Surgical appreciation of Robert Boyle in the 21st Century

Robert Boyle was known as the Father of Chemistry. He lived at a time when science and religion were closely linked. It was a pious and puritanical ti me, but also a time of great enlightenment. His original and paramount thes is, that air has weight, has given us Boyle's gas law. Another of his writi ngs in the Cowlishaw Collection is on religion. It is stated that, at one s tage, he was deliberating whether to be a scientist or a priest. Surgical a ppreciation of Boyle's law has poignant application in scientific methods a nd research in the 21st century. The development of advanced laparoscopic s urgery represents a challenging new era in surgery that was not envisaged b y our surgical predecessors. Basic surgical research into the effects of ga s pressure on renal function and bowel response will be presented.