When we think of Alchemy we think of the ancients trying to turn lead into gold. Is this picture correct, well not exactly? Alchemy was more than just that. Alchemy was the forerunner to chemistry and while trying to change materials, they developed techniques that are used in chemistry and metallurgy. But there were other fields involved. Much of alchemy involved the search for the elixir of life. While pursuing this end many advances in medicine were made. There was also a spiritual side to alchemy. The alchemist believed in purity of materials and purity of soul. While he was looking for eternal life he recognized that it might be eternal life of the spirit as it left the body. Alchemy seems to have started in Egypt and worked its way into Greece then the Arab world and finally through Europe. Some of the more famous alchemists are listed here.

Zomisus - 250 A.D.. Zomisus was Greek, but he was born in Egypt. He believed that everything on earth was made of one of four elements and these were: Water, Fire, Earth, Air. He wrote a 28 volume set of books on Khemia. Khemia was thought to mean "the black land" which was translated into "Egypt" but later referred to alchemy.

Morienus - 7th Century. He was a hermit who practiced the Christian Religion. He lived in the mountains near Jerusalem. He was said to have sent large amounts of gold to the Catholic Church thus attracting the attention of the Arab king, Khalid. He later taught the king the secrets of alchemy and this is how alchemy got into the Arab world.

Geber: - 721 - 815 A.D. Gerber's real name was Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan. Gerber was an Arab alchemist and lived in what is now Iraq. Gerber believed that all metals were composed of mercury and sulfur with varying proportions. He proposed the Philosopher's Stone to combine the mercury and sulphur with the outcome being gold. We get the word 'gibberish' from his name.

Albertus Magnus -1200 - 1280 A.D.. He was a German monk and an alchemist He was the first person to ever describe arsenic in its pure form.

Arnold of Villanova - Valencia Spain 1235 - 1312 A.D. He was an alchemist and medical doctor. He wrote a famous medical Treatise in 1450-1475. Arnold was the most famous physician of his time. It was said that Arnold of Villanova had the formula to prolong life for several hundred years. The following is his recipe:

"the person intending so to prolong his life must rub himself well, two or three times a week, with the juice or marrow of cassia (moelle de la casse).

Every night, upon going to bed, he must put upon his heart a plaster, composed of a certain quantity of Oriental saffron, red rose-leaves, sandal-wood, aloes, and amber, liquefied in oil of roses and the best white wax.

In the morning, he must take it off, and enclose it carefully in a leaden box till the next night, when it must be again applied. If he be of a sanguine temperament, he shall take sixteen chickens -- if phlegmatic, twenty-five -- and if melancholy, thirty, which he shall put into a yard where the air and the water are pure.

Upon these he is to feed, eating one a day; but previously the chickens are to be fattened by a peculiar method, which will impregnate their flesh with the qualities that are to produce longevity in the eater.

Being deprived of all other nourishment till they are almost dying of hunger, they are to be fed upon broth made of serpents and vinegar, which broth is to be thickened with wheat and bran."

Paracelsus: -1493 - 1541 A.D.. His full name was Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim. He was born in Switzerland and took the name Paracelsus which meant better than Celsus. Celsus was a Roman who was famous in the medical world. He developed 'spagyric alchemy' and invented the word alcohol. He believed that alchemy should be used to find cures for disease. It was also said that he used the occult in his practice of medicine

Isaac Newton - 1642 - 1727 A.D.. He was one of the last of the great alchemists. Everyone knows he was famous for math and science but he also devoted some of his time to alchemy. It is said that the Royal Society has papers on Newton that it hasn't released that show the inspiration for some of his famous work on light and gravity was alchemy.

Contrary to popular belief alchemy is not dead today. There are medicines out there along with magazines , web sites and organizations. It is possible with study to become an alchemist.