On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the ultimate merger of science and magic, the ancient art of Alchemy. Everyone knows that Alchemy was an attempt to turn lead into gold using something called the Philosopher’s Stone. But it was much more than that. At the heart of Alchemy was a philosophy or religion about how the world works and how it ties to the nature of mankind. For centuries, they were considered valid scientists, but eventually, a bunch of Alchemical conmen and religious fervor persecuted them. At this point, they went underground and hid their chemical experiments in symbols and crazy works of art that are just being understood by scholars today.

Alchemy is an ancient pseudo-science that dates back thousands of years. It was everywhere from India to China to the Middle East and Europe. Some of the greatest minds in science such as Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle were convinced that much of Alchemy was accurate. And it was. For centuries, some of the greatest minds dedicated themselves to chemical experimentation. And yes, they wanted to create gold, but not to get rich.

Their philosophy which guided their science was that everything in nature went from an infant or impure state to a more mature or enlightened state. This was the way with holy men, and it was also the way with gold. If they could figure out how to remove impurities and mature a low down metal such as lead, they’d end up with gold. This was spiritual. Because if they could transmute bland metal into gold, they could transmute their soul from sinner to divine. All of the world worked like this to the Alchemist.

But, the problem was, it didn’t work like this. Lead isn’t an immature or corrupt version of gold, so their chemical experiments could only get them so far. After a while, everyone believed in it, though, and Alchemists started to promise gold to patrons. They’d get paid, skip town, and do it again. This gave them a bad name, and when real science hit the scene with advances in chemistry, the underlying philosophy of Alchemy was proven incorrect.

But, there is a professor named Lawrence Principe who is doing Alchemy today. He has been translate to use old, obscure pictures of dragons eating roosters into chemical formulas. He’s made rocks glow and made golden trees sprout from the sand using these ancient recipes and old materials. So is there something to alchemy, or is it just a failed Neanderthal cousin to modern chemistry? Listen, laugh, learn.

 

Visit Our Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/alchemy-may-not-been-pseudoscience-we-thought-it-was-180949430/

https://www.livescience.com/39314-alchemy.html

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/alchemy/what-is-alchemy

https://library.brown.edu/exhibit/exhibits/show/evolution-of-chemistry/the-language-of-chemistry/alchemical-symbols-as-secret-c

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/01/30/this-chemist-is-unlocking-the-secrets-of-alchemy/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher%27s_stone