Alchemy

Alchemy is a philosophical and protoscientific tradition practiced throughout Egypt and Eurasia which aimed to purify, mature, and perfect certain objects.

Common aims were chrysopoeia, the transmutation of "base metals" (e.g., lead) into "noble" ones (particularly gold); the creation of an elixir of immortality; the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease; and the development of an alkahest, a universal solvent.

In English, the term is often limited to descriptions of European alchemy, but similar practices existed in the Far East, the Indian subcontinent, and the Muslim world.
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The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.
The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.
William H. Gass, A Temple of Texts

Friedrich Nietzsche
I deny morality as I deny alchemy.
Friedrich Nietzsche, Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality

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