Alchemy

**Alchemy**


Alchemy was the study of transmuting less precious metals such as copper and lead into precious metals such as gold and silver. Alchemists believed that all mater consisted of four basic elements such as fire, air, earth, and water in different combinations. Most metals were considered imperfect. If the metal could be perfected they would become gold which had the ideal balance of all four elements. Alchemists made strange recipes of sulfur, copper, and mercury in there labs and heated the metals until they shined like gold.

Alchemists were chemists of the Middle Ages. Alchemy is very different from modern day science. Alchemy probably came from the ideas of artisans in the ancient world, when they tried to copy precious metals, stones, and rare dyes. Artisans are skilled craftsmen and craftswomen. Alchemy contributed knowledge and techniques to the development of modern scientific research. It's theries later abandoned, were an important part of a philosophical tradition that helped to shape modern science. Some Alchemists wrote in codes to keep their work secret, out of the eyes of unqualified people. Byzantine alchemy reached its high right before the 400's, with the work of Zosimus of Panopolis.

Alchemy comes from the word Al- kimiya, meaning "The art of transmutation." Making less precious metals into more precious metals is called the technique of transmutation. Alchemists were also in the fields of pharmacy, medicine, geology, and physics. Alchemists studied the properties of metals and chemical substances. Many Alchemists believed they would succeed in transmutation if they could find the Philosopher's Stone. There other methods include dissolving, powdering, evaporating, and other processes that change the state of a substance.

Works Cited D.B.
 * “Alchemy.” Medieval World. Ed. Sally MacEachern. Vol. 6. Danbury, CT: Grolier Educational, 2001. 18-23. Print.
 * “Alchemy.” The Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia for Students. Ed. William Chester Jordan. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1996. 15-17. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 25 Mar. 2010.
 * “File:Alchemical Laboratory-Project Gutenberg e Text 14218.jpg.” Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Oct. 2009. Web. 1 Apr. 2010. .