Robert Boyle is widely regarded as the Father of Modern Chemistry, who broke once and for all from the irrational, misguided alchemy that preceded him. One of the goals of this carefully researched and argued new book by Lawrence M. Principe, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Institute for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology at The Johns Hopkins University, is to refute the two errors in this characterization of Boyle and to understand his life, thought, and work in the intellectual and social context of his time. This book is not for the casual reader; it is a detailed scholarly treatise in the history of science, but it provides a fresh and interesting perspective on Boyle and on the development of chemistry in the 17th century.

Boyle is usually characterized as a modern scientist and his most famous book, The Skeptical Chymist, as a critique of traditional alchemy. Principe demonstrates that this characterization is based on a selective and sometimes incorrect reading of Boyle's works. Like Newton, Boyle was deeply involved in traditional transmutational alchemy, reading the works of other alchemists, performing experiments, and even witnessing transmutations. Alchemy, however, was not a monolith and Boyle adhered to what Principe tentatively identifies as a uniquely English school of supernatural alchemy. According to Principe, The Skeptical Chymist was mainly a criticism of the Paracelsians interested in chemical medicine rather than a defense of what we would now regard as modern chemistry.

To further support his characterization of Boyle and to better reveal Boyle's involvement in alchemyparticularly the transmutation of base metals to gold, termed chrysopoeiaPrincipe has reconstructed from some 20 fragments one of Boyle's alchemical manuscripts, his Dialogue on the Transmutation of Metals. The full text of this lost work is included as Appendix 1. Two other primary sources, Interview Accounts of Transmutations and Prefaces to Boyle's Other Chrysopoetic Writings, and Robert Boyle's Dialogue on the Converse with Angels Aided by the Philosophers Stone, are also printed, as Appendices 2 and 3.

Both Robert Boyle and 17th-century chemistry emerge from this book as exceedingly complex. The development of chemistry cannot be regarded as either straightforward or linear. As Boyle's work exemplifies, ideas from traditional alchemy were important in the development of chemistry. For example, Boyle's corpuscularian hypothesis is partly derived from the alchemical corpuscularian traditionthe minima of Geber. Alchemy was part of the intellectual context in which both Boyle and Newton were raised and it played an important part in their thinking. For Boyle, alchemy was also closely linked to Christianity. He regarded the philosophers' stone as a powerful weapon against the growing atheism of his time. The possessor of the stone could summon angels and other spirits, thus providing support for crucial theological truths. Religion was as important a motivation as both natural philosophy and the potential for the development of potent medicines for Boyle's study of alchemy.

This book is a rich source of information on Robert Boyle, alchemy, and the development of 17th century chemistry. It is not an easy book, however; it requires close attention and some background in the history of science. For those interested in the development of modern science, this is a valuable addition to the growing collection of excellent new books.