The First Alchemists: The Spiritual and Practical Origins of the Noble and Holy Art

Explores the origins and practices of early alchemy

* Examines the oldest surviving alchemical texts, the original purpose of the "Royal Art," and the first alchemists, showing how women dominated early alchemy

* Looks at the historical setting for the first alchemists, with detailed accounts of their apparatus, recipes, chemical processes, and the ingredients they used

* Reveals how changing the color of materials was more important in early alchemy than transmuting base metals into gold

Inves...