Alchemy/Chymistry (1 янв 1700 г. – 1 янв 1871 г.)

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It peaked in the 18th century

Basic pursuit of alchemy/chymistry in Newton's times:
1. Chymists laid claim to a large group of technologies ranging from the making of pigments and dyes and the manufacture of mineral acids, to the distillation of "strong waters." While often supporting themselves by making these items of commerce, however, chymical practitioners were also at the forefront of pharmacology.

2. Early modern pharmacology, having placed a radically new emphasis on mineral-based drugs and an equally important stress on the use of laboratory technologies such as distillation and sublimation in their production. Chymical medicine was one of the important new fields of early modern science, and the second basic division of the discipline.

3. Attempting to make gold from less precious materials, often referred to by the Greek term chrysopoeia, remained a seemingly viable research project for many seventeenth century chymists. This was because of:
- credible accounts of metallic transmutation
- what appears to be transmutation in various experiments (really just plating and other chemical reactions)
- mineral vegetation = silica gardens, etc.

Newton was involved in all three of chymistry's major branches in varying degrees. Chemical technology and medicine were related to his other intellectual and technical pursuits (i.e. to go beyond a purely mechanical model of the universe). - Sathvik Kolli

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