Chapter 2- The alchemist and his apprentice

As we step into chapter two, we take a look into the alchemist Robert Boyle's life. Robert Boyle was part of the Royal Society and had retained a life long search for the philosopher's stone, just like many other alchemists and chemists some being included in the first chapter like Kraft, Kunckel, and Brandt. The Royal Society was first created by King Charles II, in 1660 to promote the study of science. Boyle did a lot of work in the transmutation of base metals into gold, and many of his papers are cited in the chapter as well. As he experimented with many elements such as Mercury, he looked towards the good things about it, and eventually the bad caught up to him and King Charles II. Acute mercury poisoning seemed to be the cause of his chronic illness, and King Charles II's death.
When Kraft, who was discussed in chapter one, arrived in London, Boyle invites him to display his findings of phosphorus. Boyle was so fascinated with phosphorus that he knew he had to make his own and discover the properties of phosphorus. To trim things up a bit, Daniel Kraft shows his stuff and Boyle wants to know of the "recipe." Kraft only gave him clue, "it belonged to the human body," and Boyle's personal investigation began. Throughout Boyle's papers, the change from secretive alchemist changed to scientific chemist around 1680. Boyle wrote his papers full of his observations, experiments, and tried to explain everything in plain English, but not only that but so the ordinary person could read them. The chapter continues on with Boyle's experiments and the road to the discovery of his own phosphorus.