Robert Boyle The Sceptical Chymist and The Christian Virtuoso London, 1661 and 1690. In The Sceptical Chymist (1661), Boyle attacks the Aristotelian theory of the four elements (earth, air, fire, and water) and also the three principles (salt, sulfur, and mercury) proposed by Paracelsus. Instead, he developed the concept of primary particles which by coalition produce corpuscles.