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Alchemy
Alchemy (from Arabic: al-kīmiyā) was an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition practiced throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia, originating in Greco-Roman Egypt (primarily Alexandria) in the first few centuries AD. It aims to purify, mature, and perfect certain objects. Common aims were chrysopoeia, the transmutation of “base metals” (e.g., lead) into “noble metals” (particularly gold); the creation of an elixir of immortality; the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease; and the development of an alkahest, a universal solvent. The perfection of the human body and soul was thought to permit or result from the alchemical magnum opus and, in the Hellenistic and Western mystery tradition, the achievement of gnosis. In Europe, the creation of a philosopher’s stone was variously connected with all of these projects.
In English, the term is often limited to descriptions of European alchemy, but similar practices existed in the Far East, the Indian subcontinent, and the Muslim world. In Europe, following the 12th-century Renaissance produced by the translation of Medieval Islamic works on science and the rediscovery of Aristotelian philosophy, alchemists played a significant role in early modern science (particularly chemistry and medicine). Islamic and European alchemists developed a structure of basic laboratory techniques, theory, terminology, and experimental method, some of which are still in use today. However, they continued antiquity’s belief in four elements and guarded their work in secrecy including cyphers and cryptic symbolism. Their work was guided by Hermetic principles related to magic, mythology, and religion.Modern discussions of alchemy are generally split into an examination of its exoteric practical applications and its esoteric spiritual aspects, despite the arguments of scholars like Holmyard and von Franz that they should be understood as complementary. The former is pursued by historians of the physical sciences who examine the subject in terms of early chemistry, medicine, and charlatanism, and the philosophical and religious contexts in which these events occurred. The latter interests historians of esotericism, psychologists, and some philosophers and spiritualists. The subject has also made an ongoing impact on literature and the arts. Despite this split, which von Franz believes has existed since the Western traditions’ origin in a mix of Greek philosophy that was mixed with Egyptian and Mesopotamian technology, numerous sources have stressed an integration of esoteric and exoteric approaches to alchemy as far back as Pseudo-Democritus’s first-century AD On Physical and Mystical Matters (Greek: Physika kai Mystika).Although alchemy is popularly associated with magic, historian Lawrence M. Principe writes:
Most readers probably are aware of several common claims about alchemy—for example, … that it is akin to magic, or that its practice then or now is essentially deceptive. These ideas about alchemy emerged during the eighteenth century or after. While each of them might have limited validity within a narrow context, none of them is an accurate depiction of alchemy in general.”
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Transmutation (noun)
Change, alteration.
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Transmutation (noun)
The conversion of one thing into something else; transformation.
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Transmutation (noun)
Specifically, the supposed transformation of one element into another, especially of a base metal into gold.
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Transmutation (noun)
The actual transformation of one element into another by a nuclear reaction.
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Alchemy (noun)
The ancient search for a universal panacea, and of the philosopher’s stone, that eventually developed into chemistry.
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Alchemy (noun)
The causing of any sort of mysterious sudden transmutation.
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Alchemy (noun)
Any elaborate transformation process or algorithm.
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Transmutation (noun)
the action of changing or the state of being changed into another form
“grotesque transmutations”
“the transmutation of the political economy of the post-war years was complete”
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Transmutation (noun)
the changing of one element into another by radioactive decay, nuclear bombardment, or similar processes.
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Transmutation (noun)
the conversion or transformation of one species into another.
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Transmutation (noun)
the supposed alchemical process of changing base metals into gold.
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Alchemy (noun)
the medieval forerunner of chemistry, concerned with the transmutation of matter, in particular with attempts to convert base metals into gold or find a universal elixir
“occult sciences, such as alchemy and astrology”
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Alchemy (noun)
a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination
“finding the person who’s right for you requires a very subtle alchemy”