Flush with hundreds of illustrations this book revisits the histories of chemistry medicine
ideas and culture through the lens of alchemy “Philip Ball’s book is a treasure:
beautifully illustrated and as usual the author caries his learning lightly.”—David Wootton
Spectator The craft of alchemy has intrigued and mystified people since antiquity. Many
early cultures are known to have experimented with chemical transformations: from dyes glazes
and cosmetics in Bronze Age Egypt to life-extending elixirs pursued by scholars in ancient
China and India. Many have also attempted to transform lead mercury and other metals into
gold—and some claim to have succeeded. In this visually stunning volume Philip Ball sets
alchemy within the context of the history of science and culture showing that it was not
simply an esoteric fantasy but an important phase in the development of experimental science
and natural philosophy. Rich illustrations complement a narrative history of the methods
and techniques developed in alchemical workshops the search for the philosopher’s stone and
“elixirs of life” that extended across diverse cultures and the controversies surrounding the
practices of making alchemical gold and alchemical medicine. Ball explores the rise of alchemy
from its inception in Hellenistic culture through the golden age of Islamic natural philosophy
in the eighth to the eleventh centuries to the emergence of the tradition of natural magic in
the Renaissance and to the roles of alchemical thought and practice in the beginnings of early
modern science in the seventeenth century. He traces the persistence of alchemical ideas
through the occult revival of the late nineteenth century and the fascination of the topic for
modern artists and writers. This engaging and accessible book will provide readers of all
backgrounds with a nuanced understanding of alchemy and its history.
