Notes from Source: In the Greek writings of the first millennium of the Christian era we find our earliest evidence of that remarkable body of doctrine known as Alchemy. Arising perhaps in the traditional knowledge of the Egyptian priesthood, it flourished as a living science and creed for seventeen centuries. The earliest alchemical works that have survived are all written in Greek, and the extant Greek alchemical writings run to more than eighty thousand words. The bulk of these documents is evidence of the attraction which the science possessed for the philosophers of the Byzantine age. Alchemy was then no mere by-way of thought, but one of the major departments of knowledge. The alchemical writings have affinities with other contemporary works. It is, therefore, well to decide on the meaning we shall attach to the word Alchemy before discussing its methods and origin.

Further Notes: Place: Cambridge, UK Publisher: Cambridge University Press