HISTORY OF ALCHEMY AND EARLY CHEMESTRY*

Abstract

THE history of alchemy should properly begin with a survey of the technical arts of the ancient nations. Archæological discoveries show that these arts were highly developed about-3500 B.C., so that they must have arisen earlier. Later on they declined, and in Egypt, by the beginning of the Christian era, had mostly deteriorated into an imitative technique, although in some cases, as in the manufacture of glass, there had been advances. The precious metals and gems had been replaced by base alloys and coloured pastes.