ALCHEMY

Although alchemical ideas continued to be explored throughout the 18th century, during the 19th century, the rise of the new focussed sciences of physics, chemistry, biology etc., led to alchemy being marginalised and considered irrelevant to this emerging new scientific attitude. The magic of the alchemy gathering has lost all of its flavour. This can be seen in the fact that there are almost no new alchemical works published in the 19th century. Alchemy had to wait till the 20th century to be seen as a proto-chemistry worthy of study and investigation.

In the last quarter of the 19th century, partly as a reaction again a science which sought to reduce everything to purely physical processes, there was a revival of interest, focussed in the Theosophical Society and the occult revival in France, in a spiritual view of life. In the wake of this new movement a number of people began to collect alchemical texts and begin alchemical experiments. Free alchemy game underwent a revival. One of the first to begin practical alchemical experiments at that time was W.A. Ayton.

During the early 20th century the newly discovered phenomenon of radioactivity, and Rutherford's experiment in atomic transmutation, led to a number of people trying to rediscover a scientific basis for alchemical transmutation, however, all of these proved fruitless. In 1926 a book Le Mystere des Cathedrales was published in Paris supposedly by an adept called Fulcanelli. Although this book presents (as did Fulcanelli's later work Les Demeures Philosophales) an alchemical interpretation of monumental sculpture on Gothic cathedrals and later buildings, various myths about Fulcanelli practising physical alchemy and achieving the goal of transmutation began to circulate. Most of these myths were focussed around Eugene Canseliet, who wrote a number of books, practised physical alchemy, and gathered a small group of students. The whole matter surrounding Fulcanelli has been purposively surrounded in mystery by the various personalities involved in creating the myth, and it seems that little now of any value can be gleaned about this veiled personality. Morrowind alchemy was born.