
Robert Boyle’s to-do list (2010) - tosh
https://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-science/2010/08/27/robert-boyle-list/
======
jacquesm
That's a fantastic find. Interesting how some of these we now take for granted
and some we shall likely never have. Modest ambitions too! My own todo list is
a bit less interesting.

The one that jumped out to me as likely unattainable was "A Ship not to be
Sunk", as much on the wishlist then as now and so much harder to achieve than
to talk about that I think it will be forever beyond our reach. Oceans are
fierce.

~~~
mcv
At the time, it must have sounded of similar complexity or attainability as a
ship to sail with all winds, but motor boats have been a solved issue for ages
now, but ships can still sink.

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ptah
> Pleasing Dreams and Physicall Exercises by the Egyptian Electuary and by the
> Fungus mentioned by the French author.

anybody know what "the Egyptian Electuary" and "the Fungus mentioned by the
French author" is? and who is the french author

~~~
dr_dshiv
Maybe this guy?
[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233679918_Robert_Bo...](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233679918_Robert_Boyle_Georges_Pierre_des_Clozets_and_the_Asterism_a_New_Source)

~~~
twic
There's something about the story that is famiilar to students of modern VC-
funded flim-flam:

[https://blog.oup.com/2014/04/georges-pierre-des-
clozets/](https://blog.oup.com/2014/04/georges-pierre-des-clozets/)

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ArtWomb
"A Perpetual Light". There we have limitless options: photovoltaics,
radioluminescence, piezoelectricity. And are even on the cusp of inertial
containment of fusion reactions.

How astounding to be able to reach back in time and pluck out a Newton or a
Boyle or a Faraday, and plop them onto a jet airplane ride in the early 21st
century! Space exploration, quantum teleportation, time dilation, gene
manipulation. The doctrinaire scientific orthodoxy of our day must appear
absolutely heretical to their minds.

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dr_dshiv
Seems like the fungus might do it:

" _Potent Druggs to alter or Exalt Imagination_ , Waking, Memory, and other
functions, and appease pain, procure innocent sleep, harmless dreams, etc."
And "Pleasing Dreams and physicall Exercises exemplify’d by the Egyptian
Electuary and by _the Fungus mentioned by the French Author_."

~~~
twic
Do we have any idea what, specifically, the Egyptian electuary or the fungus
were?

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zeristor
An excellent find.

Most of the rest I can understand, but this one has me stumped:

"The Attaining Gigantick Dimensions."

Are we talking large humans, turning people into giants? Did 'Gigantick' mean
something different back then?

~~~
melling
It was submitted a couple times in the past.

[https://hn.algolia.com/?q=boyle+list](https://hn.algolia.com/?q=boyle+list)

There are lots of valuable links that never gained traction.

~~~
zeristor
"There are lots of valuable links that never gained traction."

Content is king, there's probably a great website to be made
{hoover|dyson|vacuum}ing up amazing lost links.

~~~
melling
A daily “Best of Missed HN”

~~~
jacquesm
What a great idea.

~~~
NicoJuicy
Weekly would be better

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narag
_The Emulating of Fish without Engines by Custome and Education only._

Could someone explain what this means?

~~~
nisuni
Swimming?

~~~
burpsnard
Freediving

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melling
First on the list:

“The Prolongation of Life.”

He’d probably be disappointed that we’ve gained so much knowledge and have
made no progress on this.

~~~
w-m
That depends on how you look at it. You could also call it a great success:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy#/media/File:Li...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy#/media/File:Life_expectancy_by_world_region,_from_1770_to_2018.svg)

~~~
dekhn
That mixes the massive improvements in child mortality rates with the modest
improvement in "age of mortality when child mortality is excluded".

~~~
w-m
Sure, but all of these children got to live a full life instead of dying
early, so "prolongation of life" applies there as well. A job well done, time
to cross it off the to-do list? :)

~~~
melling
Nope, from his second item on the list, I’d say you missed his point.

“ The Recovery of Youth, or at least some of the Marks of it, as new Teeth,
new Hair colour’d as in youth.”

~~~
jacquesm
That's a different entry.

~~~
melling
Yes, the next entry. it naturally follows.

First prolong life, next restore some aspects of youth.

