Alchemy, what is it?

I'm getting kind of interested in this subject and i don't want to get it obstructed by stuff I only read on the internet that people got from the tv show. Does any1 no what it really is and can give me some straight answers?

Alchemy is the practice of turning baser metals into gold or other metals. Its also associated with finding a universal solvent for the elixer of life. It is said that with a nuclear reactor they managed to synthesize mercury into gold. Unfortunately all that was produced were flakes and the costs into creating it far exceeds the current value of gold. Im no expert but i too have been reading up on this alot.

I wonder what else they actually accomplished with the basis of matter that isn't commonly known.

Just to save time and trouble, check "The Encyclopedia of magic and Alchemy" by Rosemary Ellen Guiley and it will provide you with more info. on the subject than you want to know. Trust me.

In general, according to my texts, "Alchemy" covers a wide range of topics, from the discovery of a single cure for al diseases to the quest for immortality from the creation of artifical life to strightforward descriptons of scientific techniques. It is commonly believed, quite incorrectly, to the use of the "Philosopher's Stone", which is not a stone at all but a powder or liquid that can turn base metals into gold and when swallowed, gives everlasting life.

Old spiritual paktice. Alchemy is primarily a spiritual doctrine in Europe after the onset christianity veiled as a physical transmutation. Alchemists did not want to be burned at the stake.
In eastern alchemy texts - there not reigned Christians - was text often very clear.
See you The secret of the golden Flower, Taoist alchemy book, translantion by Richard Willhelm. The book is on the net in .pdf

I would refer the reader to the book, now out of print, I think, entitled"Witchcraft, Magic, and Alchemy"by Grillot de Givry, 1971.