases of the pages. Most of the letters in these damaged creases can be reconstructed from context and these uncertain, supplied letters have been placed in square brackets.
• Note 3: The dating of this workdiary is slightly problematic, in that, having originally dated it '1651/52' in the title, Boyle then added a further date of two years later. There is no means of deciding which of these dates is to be preferred. For a discussion of the matter with reference both to this text and workdiary 9, see Tried in the Fire, p.219n.