Mention Alchemy to most people and their eyes glaze over as they conjure up visions of magic and voodoo science. At various times in history attempts were made to understand and explain some of the early chemical reactions which had been discovered largely by accident. They involved such things as primitive metallurgy and dyeing of cloth.

As explanations go, Alchemy appears to have been one of the strangest. Almost everybody has heard about the alchemists' preoccupation with turning almost everything else into gold. Using various magical processes and potions it was thought quite possible to achieve this. The fact that no one ever actually succeeded didn't discourage these "prospectors".

Beginning with the first century A.D. at least four different cultures had a stab at it. Early on, Greek artisans in Alexandria took up the challenge, inspired by the theories of Aristotle. At about the same time, in China a similar but unrelated quest was begun. The Greeks were interested in gold as a nobel metal while the Chinese were more interested in its medicinal value.

By about the eighth century, Arab scholars, actively encouraged by their rulers, assembled all the available writings from the earlier Greek philosophers and artisans. This included much of the material on Alchemy and once again it fired up the imagination of a new group of practioners. Two additional factors were added. One was the Chinese notion of medicinal benefit, the other was the concept of the "philosophers stone".

Finally beginning with the eleventh century, the magic of Alchemy was rediscovered in Western Europe. By now there was the triple allure of gold not only as a nobel metal and having medicinal powers but also as highly desirable in its own right. The hunt for the perfect "formula" continued well into the eighteenth century.

The Elusive Quest
Nobody knows for certain where the practice of Alchemy began or even why. Most sources suggest first century Alexandria as most likely. As to why, it is generally believed that it was Aristotle's "fault". Seen in the light of the beliefs of the time the whole idea was not quite as goofy as you might think.

One of the underlying themes of Greek philosophy was the concept of perfection and how to achieve it. It was believed that the road to perfection was a natural and attainable process. Not a bad idea even in our modern western culture. Anyway, the ancients felt that other metals were less "perfect" than gold. It was therefore reasonable to assume that nature formed gold out of other metals deep within the earth, using more or less natural processes.

Armed with this knowledge, all the alchemist had to do was figure out how this process worked and presto, gold! Although the alchemist's quest was no doubt spurred on by gold's intrinsic appeal, being perfect and all, there was an underlying and much more spiritual component to his substantial efforts. It very much embodied the whole notion of attaining perfection

I am not going to delve into all the specifics of their methods but a lot of it had to do with such things as death and rebirth a notion very much associated with the metallurgy of the time. In addition they worked with gold and mercury, arsenic and sulfur, salts and acids, and in the process became familiar with a wide range of what are now called chemical reagents.

They decided that metals are compound bodies, made up of mercury and sulfur in different proportions. Consequently they worked a great deal with those materials in their attempts to reach their elusive goal. As they struggled they found many new substances and invented many useful processes.

Alchemy made its way into western Europe by way of Spain and Sicily. Roger Bacon in addition to his enlightened approach to scientific experiment was also keenly interested in this newly discovered subject. He no doubt believed this was another legitimate area of study and why not?

Another sage of the time the German philosopher Albertus Magnus also took an interest. It is of course easy to chuckle at their naivete but we have to look at this in the context of their time. In an era when many theories were even more irrational, Alchemy almost made sense.

So what's the final verdict? Alchemy, steeped as it was in magic and voodoo science was pretty far removed from modern chemistry practices. On the other hand, the efforts spent by the alchemists on various chemical compounds laid the groundwork for the work that chemical scientists do.

Many of the techniques used in chemistry began with the alchemists. From the early belief in earth, fire, air and water as the four constituents of matter they gradually managed to isolate more and more compounds and elements perhaps not realizing they were actually unravelling the mysteries of their world.

Their ultimate quest was perfection which was embodied in that perfect metal, gold. It wasn't really such a bad goal at that and their indirect contribution to modern chemistry turned it into another kind of gold.

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