I learned Alchemy from Medieval Manuscripts. Here's how it works:

The ancient recipe from the lien Papyrus X, at least 1,700 years old, was stolen and made its way to Leiden University in the 1800s. The recipe uses three simple but dangerous ingredients, releasing poisonous sulfur fumes and tarnishing silver with a golden hue. It's one of over 200 recipes imitating treasures in the Leiden and Stockholm papyri, showcasing early alchemical practices.

The recipe is linked to the early Greek-Egyptian period of alchemy, blending Greek philosophy with Egyptian craft traditions. The recipes are mostly practical without extensive theoretical explorations, serving as a formulary. They reflect early, simpler stages of alchemical practice before the idea of a Philosopher’s Stone or deep matter investigation emerged.

One Stockholm Papyrus recipe credits 'Democratus,' a figure of pseudo-authorship in alchemy, suggestive of a narrative linking philosophy and Eastern mystical learnings. This pseudo-democratus claimed roots in ancient Greek thought and was a notable figure for false attributions in alchemical manuscripts, broadening the narrative lineage of alchemical practice.

The earliest Greek-Egyptian alchemical texts come from 'Physica Kisa,' ascribed to Democratus, dating to the first century. This document, though fragmented, shows more theoretical reflection than the later papyri, positing that substances can transmute and claiming an essential oneness underlying all material diversity, a core idea in alchemy.

Pseudo-Democratus’s view of alchemy focused on the combination and manipulation of substances' natures rather than their distinct identities. Alchemsits looked for qualities—like a metal’s ability to mimic gold's color or nobility—and aimed to achieve desired qualities through synthetic transformations, describing alchemy as an art of combining different natures.

The chemical qualities of substances, such as fire-like quicklime, were key in alchemical processes. Alchemists leveraged the heating of substances to abstract elements, using tools like calcination to understand and manipulate matter's qualities, indicating a deep experimental foundation behind alchemical transformations and manipulations.

Medieval alchemy evolved into a systematic framework with processes like calcination and sublimation to isolate and combine different elemental qualities. The heat separated elements into groups; similarly characterized materials were sublimated together, reflecting an attempt to bring theoretical cohesion, indicative of evolving sophisticated understanding.

Alchemists synthesized materials to understand elemental combinations, with substances like salammoniac revealing compounds that seemed to defy straightforward elemental categorization. These syntheses showed that even contradictory elemental characteristics could coexist, emphasizing how foundational experimentation was for determining alchemical properties.

Developing into a refined craft, alkali demonstrated practical alchemical applications. By calcining and processing tartar and lime, alchemists created potent substances for experimentation. Energy and dissolution processes illustrated how alkalis served as solvents and unifiers in elemental transmutation, showcasing alchemical skill in unifying opposing principles.