Alchemy and chemistry in an age of transition

Alchemy in late Medieval Europe brought with it many risks. The Roman Catholic Church was deeply opposed to its practice, being highly suspicious of its ancient connections to pagan practices and magic. Bodily immortality granted by potions such as the fabled ‘elixir of life’ had no place in a religious environment in which eternal life could be obtained only through the Christian sacraments. So noxious was alchemy during this time that both political and religious figures forbade its practice, and the Italian poet Dante Alighieri confidently stuck alchemists in Hell in the Divine Comedy.

Late Medieval alchemy also suffered from its continued lack of success in transforming lead into gold, one of its most prominent endeavours. Doubt as to the possibility of transmutation thus increased, though some alchemists continued doggedly in their quest.

The transition from alchemy, with its obsessions with the four elements as propounded by Aristotle, the search for the