Acetic acid is a compound with many uses. With chemical formula CH₃COOH, this colorless liquid has a sharp pungent smell and sour taste....

Alum has a multi-toned nature. Alum denotes a group of chemical compounds characterized by double sulfate salts. Alums are used across...

Antimony (Sb) from the ore stibnite, is one of the elements known by the ancients, a primary source of black powder kajal or kohl. With...

The Elixir of Life manifests as potion, tea, powder, water, oil or soluble salts. This mystical creation is said to bestow immortality or...

Artists and craftspeople have used plant pigments as a source of color for millennia. Works of art and textile dyes using vegetable...

Earth of Chios is a white to gray powdery mineral soil or fine grained clay found on the Greek island of Chios. Earth of Chios or Chian...

Lunar caustic ( lapis infernalis ), Höllenstein (hellstone) or silver nitrate ( argentinium nitrium ) is esteemed by alchemists of the...

Steam distillation develops from simple and fractional distillation techniques, and is first known to be documented among the Islamic...

Fractional distillation is a technique to separate components of a mixture based on their various boiling points. In this process, a...

Simple distillation is a technique of ancient and medieval alchemists. It can be a process on its own or part of a larger work, involving...

Distillation transforms substances through heating, cooling, and separating liquids from solids. It's for brewing spirits, and is an...

Aqua Vitae literally means Water of Life in Latin. It's also called Elixir Vitae or Elixir of Life. Alchemists from ancient Alexandria...

The Waters of Alchemy are ravenous acids, miraculous solvents and corrosive fluids vital to alchemical process. Not for children ....

Ten metals are used in alchemy since its ancient emergence. They are antimony, bismuth, copper, gold, iron, lead, quicksilver (mercury),...

Salts are ubiquitous in nature and play critical roles in sciences from biology to medicine. In alchemy, salts are standard ingredients....

Renegade physician Paracelsus is one of the most dramatic figures of the European Renaissance. Doctor, alchemist, astrologer,...

Arnaldus de Villanova (1240 - 1311) is a prominent figure of medieval alchemy, literature and medicine. He comes from Spain, studies at...

Zinc (Zn) is an essential metal of life and one of the four components in the Tetrasomia of Maria in alchemy. The 30th element on the...

Galls and gall nuts are growths on plants, particularly oak trees, used for a number of purposes throughout history. They form due to...

Eirenaeus Philalethes is a pseudonym of London alchemist George Starkey (1628 - 1665). It turns out he needs one. Financially he...