I have been writing a book about gold, including a chapter on the ancient art of alchemy. Alchemy is a paradox. On the one hand, it is bogus science. You cannot turn base metals into gold. A universal ...

Part of the appeal of the Boyle myth may be that it promised a clean break: a waymark at which alchemy was cast aside and chemistry took over. But such changes rarely if ever happen in science, and ...

A cartoon drawing shows a robed, bearded man with a pet weasel on his shoulder as he examines a piece of paper while sitting at a table containing a book, a flask, and a chunk of gold. Affirmation for ...