Dějiny alchymie v Českých zemích, v Polsku a na Slovensku – Jesenský Miloš (2016)

The history of alchemy belongs to the field of natural sciences, whose study is very challenging, not least because this discipline existed for nearly two millennia and appeared on three continents. Along its long journey, we find both successes and failures. The main pursuit of practicing alchemists was the futile search for the philosopher's stone and the transmutation of base metals into noble ones, either through chemical or metallurgical means, or both simultaneously. Alchemists were unaware that this was impossible, and it was precisely through this search, which was ultimately in vain, that they paved the way for future chemistry. Similarly, attempts to create a universal medicine ended in failure. These are just two areas of alchemy, which, however, encompassed much more, as this book suggests. It focuses on the Central European region, where the history of this discipline remains largely unexplored, and it is an area that foreign scholarly literature generally overlooks, with the exception of the extraordinary Rudolfine period. Even then, attention usually centers on the duo of John Dee and Edward Kelley. The individual sections of the book also introduce readers to local protagonists of this discipline in Bohemia and Moravia, Poland, and Slovakia. The main contribution of this book on the history of alchemy is its focus on the Central European region, where...