Alchemy, in search of the philosopher’s stone. –

Considered a pseudosciencealchemy was practiced from approximately the fourth century BC until the rise of chemistry and the natural sciences, at the beginning of the XVII century. Its period of splendor is located exactly in the Medieval Europe.

From the final stage of Middle Ages Numerous books were written about the so-called “Hermetic Art”. the word alchemy, from Arabic al-kimiya, whose meaning refers to chemistry has, however, a different connotation from the current concept of the term, since it refers to a transcendental, spiritual chemistry.There were three fundamental objectives pursued by the alchemists.

On the one hand, they tried to transform base metals, such as lead and copper, into precious metals, such as silver and gold. In addition, they tried to create a beast capable of curing all diseases. They finally applied themselves to the task of discovering the elixir of immortality.

The famous “Philosopher’s Stone”.

It all boiled down to the search for the well-known “Philosopher Stone”,considered as the only substance capable of achieving transmutation, the universal panacea and immortality. The most widespread belief affirmed that this substance, put in contact with ignoble metal such as iron, through the fusion process, would be transformed into gold.

Today there are not many texts that can be considered in the strict sense as books on alchemy. Over the years, many articles have been written that have gotten nothing right with alchemy. Today, various healing processes such as aromatherapy or hemotherapy take into account possible medical consequences and the importance of alchemy. In any case, the alchemists never managed to develop properly scientific methods, since this “pseudoscience” was never separated from the magical, the supernatural and the metaphysical. Their theories succumbed before the birth of modern science, based on the experimental method.

Source: Espasa-Calpe.