Alchemy ― A Significant Philosophy in the History of Science

Alchemy may invoke notions of mysticism and pseudoscience in the present day and age. Though it wasn’t always so. A better characterization might be as proto-science or as branch of natural philosophy which through organization and refinement contributed to the foundations modern chemistry.

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At one time alchemy was practiced in nearly every part of Europe, Asia and Africa. It originated in Hellenistic Egypt, primarily Alexandria between the 3rd and 4th century BCE. With the ancient belief in perfection ― of beings, metals and universal solvents ― held at these times it’s not hard to see where many fantastical ideas such as the Philosopher’s Stone came from.

Diving into some of the concepts of alchemy provides insight into the opportunities that the serious thinkers of a pre-scientific age had when it came to building knowledge of natural phenomenon in a way that the tools and intellectual frameworks of the time supported.

Let’s start with the most ambitious undertaking, in my opinion, chrysopoeia.

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Chrysopoeia was the idea that one can change base metals (e.g. lead) into gold. Gold at the time was considered the most pure and perfect metal. It was a sign of status and used as currency despite how heavy it was.

In alchemy this enlightenment was brought on through the study of the natural world and considering how it changed from a state with impurities to one of purity. Much of this was explored through techniques that we would recognize today as analytic chemistry.

For example, Cleopatra the Alchemist invented the alembic, a device for distilling substances before the 3rd century BCE. Innovations such as this would eventually contribute to the laboratory instruments and unit operations we use today.

Nearly everything can be dissolved in a solvent of some kind. A universal solvent is quite tempting to say the least. To think that there could be a solution that would dissolve anything into its most pure state really is captivating when you think about all the various mixed compounds there are. Water was thought by many alchemists to have this sought after property―as nearly everything we use dissolves in water eventually. Despite the resistance some types of molecules such as fats and oily substances, modern chemists still refer to water this way on occasion due to its extreme diversity as a solvent.

All in all, the philosophical ideas that come from this branch of science are the more interesting to me. It influenced not just how people were exploring their world but themselves and their religions as well. Alchemy as a whole has influenced many philosophical ideas, religions, and works of fiction.

The idea that there could be a such thing as a perfect being, a ‘golden’ entity, has always captured the imagination of human beings. Some would consider only ‘God’ could be so and humans must strive to be so through means of enlightenment.

Whether in pursuit of gold or an understanding of a perfect soul alchemy provided that for many people back in a day where everything was learned by experience rather than simulations.

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Alchemy shouldn’t be stuck on a shelf and forgotten about as that science that isn’t a science but contemplated and read with an understanding that its not yet the Philosopher’s Stone. It is not yet the wealth of knowledge that it could become. It was a step in the direction of understanding the world and ourselves―and, with the right perspective and due acknowledgment to what has been learned since, it still is.

While the techniques have been refined, and much that is unworkable discarded, the same curiosity about the natural world that drove alchemists of old, still drives the discovery and organization of chemical knowledge in modern times.