Alchemy Is Not Fantasy!

Do you know alchemy? Alchemy is researches whose purpose is refining gold. Some people can imagine "Hagane no Renkinzyutsushi(The Fullmetal Alchemist)" which is a Japanese comic. However, Alchemy is not only the story of fiction. At the time, many alchemist spent his entire life in research. So what is alchemy? What is the difference between scientific research and alchemy? Today, I will introduce about Alchemy!

Alchemy's main purpose is to transform the imperfect into the perfect. At the time, It was thought that gold would never rust. If we could make gold which is never rust, we also can make a human who is never die. We may can make a medicine which can  cure any disease. So many people have dreamed of this possibility. You may be wondering why they believe such an impossible thing. The cause was a man whose name is Hermes Trismegitus. At the time, he was thought to have succeeded in refining gold. Moreover, the method was only written in the abstract. Because of that, alchemist thought that "we're just doing something wrong" when they failed. Also, Aristoteles argued that all matter in the world is changed from one thing. The ancient people believed in this.

With modern technology, it is possible to convert mercury atoms into gold atoms. It means that we were able to turn a base metal into gold. So was the idea of alchemy correct? It was not because the premise was wrong.

Various characteristics emerge from mercury, sulfur, and salt. The celestial bodies of the universe correspond to metals. The metal can be artificially grown into gold. All of these are hypothesizes. We cannot prove them. But Alchemist researched based on these hypotheses. Moreover, they did it secretly. Alchemy was thought that its results will change with researcher's physical and mental condition. Even if the experiment failed, people at the time thought this. ”Because the stars are wrong.” "The researcher in a weak man." The researches and surveys which can be probed by everyone is  scientific method. People at the time is far from this. From the beginning, alchemy was thought that only talented people could do. In this way, alchemy has become magical.

From our modern perspective, alchemy is like a fantasy. In fact, I wondered if it really existed. When we talk about human history, the scientific revolution comes up often. But alchemy often don't show up. However, alchemy is filled with the dreams and hopes of the people of that time. Newton and Robert Boyle who are famous scientists was alchemists. Indeed, alchemy has failed. But shouldn't we respect it as a one of groundbreaking research?

Thank you for read all of this. If you interested in alchemy, please check the detail yourself. See you soon!