Includes bibliographical references (p. [319]-333) and index.

Alchemy and Chemistry: A Crucial Note on Terminology and Categories -- Ch. I. Boyle Spagyricized -- Ch. II. Skeptical of the Sceptical Chymist -- Ch. III. The Dialogue on Transmutation, Kinds of Transmutations, and Boyle's Beliefs -- Ch. IV. Adepti, Aspirants, and Cheats -- Ch. V. Boyle and Alchemical Practice -- Ch. VI. Motivations: Truth, Medicine, and Religion -- Epilogue: A New Boyle and a New Alchemy -- App. 1. Robert Boyle's Dialogue on the Transmutation and Melioration of Metals -- App. 2. Interview Accounts of Transmutation and Prefaces to Boyle's Other Chrysopoetic Writings -- App. 3. Dialogue on the Converse with Angels Aided by the Philosophers' Stone.

The Aspiring Adept presents a provocative new view of Robert Boyle (1627-1691), one of the leading figures of the Scientific Revolution, by revealing for the first time his avid and lifelong pursuit of alchemy. Boyle has traditionally been considered, along with Newton, a founder of modern science because of his mechanical philosophy and his experimentation with the air-pump and other early scientific apparatus.

However, Lawrence Principe shows that his alchemical quest - hidden first by Boyle's own codes and secrecy, and later suppressed or ignored - positions him more accurately in the intellectual and cultural crossroads of the seventeenth century.