Alchemy research
http://deborahharkness.com/discovery-of-witches/alchemy/
Who was the first alchemist? No one knows, as the origins of alchemy are shrouded in mystery. Scholars believe that some form of alchemy was practiced in ancient cultures throughout the world. At the heart of alchemy is the belief that human beings can imitate the processes of creation and destruction that are so important to the earth’s history. Just as it’s impossible for historians to name the first alchemist, it’s impossible to come up with a single definition of alchemy that adequately covers the many different strands of the discipline that developed over the years.
For some, alchemy was primarily concerned with the material transformation of chemicals and metals through processes such as heating, cooling, condensation, and separation. Stories of alchemists who turned lead into gold belong to this tradition, and the methods they developed can be traced forward into modern scientific laboratories and the discipline of chemistry. Their practices also contributed to medical, industrial, and technical breakthroughs such as the making of chemical medicines, the production of new dyes for cloth, and refinements in glass-making and furnace construction.
For other alchemists, material transformations were merely an earthly sign of more important philosophical and metaphysical changes. Alchemical texts are often couched in allegorical language and use symbols to show the alchemist’s journey towards wisdom and knowledge. These allegories and symbols have led modern psychologists to argue that alchemical texts contain important insights into archetypal human emotions and impulses. In the past, alchemy was linked to spiritual redemption, the coming of the apocalypse, and the search for the Philosopher’s Stone that would bring eternal life to the lucky alchemist who was able to obtain it through his chemical work.
