Author: Holmyard, E J

Alchemy is thought to have originated over 2000 years ago in Hellenic Egypt,the result of three converging streams: Greek philosophy, Egyptian technologyand the mysticism of Middle Eastern religions.  Its heyday was from about800 A.D. to the middle of the seventeenth century, and its practioners rangedfrom kings, p;opes, and emperors to minor clergy, parish clerks, smiths, dyers,and tinkers.  Even such accomplished men as Roger Bacon, Thomas Aquinas,Sir Thomas Browne and Isaac Newton took an interest in alchemical matters.

In its search for the "Philosopher's Stone" that would transmutebase metals into silver and gold, alchemy took on many philosophical, religiousand mystical overtones.  These and many other facets af alchemy areexplored with enormous insight and erudition in this classic work.  E. J.Holmyard, a noted scholar in the field, begins with the alchemists of ancientGreece and China and goes on to discuss alchemical apparatus, Islamic and earlywestern alchemy; signs, symbols, and secret terms; Paracelsus; English, Scottishand French alchemists; Helvetius, Price, and Semler, and much more.

Ranging over two millennia of alchemical history, Mr. Holymyard shows how,like astrology and witchcraft, alchemy was an integral part of thepre-scientific moral order, arousing the cupidity of princes, the blind fear ofmobs and the intellectual curiosity of learned men.  Eventually, however,with the advent and ascension of the scientific method, the hopes and ideas ofthe alchemists faded to the status of "pseudo-science." The transformation, aswell as alchemy's undeniable role as a precursor of modern chemistry, arebrilliantly illuminated in this book.  Students of alchemy, chemistry, thehistory of science, the occult -- anyone interested in the origin and evolutionof one of mankind's most enduring and influential myths -- will want to have acopy of the masterly study.