Alchemy Illustrated

<P>Beautifully produced in traditional Chinese binding with 80 illustrations, <I>Alchemy Illustrated</I> will fascinate anyone interested in the quest for knowledge and wealth before the birth of modern chemistry.</P><P>Long shrouded in secrecy, alchemy is now recognized as the ancestor of modern chemistry.</P><P>Before the advent of modern science, alchemy was the ancient art of transformation, a way of combining matter to create a divine force. Today alchemy retains a strong pull on the imagination, with its tales of turning base metals into gold and mixing potions to create the elixir of life, a draught that brings immortality.</P><P><I>Alchemy Illustrated</I> offers a vivid illustrated guide to this lost art, introducing the reader to the main developments in alchemy and the most famous people to have dabbled in this speculative science.</P><P>Discover the alchemical elements and their properties, a precursor to the periodic table, which included such substances such as bismuth, sulfur and moon-silver, the last of these symbolizing intuition, resurrection and illumination; learn about the Philosopher’s Stone, a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals into gold, and pursued by famous scientists such as Isaac Newton, who wrote more than a million words on alchemy during his lifetime; and encounter Hennig Brand, who in 1669 accidentally discovered the chemical element phosphorus during alchemical experimentation.</P><P>Beautifully produced in traditional Chinese binding, <I>Alchemy Illustrated</I> introduces the reader to the history of alchemy, its practice, symbols and famous alchemists through the ages.</P>