alchamy, alchymy, alchimy

[In Sw. olkemi; Dan. alchymi; Ger. aclchymie; Fr. alchimie Sp. alquimia; Port. & Ital alchimia. Arab. alt he, and Gr. χημεία ( chēmeia ) = chemistry; or from Arab. komia = secret, hidden, the occult art; kama i = to hide.] A. Literally : 1. A study of nature with three special objects: (1) that of obtaining an alkahest , or universal solvent; (2) that of acquiring the ability to transmute all metals into gold or silver, especially the former; (3) that of obtaining an elixir vitæ , or universal medicine which might cure all diseases and indefinitely prolong human life. These objects were all desirable, and it could not be known à prior i whether or not they were attainable. To take the transmutation of metals, the substances (some seventy or more) at present cla ed as simple elements may not always remain in that category; at any moment one may be found to be a compound of other substances, and require to be taken out of the list. The po ibility of this becomes greater when it is remembered that not merely do allied metals generally occur in nature together, but there is also a definite relation between their atomic weights. The means adopted in the prescientific age, when alchemy most flourished [ALCHEMIST], were more open to ridicule than the objects aimed at. To achieve succe in the study it was thought needful for one to obtain first the "philosopher's stone," described as a red powder with a peculiar smell A skilled alchemist was called an "adept." In all ages scientific intellects are brought into being, and many "adepts" were the physical philosophers of the age. Though they failed in their immediate objects, they discovered the sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids, and laid the foundations of the noble science of modern chemistry. Others were pseudoscientists and impostors who pretended that they really had made gold by means of men of this latter type alchemy gradually sank in reputation, and ultimately became an object of ridicule to real scientific inquirers and to the civilised world at large. "Astrology and alchemy became jests."- Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. iii. The American Dictionary and Cyclopedia 2. A mixed metal from which spoons, kitchen utensils, and trumpets were formed. The name was given because it was supposed to have been made by some of the proce es of alchemy . It is called in Scotch alcomye, and in Old English sometimes alcamayne . "Bell-metal, ., and the counterfeit plate, which they call alchemy ."- Bacon Physiol. Rem. "Then, of their se ion ended, they bid cry With trumpets' regal sound the great result: Toward the four winds four speedy cherubim Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy." Milton: P. L., bk. ii. Properly speaking, there were two kinds of "alchemy in this sense-the white and the red. "White alchemy is made of pan-bra one pound, and arsenicum three ounces."- Bacon . Phys . Rem .. § 6. "Red alchemy is made of copper and auri pigment." -Ibid., § 7. B. Fig .: The proce of transforming anything common into something more glorious and precious, whether this is done by nature or art. "Ki ing with golden face the meadows green, Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchymy." Shakesp. Sonnets, ver. 33.