About History Bookazine History of Alchemy 3rd Edition Back Issue

For an apparently defunct subject, alchemy has had a vast impact on the modern world. On one hand, its spiritual theories have been informing religious thought since the 3rd century, culminating in the overwhelming influence they’ve had on the reconstructed esoteric and magical movements of today. On the other hand, its relentless curiosity, specialist equipment and experimental methodology made it the early crucible of many of the sciences, notably chemistry, but also physics and pharmacology. Despite science’s understandable reluctance to acknowledge it, alchemical ideas have, directly or indirectly, led to breakthroughs in the understanding of gravity, electromagnetism, atomic theory, medicine and even quantum mechanics. Now, as modern academics put its illusive, elusive language under the microscope, they’re discovering that alchemy, far from being the bumbling precursor to science or alternative philosophy for religious refuseniks that it has been painted as since the mid-18th century, in fact tied together a complex web of intellectual connections and cultural exchanges between a vast range of subjects, both arcane and mundane. In this bookazine you’ll discover alchemical traditions from around the world, from ancient Indian and Chinese sources to the unique mix of influences that saw western alchemy begin in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. You’ll trace its roots from here to the height of the Islamic Golden Age and onwards, find out how and why Europe went wild for this complex, powerful and mysterious knowledge, and explore how some of early science’s finest minds were also practicing alchemists, the effect that this had on their theories and discoveries, and the effect that alchemy had on both science and philosophy throughout the centuries and onwards to today.