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Chemisrty Alchemy The birthplace of alchemy is said to be ancient Egypt, where, in Alexandria, it began to flourish in the Hellenistic period; Alchemy was one of the most ancient forms of sciences, and better known in the Middle Ages. The term alchemy itself stems from a Greek term for fraud or imposter. In that area as well as few others alchemy was specifically devoted to discovering a substance that would spawn gold or silver from the more common metals, as well as finding a means of prolonging human life or immortality without question. Although its purposes and techniques were doubtful and often dead ends, alchemy was basically the beginning of modern science, especially the science of chemistry. Because other metals were thought to be less "perfect" than gold, it was reasonable to assume that nature formed gold out of other metals deep within the earth and that with sufficient skill and diligence an artisan could duplicate this process in the work