AlchemyThe science with the help of which the chemical philosophers of the Middle Ages attempted to transmute the basest metals into gold or silver. There are considerable differences of opinion on the etymology of the word, but it seems to derive from the Arabic al=the, and kimya=chemistry, which in turn derives from the late Greek chemica=chemistry, from chumeia=a mixture, or cheein, 'to pour ' or 'mix', Aryan root ghu, to pour, whence the word 'flow'. Mr. A. Wallis Budge in his "Egyptian Magic", however, states that it is possible that it derives from the Egyptian word khemeia, i.e. 'the preparation of black ore', or 'powder', which was considered the active principle in the transmutation of metals . To this name the Arabs added the article 'al', thus giving al-khemeia, or alchemy. HISTORY OF ALCHEMY: From early times the Egyptians possessed a reputation as skilled metalworkers and, according to Greek writers, were expert with their transmutation, employing mercury in the process of separating gold and silver from the native matrix . The resulting oxide was supposed to possess wonderful powers, and was thought to reside in the individualities of the various metals, that their various substances were embodied in it. This black powder was mystically identified with the infernal form of the god Osiris and consequently magical properties were attributed to it. Thus the belief that magical powers existed in fluxes and alloys spread in Egypt. A similar belief probably existed throughout Europe in relation to the castes of its different bronze-working races. However, it was probably in Byzantium of the 4th century that the science of alchemy received an embryonic form. There is no doubt that the Egyptian tradition, filtered through the Alexandrian Hellenic sources, was the foundation on which the nascent science was built, and this is confirmed by the circumstance that the art was attributed to Hermes Trismegistus and was supposed to be contained in his entirety in his works.The Arabs, after the conquest of Egypt in the seventh century, carried forward the research of the Alexandrian school, and through their help the art was brought to Morocco and then in the eighth century to Spain, where it flourished extraordinarily . Spain, in fact, from the 9th to the 11th century became the custodian of the alchemical science, and the colleges of Seville, Cordoba and Granada were the centers from which this science radiated throughout Europe..