Medieval alchemists had some similarities to today’s modern chemistry but alchemy also had very distinct differences. As chemistry started to emerge away from alchemy towards the end of the medieval ages, even the scientists of the time noticed that there were differences between the two; Hermann Boerhaave, a famous Dutch botanist, described alchemy as “an art, which teaches means unknown to common chemists, whereby to make gold.” Boerhaave intended for chemistry to be applied to alchemy, classifying alchemy as a possible subset of chemistry. Even if alchemists had very little to no idea as to what they were doing on the molecular level, they had very specific goals in mind. Medieval alchemists had a very specific set of core goals—create…show more content… While everyone of the time could observe the effects of heating and cooling—in fire, steam, ice and snow—the alchemists were trying to harness these forces, understand why they occurred and apply them to the creation of gold. Many alchemists of the day believed things to be composed of four elements: hot, cold, dry, and fluid. Having only these four elements would mean that a simple manipulation of these would give the ability to transform one substance into another, like base metals into gold. This limited “periodic table” would cause the alchemists to become frustrated when simple heating and cooling didn’t produce gold, which is why they started to move away from the hot/cold/dry/fluid ideology and debate that these substances may be more complicated than previously believed. The paper titled “Chymists and Chymistry: Studies in the History of Alchemy and Early Modern Chemistry” by Pamela Smith and Lawrence Principe describes an interesting belief medieval alchemists held about mercury. Smith and Principe note that alchemists believed that, “mercury provided one of the essential components of all metals and that, if isolated and purified, it would bring about the artificial growth of the 'seeds' of metal.” Other than the fact that these “’seeds’ of metal” sound uncannily similar to the idea behind the philosopher’s stone, the metal mercury plays a very important…show more content… During the medieval period, many church officials were attempting to prepare the church for the coming of the Antichrist. John of Rupescissa was a Franciscan friar who was “caught up in apocalyptic fervor and fondness for prophecies, believing that the Antichrist was about to appear.” John starts to gain too much attention and the church decides to have him arrested, where he will spend his life writing about prophecies and alchemy. Even though John is still in prison, he is still able to continue his work in alchemy. John believed that if the Antichrist were to come, the church would need more than just gold, the church would also need people that were in good health and able to heal quickly—what appears to be the other half of the philosopher’s stone. One of John’s leading discoveries was “burning water” created by distilling wine, later becoming known as alcohol/ethanol. John was able to notice that “when [meat] is immersed in alcohol it is preserved indefinitely.” This amazing discovery leads to the use of alcohol as an antibacterial agent, even if the exact details as to why the “burning water” works won’t be determined for a long time after John of Rupescissa. John may have only been trying to protect the church from the Antichrist but had unknowingly created what would later be known as the vast field of medicinal