Overall Section Structure

A basic chronological layout of each section of Boyle’s book is as follows:

First, the core chapter "essay" of the book discusses a specific topic.

Second, is the "citations" section—today, what one would refer to as footnotes. These notes expand on the citations seen in the margins of the essay.

Third comes the "errata" section, which contains minor corrections, mostly to the structure of the section. Errata are placed directly after the main content of the essay because reprinting was costly, and errors were noted after the printing of the essay.

Fourth, and finally, comes the “index,” which is a page-by-page chapter summary of the essay.