The Benefits of Alchemy

But there is another alchemy, operative and practical, which teaches how to make the noble metals and colours and many other things better and more abundantly by art than they are made in nature. And science of this kind is greater than all those preceding because it produces greater utilities. For not only can it yield wealth and very many other things for the public welfare, but it also teaches how to discover such things as are capable of prolonging human life for much longer periods than can be accomplished by nature ... Therefore this science has special utilities of that nature, while nevertheless it confirms theoretical alchemy through its works.

Roger Bacon, John Henry Bridges, The Opus Majus of Roger Bacon (2010-07-01)

• alchemy
• chemistry