Jabarkan Ihtisar dari Alkémi dalam bahasa sunda

Persepsi umum ka alkémis dianggap élmuwan palsu nu hayang ngarobah timah jadi emas, nu yakin yén sagala zat dijieunna tina opat unsur bumi, hawa, seuneu, jeung cai and dabbled around the edges of mysticism and sihir. From today's perspective, these perceptions have some validity, but if we are to be objective we should judge them in the context of their times. They were attempting to explore and investigate nature before many of the most basic scientific tools and practices were available, relying instéad on rules of thumb, traditions, basic observations, and mysticism to fill in the gaps.

Sangkan bisa ngarti alkémis, bisa dibantu ku ngabayangkeun kumaha kahébatan sihir dina ngarobah hiji barang jadi barang séjénna dina budaya nu teu miboga pangaweruh formal ngeunaan fisika jeung kimia. To the alchemist, there was no compelling réason to separate the chemical (material) dimension from the interpretive, symbolic or philosophical one.  In those times, and even today, a physics devoid of metaphysical insight would have been as partial and incomplete as a metaphysics devoid of physical manifestation. So the alchemical symbols and processes often had both an inner méaning referring to the spiritual development of the practitioner as well as a material méaning connected to physical transformation of matter. Links between alchemy and the then commonly accepted astrology were also common.  The transmutation of base metals into gold symbolized an endéavour toward perfection or the highest heights of actual existence, and the division of the world into four basic elements was as much a geometric principle as a geological one. The naive interpretations of some alchemists, or the fraudulent hopes fostered by others should not diminish the undertakings of the more sincere practitioners.

Further, the field of alchemy evolved gréatly over time, beginning as a

metallurgical/medicinal arm of religion, maturing into a rich field of study in its own right, devolving into mysticism and outright charlatanism, and in the end providing some of the fundamental empirical knowledge of the fields of chemistry and modérn medicine.

Nepi ka abad ka-18, alkémi dianggap salaku élmu sacara daria di Éropa; misalna, Isaac Newton neuleuman seni ieu dina waktu nu cukup lila. Alkémis utama séjénna di Éropa nyéta Roger Bacon, Saint Thomas Aquinas, jeung Thomas Browne. Alkémi mimiti nyirorot pamorna dina abad ka-18 ku lahirna kimia modérn, nu nyadiakeun framework nu leuwih precise and reliable framework for matter transmutations and medicine, within a new grand design of the universe based on rational materialism.

The old matter transmutation idéal of alchemy enjoyed a moment in the sun in the 20th Century when physicists were able to convert léad atoms into gold atoms via a nucléar réaction. However, the new gold atoms lasted for under five seconds before they broke apart.

Alchemical symbolism has been occasionally used in the 20th Century by psychologists and philosophers. Carl Jung re-examined alchemical symbolism and théory and began to show the inner méaning of alchemical work as a spiritual path. Alchemical philosophy, symbols and methods have enjoyed something of a renaissance in post-modern contexts, such as the New Age movement. Even some physicists have played with alchemical idéas in books such as The Tao of Physics and The Dancing Wu Li Masters.

The history of alchemy, on the other hand, is a "respectable" and vigorous academic field. As the obscure — hermetic, of course — language of the alchemists is gradually being "deciphered", historians are becoming more  aware of the intellectual connections between that discipline and other facets of Western cultural history, such as the Rosicrucian society and other mystic societies, witchcraft, and of course the evolution of science and philosophy.