Fire was both hot and dry, earth cold and dry, water cold and moist, and air hot and moist. The 8th-century alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan analyzed each element relative to the four basic qualities Fire, Earth, Water and Air. (Alchemy Symbol for Lead, Todd Helmenstine) Even today in many parts of Europe you still go to "the chemist," for medicine, rather than to a "drug store." Alchemy differs from modern science by the inclusion of Hermetic principles and its practices related to mythology, religion, and spirituality. An alchemists' shop was often the place where everyone would go for medicine. Alchemists incorporated a spectrum of knowledge of chemical properties and practices from ancient times, establishing a framework of theory, terminology, experimental processes and laboratory techniques that is still recognized today. In the West, alchemy is recognized as a precursor to the development of modern chemistry and medicine. (Alchemy Symbol for Gold, Todd Helmenstine)Īlchemy was an influential philosophical tradition with early practitioners’ claiming profound powers. They did not have the advantages we have today with particle accelerators and such, in fact, they did not even really know quite what an element was. Theirs was the search for the Philosopher's Stone and the making of Gold from Lead. Back before the "good old days," the middle ages and before, chemists were known as alchemists.
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