[al-kuh-mee] 
| 1. | a form of chemistry and speculative philosophy practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and concerned principally with discovering methods for transmuting baser metals into gold and with finding a universal solvent and an elixir of life. |
| 2. | any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value. |
[al-kem-ik] , al⋅chem⋅i⋅cal, al⋅che⋅mis⋅tic [al-kuh-mis-tik] , al⋅che⋅mis⋅ti⋅cal, adjective | al·che·my (āl'kə-mē) n.
[Middle English alkamie, from Old French alquemie, from Medieval Latin alchymia, from Arabic al-kīmiyā' : al-, the + kīmiyā', chemistry (from Late Greek khēmeia, khumeia, perhaps from Greek Khēmia, Egypt).] al·chem'i·cal (āl-kěm'ĭ-kəl), al·chem'ic adj., al·chem'i·cal·ly adv. |
| alchemy (āl'kə-mē) Pronunciation Key
A medieval philosophy and early form of chemistry whose aims were the transmutation of base metals into gold, the discovery of a cure for all diseases, and the preparation of a potion that gives eternal youth. The imagined substance capable of turning other metals into gold was called the philosophers' stone. Our Living Language : Because their goals were so unrealistic, and because they had so little success in achieving them, the practitioners of alchemy in the Middle Ages got a reputation as fakers and con artists. But this reputation is not fully deserved. While they never succeeded in turning lead into gold (one of their main goals), they did make discoveries that helped to shape modern chemistry. Alchemists invented early forms of some of the laboratory equipment used today, including beakers, crucibles, filters, and stirring rods. They also discovered and purified a number of chemical elements, including mercury, sulfur, and arsenic. And the methods they developed to separate mixtures and purify compounds by distillation and extraction are still important. |