EARLY TREATISE ON CRYSTAL STRUCTURE BOYLE, ROBERT.

An Essay about the Origine & Virtues of Gems. [16], 185 pages. 8vo, old mottled calf; title and last leaf trimmed in blank outer margin, small piece torn from blank outer margin of E2. London: William Godbid for Moses Pitt, 1672 first edition. "This celebrated treatise, justly called by Fulton... 'the beginning of the modern development in knowledge of crystal structure,' really has little to do with gemstones except as they happened to conveniently provide crystals for Boyle's inquiries into the solid state of matter... One of the principal reasons for writing this work, according to Boyle, was to determine if the use of pulverized gemstones, still recommended as curative ingredients in medicines, had any basis in chemical facts"--Sinkankas 865. Fulton 96; Wing B3947.