The vocable alchemia (or some alternate form such as ars chemica) appears in the West from the twelfth century onward in reference to the medieval quest for a means of transmuting base metals into gold, for a universal cure, and for the "elixir...

Alchemists employed both physical procedures and magic to convert base metals, such as lead, into gold, and to create elixirs of eternal life. While alchemy is commonly defined as a field of knowledge developed in Europe from the Middle Ages until the...

Alchemy was the precursor to the science of chemistry; it incorporated many elements of magic and religion. Originating in the Middle East, it first appeared in Europe after the Moorish conquest of Spain. A key focus of alchemy was the search for...

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, chemistry remained in its infancy. Scientists still had not agreed upon language to describe chemicals and had no ways of classifying them. In addition, chemistry played a role in many different fields that...

Once early humans developed the ability to reason, they began to experiment with various plants and herbs. Through the process of trial and error, early humans discovered which plants might be used as a food source, which could be used to flavor food...

In a general sense, alchemy is perceived as the transformation of a common substance to something rare and valuable. Medieval alchemists are often portrayed as little more than quacks attempting to make gold from lead. This depiction is not entirely...

Alchemy is a precursor of modern chemistry. It represented the first systematic attempts of people to try to understand the workings of the universe without recourse to religion. There were two main driving forces behind the "science" of...

In the history of science, alchemy refers to both an early form of the investigation of nature and an early philosophical and spiritual discipline, both combining elements of chemistry, metallurgy, physics, medicine, astrology, semiotics, mysticism,...