Alchemy

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The science by aid of which the chemical philosophers of medieval times attempted to transmute the baser metals
into gold or silver. There is considerable divergence of opinion as to the etymology of the word, but it would seem
to be derived from the Arabic al=the, and kimya=chemistry, which in turn derives from the late Greek
chemica=chemistry, from chumeia=a mingling, or cheein, ‘to pour out‘ or ‘mix’, Aryan root ghu, to pour, whence the
word ‘gush’. Mr. A. Wallis Budge in his "Egyptian Magic", however, states that it is possible that it may be derived
from the Egyptian word khemeia, that is to say ‘the preparation of the black ore’, or ‘powder’, which was regarded
as the active principle in the transmutation of metals. To this name the Arabs affixed the article ‘al’, thus giving
al-khemeia, or alchemy.

HISTORY OF ALCHEMY: From an early period the Egyptians possessed the reputation of being skillful workers in
metals and, according to Greek writers, they were conversant with their transmutation, employing quicksilver in
the process of separating gold and silver from the native matrix. The resulting oxide was supposed to possess
marvelous powers, and it was thought that there resided within in the individualities of the various metals, that in
it their various substances were incorporated. This black powder was mystically identified with the underworld form
of the god Osiris, and consequently was credited with magical properties. Thus there grew up in Egypt the belief
that magical powers existed in fluxes and alloys. Probably such a belief existed throughout Europe in connection
with the bronze-working castes of its several races. Its was probably in the Byzantium of the fourth century,
however, that alchemical science received embryonic form. There is little doubt that Egyptian tradition, filtering
through Alexandrian Hellenic sources was the foundation upon which the infant science was built...