Alchemy

[Peregrin Toker]

I have heard that alchemy, the medieval pursuit of transforming lead to gold, was pseudo-science. (I think the Civilopedia in Civilization II describes Alchemy as pseudoscience under its entry for Metallurgy)

However, can alchemy really be called pseudoscience if pseudoscience is the same as defined on Stardestroyer.net's science page.... or can it??[/i]

[Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi]

The alchmeists didn't base alchemy on real science, and therefore, it's pseudoscience.

[Master of Ossus]

While some alchemists made appreciable gains in knowledge of chemistry, the reality is that most of them were either frauds who would deceive people into thinking that they had made gold, or people who acted like they were baking cakes instead of making gold. They would write up recipes that would involve times of day or "under a full moon," or try to use materials which were considered magical (some of which never actually existed, in the first place). Most alchemists were clearly pseudoscientists.

[Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi]

There was lots of pseudoscience in mideval times. Soe of the greatest things ot come out of the era weren't at all "magic", such as the printing press.

[Master of Ossus]

There was lots of pseudoscience in mideval times. Soe of the greatest things ot come out of the era weren't at all "magic", such as the printing press.

I agree completely. Early paleontology was also a pseudoscience. Fossils were often written off as the remains of dragons, or griffins, or other fantastic beasts.

[Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi]

Wasn't some of 's research on things like twins pseudoscience?

[Master of Ossus]

Wasn't some of 's research on things like twins pseudoscience?

Yeah, but that kind of thing continued well beyond the middle ages. In Nazi Germany there were lots of doctors who were doing experiments on twins, but they didn't stop at identical twins. They also experimented on some sets that appeared completely different, and some that were even of different genders! Sometimes they were even willing to take siblings who had as much as a year or two between their births, and wrote them up as being the next best thing to twins! I wasn't going to go into that stuff, but since you brought it up....

[His Divine Shadow]

Alchemy sounds cooler than Chemistry so Alchemy wins.

When I grow up, I want to be an Alchemist!

[Shadowfyre]

Nevermind gold...I want to learn how to transfom lead into a nugget...er...splat of pure GREEN!

[Master of Ossus]

Nevermind gold...I want to learn how to transfom lead into a nugget...er...splat of pure GREEN!

Believe it or not, Harry Potter was actually more accurate than years of text books. Alchemy was more concerned with the creation of the PHILOSOPHER'S stone (as opposed to Harry Potter's Sorcerer's Stone). It was reputed to have the properties of both extending life and turning base metals into gold.

BTW, the I have heard that the Chinese thought it was cinnabar (mercury oxide), but that does not appear to make sense. The Chinese were aware that mercury was poisonous, but also that it had the effect of preserving corpses from bacteria. Also, my source on this was a professor who was telling me of the First Emperor of China (Shi Huangdi, by his spelling and name). He told me that the man consumed cinnabar in the insane belief that it would make him immortal. This did not appear to be sensical, as the same professor later told me that Shi Huangdi had constructed a tomb for himself.