Alchemy

•  Alchemy originated in China during the first century BCE and in Egypt during the first century CE.
• Alchemists searched for an elixir of immortality and Panacea able to cure all diseases. In Medieval times they searched to create a Philosopher’s stone, which could turn base metals into gold.

Controversy

• Opinion is divided as to whether Alchemy should be considered to be the forerunner of modern science, in the sense that alchemists experimented with laboratory techniques in chemistry and medicine, or whether it should be discredited as being practiced by charlatans wishing to appear to be using magic.