What is alchemy to you ???

[theblackalchemist]

hey
guys what is alchemy to you ?

[Buffy]

Its the thing that kept Issac Newton from making some really amazing contributions to science...

Mad as an Alchemist,
Buffy

[Mercedes Benzene]

I do not think that any of your options at all capture my views of alchemy. To me, alchemy was a very important part of the past... and alchemists had all of the right things in their minds.
They were primitive scientists... and knew that there were things out there that they couldn't explain. They sought for the truth when they had relatively little previous knowledge and technology to work with. In my mind, they were brilliant, and many of their concepts were carried over into modern times. Most things that alchemists did helped to forge moder scientific theory. Really, they were primitive scientists... and you can't blame them for some of their *now* crazy ideas, because they really just didn't know any better.

[theblackalchemist]

Originally Posted by Mercedes Benzene

I do not think that any of your options at all capture my views of alchemy. To me, alchemy was a very important part of the past... and alchemists had all of the right things in their minds.
They were primitive scientists... and knew that there were things out there that they couldn't explain. They sought for the truth when they had relatively little previous knowledge and technology to work with. In my mind, they were brilliant, and many of their concepts were carried over into modern times. Most things that alchemists did helped to forge moder scientific theory. Really, they were primitive scientists... and you can't blame them for some of their *now* crazy ideas, because they really just didn't know any better.

too true
they were responsible for the birth of modern chemistry
i also am an freaking fan of alchemy...
so i have got manny age old alchemical texts want some ??

thanks
TBA

[Mercedes Benzene]

so i have got manny age old alchemical texts want some

You are very lucky indeed to have such texts. I do believe that I posted a thread once here on Hypography asking people for sources of old scientifics texts. If you know of any sources, please let me know. And PMs always work if you don't want to divulge your secrets out in the open.

[Michaelangelica]

I find Alchemy facinating, mainly the herbal side. I would kill for an original Avicenna or Jabir Ibn Haiyan. (Mildly damage someone for a reprint)

Arn't we practicing alchemy now with a big tunnel under the Swiss mountains?

JABIR IBN HAIYAN

(Died 803 C.E.)

Jabir Ibn Haiyan, the alchemist Geber of the Middle Ages, is generally known as the father of chemistry. Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan, sometimes called al-Harrani and al-Sufi, was the son of the druggist (Attar). The precise date of his birth is the subject of some discussion, but it is established that he practised medicine and alchemy in Kufa around 776 C.E.
. . .
He shared some of the effects of the downfall of the Barmakis and was placed under house arrest in Kufa, where he died in 803 C.E.
Although known as an alchemist, he did not seem to have seriously pursued the preparation of noble metals as an alchemist; instead he devoted his effort to the development of basic chemical methods and study of mechanisms of chemical reactions in themselves and thus helped evolve chemistry as a science from the legends of alchemy.
He emphasised that, in chemical reactions, definite quantities of various substances are involved and thus can be said to have paved the way for the law of constant proportions.

http://www.ummah.net/history/scholars/HAIYAN.html

If you are interested in Early Arabic Medicine; this is a very readable summary
http://www.hmc.org.qa/hmc/heartviews/H-V-v4%20N2/9.htm