• around for 1500 to 2000 years
• practitioners sought "the philosopher's stone" and "the elixir of life"
• combined theory of philosophers and practice of artisans
• healing arts
• discovery of mineral acids, such as nitric acid, sulfuric acid, and hydrochloric acid, and isolation of ethanol
• the isolation of Phosphorus by Hennig Brand in 1669 

The Alchemist by David Teniers, 1600's

Aristotle