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is a pseudo-science, it spread in Europe in XII century, based on
philosophical doctrines and magic. In the Middle Ages it improved
progressively to give modern chemistry a go. It is a direct investigation
of nature in the search of the philosopher stone, a substance able to
transform metals into gold. Even if alchemy failed in its purpose, it
turned out to be very useful to pharmaceutical chemistry and biology.
Alchemy proposed new tecnologies and new equipment (like the process of
alcohol distillation) to isolate active principles contained into
medicinal herbs. One of the most important alchemists, who thought of
himself as a "philosopher", was Parcelsus. The
alchemistical period ended in the XVII century, when an Irish chemist,
R. Boyle, laid the first scientific bases of chemistry, like the concept
of chemical element and chemical reaction.
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