And yet, no mention of Instagram filters? 
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Am I the only one who thinks that a lot of this sounds like a spell listing from the Dungeons and Dragon’s player’s handbook?
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A fonte may’d from the hande of Robert Boyle.
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So, let’s run the list! Add corrections, links, insights, etc. Nerds to the fore!
1 The Prolongation of Life.
- Outside of lab cells like HeLa (albeit cancerous) and learning more about very long-life organisms, not really? (We can -extend- life, but we haven’t licked aging genetically, yet.)
2 The Recovery of Youth, or at least some of the Marks of it, as new Teeth, new Hair colour’d as in youth.
- Regrowing bald spots, check; fairly reliable hair dyes, check; stem cells for new teeth, in process; 60-year old white guys with popped collars and sporty cars, check. But still basically waiting on the magic elixir? (Tho Peter Thiell and Ray Kurzweil might say otherwise ; -)
3 The Art of Flying.
- Wright brothers, check; moon landing, check; Voyagers, check; wingsuits, check.
4 The Art of Continuing long under water, and exercising functions freely there.
- Lambertsen, Gagnan, Cousteau (rebreathers and SCUBA), check; nuclear submarines, check.
5 The Cure of Wounds at a Distance.
- Radiation therapy? Telemedicine? Vaccines? Mail order homeopathy?
6 The Cure of Diseases at a distance or at least by Transplantation.
- Organ transplants: Christian Barnard and numerous other pioneers, check; bacterial transplants: bone marrow, fecal, ear wax, transplants, check; gene therapy, in process, semi-check.
7 The Attaining [of] Gigantick Dimensions.
- Certainly true in engineering; also true for certain “buttons” on certain desks ; -)
8 The Emulating of Fish without Engines by Custome and Education only.
- Auqaman, Prince Namor, Mark Phelps, check! (Actually, no)
9 The Acceleration of the Production of things out of Seed.
- Absolutely. Chickens, too.
10 The Transmutation of Metalls.
- Kind of – fission byproducts. But much better alloys and reagents than Boyle ever dreamed of…
11 The makeing of Glass Malleable.
- Not-really-but-yeah – plexiglass/perspex et al…
12 The Transmutation of Species in Mineralls, Animals, and Vegetables.
- Animal and plant specie transmutations all the time, via gene splicing; glow in the dark cats! Minerals…reactors (impractical, tho).
13 The Liquid Alkaest and Other dissolving Menstruums.
- No universal solvent yet (but what would you store it in?), but plenty of effective solvents for almost all our needs?
14 The making of Parabolicall and Hyperbolicall Glasses.
- Parabolic: lenses, mirrors, and reflectors, check (think florescent light grids, satellite dishes). Hyperbolic lenses: “These are the best glasses EVAH!”
15 The making Armor light and extremely hard.
- Covered, but not in the way Boyle imagined, pbly – Kevlar, depleted uranium, explosive armor.
16 The practicable and certain way of finding Longitudes.
- Handled by John Harrison, who devoted the greater part of his life to the project, only to be repeatedly kicked in the teeth by Parliament.
17 The use of Pendulums at Sea and in Journeys, and the Application of it to watches.
- Made irrelevant by Harrison, above. However, maybe fill this item with Harrison’s invention of bimetal (it’s in your thermostat) and stable wooden pendulums (by ganging together different types of wood, obsoleted by bimetals).
17 Potent Druggs to alter or Exalt Imagination, Waking, Memory, and other functions, and appease pain, procure innocent sleep, harmless dreams, etc.
- Plant and synthetics, check. Also addiction, organ damage, death and other buzzkills.
18 A Ship to saile with All Winds, and A Ship not to be Sunk.
- Wood-fueled, coal, oil, nuclear ships (i.e., steam and electric), check; Evinrude outboards, check (granted, not “sailing” per se). They built two unsinkable ships; didn’t work out so well ; -)
19 Freedom from Necessity of much Sleeping exemplify’d by the Operations of Tea and what happens in Mad-Men.
- Meth, other speeds; see 17 for notes
20 Pleasing Dreams and physicall Exercises exemplify’d by the Egyptian Electuary and by the Fungus mentioned by the French Author.
- See 17
21 Great Strength and Agility of Body exemplify’d by that of Frantick Epileptick and Hystericall persons.
- See 17
22 A perpetuall Light.
- Main sequence stars (as per H-R diagrams) exceed Boyle’s expectations; a mother’s love; LEDs?
23 Varnishes perfumable by Rubbing.
- Open any issue of Vogue
(ETA pbly not all the typos)
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Also tritium powered illumination. Not exactly perpetual, but 12.5 year half-life is plenty impressive to me.
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This is the only one which puzzles me. Why is he so interested in perfume? Was body odor the real problem? Has it been fixed by indoor, heated plumbing?
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If you lived in London in the 17th century (prior to the advent of underground sewers, indoor plumbing and the concept of personal hygiene), I think the subject of perfume would be much, much more central to everyday life than it is today
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I was wondering about ergot, but I’m not sure they classified it as a fungus then.
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Yeah it sounds like a classic case of solving a problem the wrong way.
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- Potent Druggs to alter or Exalt Imagination, Waking, Memory, and other functions, and appease pain, procure innocent sleep, harmless dreams, etc.
Dude would have totally fit in at boingboing. Prolly would have hated the shop, too.
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This is from a novel (“Viper Wine” by Hermione Eyre), but I like it very much –
“Perhaps varnishes could make base, dirty places fresh, or conjure the smell of a loved one – he had taken with him to sea Venetia’s kerchief, but its incense-sense was soon gone. It worried him, and he feared she had expired, and taken the scent with her to heaven. Only her letter brought him relief.”
(NB – I don’t even know if Boyle is the subject of this book; just something I saw at Google books ; -)
I expect you’re right…Boyle’s England – fens, marshes, the damp, night soil, etc. – was a stinky place, culminating in the Great Stink of 1858.
(While looking for the varnishes, I came across someone saying the original “perpetual light” was actually “perpetual fire” – can anyone with something better than a crappy phone verify that?
Asking because, if so, Burning Mountain in Oz fits the bill)
ETA friggin’ ottokorrect!
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Also your neighbor’s Xmas lights.
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medicinetraditions.com defines electuary as a thick paste used for medicinal purposes. The article mentions, among others, the “Electuary of Aloeswood (Egyptian),” but you need to register to find out what’s in it. Alas, mysteries within mysteries…
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https://robertboyle.carbonmade.com/projects/2712873
close enough
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not what I was expecting, but I like it
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Cleric casts Healing at a Distance! I thought it too.
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But then you have to replace all of your furniture.
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26 A way to automatically number lists. Guess there’s work to do.
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Here is a longer piece that I read recently about John Harrison and his chronometers. The guy was brilliant but maybe too much of a perfectionist for his own good.
“Your work is the best we’ve seen. Here, take this prize of £20,000!”
“No, I know I can build a better device than this one. Give me £500 for tools and materials and some more time and I’ll top this one.”
“Alright then, we’ll give you £250 now, and another £250 when you deliver it.”
Years pass. A second Harrison chronometer is presented and accepted.
“How about another loan? I just know that the next one will be perfect.”
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