“Alchemy is very, very old. Guided by material handed down through the centuries from ancient Egypt, Arabia and China to classical Greece and Rome, and then to western and central Europe, the practitioner of alchemy has three key aims: to determine the whereabouts of or else synthesise the Philosopher’s Stone, to uncover the secret to eternal life, and to establish a way of turning base metals into gold. While we might claim that such pursuits are clearly founded on a fundamental misunderstanding of chemistry, in the eyes of many monarchs, alchemy was well worth investing in. ...”
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