Brand was, like alchemists of the time, searching for the "philosopher's stone", a substance which would turn base metals (like lead) into gold. By the time his first wife died he had exhausted her money on that fruitless search. He then married his second wife Margaretha who was a wealthy widow and her money let him continue the search.
Like many before him, he was interested in urine and tried combining it with various other materials, in hundreds of combinations. He had seen for instance a recipe in a book 400 Auserlensene Chemi ...
By 1675, having been unsuccessful at producing gold, Brand spoke of his phosphorus to friends and soon it was the talk of Hamburg. He enjoyed the fame it brought him, and being a rather pompous man insisted on being called "Herr Doktor".
Alchemist and academic Johann Kunckel had been interested in luminescence for some time and when he heard about Brand's discovery he came from Wittenberg to see it for himself. He wrote of it to fellow alchemist Daniel Kraft in Dresden too. Kunckel wanted to buy phosphorus from Brand, but he would not sell, suspecting Kun ...
