Alchemy
Chinese Alchemists
Alchemists, in addition to searching for ways to create gold from base metals and for a magical elixir to extend life, also tried to find explanations for the phenomena that they saw in the natural world around them. Tsou Yen, who is often considered the founder of Chinese scientific thought listed many of the natural products, such as minerals and herbs, that the alchemists of his time worked with in their search. Although some alchemists wanted to cheat rulers and other rich people with false claims that they could make gold, others honestly believed in what they were doing. Although alchemists failed to find what they wanted, their work in preparing and studying chemical substances helped the science of chemistry to develop.
Gold
In their searched to create gold from base metals, Chinese alchemists found out about three thousand years ago that copper and tin-two relatively soft metals-could be combined to form bronze, a metal hard enough to be made into swords, shields, spears, and ordinary digging tools. Just as copper and tin seemed to lose their basic property of softness and become a third and harder substance, alchemists believed the same thing could happen when other substances were combined. Potters converted ordinary clay into beautiful vases by glazing and firing them; and iron was hardened into steel by heating it in charcoal.Early in their experiments the ancient Chinese alchemists found that they could create a metal that resembled gold by combining copper with either zinc carbonate or other substances containing zinc. This mixture is called brass today. Other combinations yielded metals that looked like silver. A mixture of about 2 percent arsenic and 9 percent copper produced a beautiful, golden-colored metal. However, if the percentage of arsenic in the alloy is increased to over 4.5 percent, the result is a metal with a shiny, silver-like effect.
Elixirs
Alchemists evolved the idea that they could bring about basic changes within people's bodies. Such changes, they thought, would extend life and might perhaps produce eternal life on earth. They also believed that old people could be rejuvenated and their own physical and mental powers increased.
Many elixirs worked for some time because they contained alcohol, arsenic, or other drugs that gave the user a temporary lift. The alchemists experimented with arsenic over and over. It worked well in making cheaper metals look like gold, so alchemists reasoned that it could also do wonderful things for people who drank it. However, arsenic is poisonous and when drunk in small quantities it produces a temporary feeling of well-being. Many alchemists thought that if a little arsenic did this, more would bring about the effect they wanted.
Alchemy and Today
Out of the work of the alchemists came a knowledge of how to combine metals and other substances to produce alloys for ordinary use. Their work also helped the Chinese produce the colorful dyes, varnishes, and glazes that made their vases and other products famous throughout the world. The study of herbs and drugs was useful in medicine. For the most part, alchemy turned out to be a blind alley that science traveled until it changed into the modern experimental techniques of chemistry much later on.