{"schema":"https://ver.cy/schemas/card/1.0.0","id":"vr.tr.alchemy","code":"thing-q39689","url":"https://ver.cy/models/thing/q39689/","name":"alchemy","alternateNames":["hellenistic alchemy","Chinese alchemy","Hindu alchemy","waidan"],"kind":"thing","status":"published","version":"0.2.0-wave.4","language":"en","classifiers":{"family":"Thing Registry","category":"Information and virtual systems","entryKind":"thing","plane":"INF","domain":["INF.KNW"],"industry":[],"navPath":"","tags":[],"facets":{}},"whatItIs":"An ancient and medieval philosophical and proto-scientific tradition concerned with transforming matter, such as transmuting base metals into gold, finding an elixir of life and a universal remedy, and spiritual purification, practised in Hellenistic Egypt by figures such as Zosimos of Panopolis, in China as waidan, external alchemy using elixirs, alongside neidan, internal alchemy of meditation, in India as rasashastra or Hindu alchemy, and in the Islamic world and Europe, where figures such as Isaac Newton studied it; alchemy contributed laboratory techniques to chemistry, which replaced it from the 17th century. Some alchemical elixirs contained toxic mercury and arsenic compounds.","purpose":"Let an agent explain alchemy historically, relay traditions, practices, symbolism and its relation to chemistry from history of science sources with attribution, describe the named traditions, note the toxicity of historical elixirs, and distinguish alchemy from chemistry, occultism generally, modern nuclear transmutation and fictional alchemy.","scope":{"in":[],"out":[],"boundaries":[]},"distinguishingFeatures":["Transmutation goals","Spiritual symbolism","Laboratory techniques","Multiple cultures"],"structure":{"bundles":[{"id":"understand","name":"Understand","description":"What alchemy is.","layers":[{"id":"definition","name":"Definition","description":"Definition.","findings":[{"id":"definition-finding","name":"Definition","description":"Definition.","questions":[{"text":"What is alchemy, and how does it differ from chemistry, occultism, nuclear transmutation and fictional alchemy?","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Is the question historical, symbolic or about trying an elixir, which may be toxic?","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"traditions","name":"Traditions","description":"Named traditions.","findings":[{"id":"traditions-finding","name":"Traditions","description":"Traditions.","questions":[{"text":"What were Hellenistic, Chinese waidan, and Hindu alchemy?","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Which entry fits the specific tradition?","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"history","name":"History","description":"History.","layers":[{"id":"figures","name":"Figures","description":"Key figures.","findings":[{"id":"figures-finding","name":"Figures","description":"Figures.","questions":[{"text":"What did Zosimos, Jabir ibn Hayyan, Paracelsus and Newton contribute, as historians describe?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which references are standard?","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"chemistry","name":"Chemistry","description":"Transition to chemistry.","findings":[{"id":"chemistry-finding","name":"Chemistry","description":"Chemistry.","questions":[{"text":"How did alchemy give way to chemistry, and how do historians now view the boundary?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which sources are cited?","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]},{"id":"practice","name":"Practice","description":"Practice and symbolism.","layers":[{"id":"laboratory","name":"Laboratory","description":"Techniques.","findings":[{"id":"laboratory-finding","name":"Laboratory","description":"Laboratory.","questions":[{"text":"What laboratory techniques such as distillation did alchemists develop?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits distillation?","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"elixirs","name":"Elixirs","description":"Elixirs and toxicity.","findings":[{"id":"elixirs-finding","name":"Elixirs","description":"Elixirs.","questions":[{"text":"Why did some Chinese elixirs cause mercury poisoning, as historians report?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits mercury poisoning?","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"context","name":"Context","description":"Culture.","layers":[{"id":"symbolism","name":"Symbolism","description":"Symbolism.","findings":[{"id":"symbolism-finding","name":"Symbolism","description":"Symbolism.","questions":[{"text":"How did Jung interpret alchemical symbolism?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits Carl Jung?","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"fiction","name":"Fiction","description":"Fiction.","findings":[{"id":"fiction-finding","name":"Fiction","description":"Fiction.","questions":[{"text":"How is alchemy portrayed in fiction?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits alchemy in popular culture?","kind":"action"}]}]}]}]},"agentConduct":{"may":["Describe alchemy's history, texts and symbolism from scholarly sources.","Explain how alchemical practice relates to the later development of chemistry."],"mustNot":["Present alchemical claims such as transmutation or an elixir of life as achievable.","Recommend alchemical preparations for consumption or treatment.","Give practical procedures from alchemical texts, which involve toxic substances.","Sell or promote alchemical products as having medical effects."],"requiresHuman":["Handling historical alchemical apparatus or substances in a collection."]},"ethics":{"considerations":["Alchemical recipes used mercury, lead and antimony and have poisoned people who followed them.","Esoteric claims are used to sell false cures to desperate people."],"affectedParties":["People seeking cures","Readers and students","Collection and conservation staff"]},"owners":{"steward":"Nobody owns it; libraries and museums hold the manuscripts and apparatus.","roles":[],"masterSystems":[]},"relations":[{"target":"Q178934","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"},{"target":"occultism","type":"related","note":"in registry terms"},{"target":"chemistry","type":"related"},{"target":"neidan","type":"related"},{"target":"philosopher's stone","type":"related"}],"interaction":{"identity":{"applicability":"required","items":["Vercy registry: vr.tr.alchemy","Wikidata: Q39689 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q39689)"]},"properties":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":["Zosimos of Panopolis: around 300 CE note","Newton alchemical manuscripts: over a million words note - commonly cited","Boyle s The Sceptical Chymist: 1661 year"]},"recognition":{"applicability":"optional","items":["Historical tradition of transforming matter and spirit","Hellenistic alchemy, Chinese alchemy, Hindu alchemy, waidan","Chemistry is the modern science; occultism is broader; nuclear transmutation is physics; fictional alchemy is literary","Not a visible object; seen in manuscripts with symbolic images and historical laboratory equipment."]},"capabilities":{"applicability":"required","items":["explain traditions with attribution","relay history and symbolism","describe named traditions","distinguish related fields"]},"hazards":{"applicability":"required","items":["Presenting alchemical claims as effective","Toxic elixir recipes","Dismissing alchemy s role in science history"]},"interfaces":{"applicability":"required","items":["No regulation; historical practice"]},"context":{"applicability":"required","items":["Not applicable; a historical tradition.","Hellenistic alchemy","Chinese waidan and neidan","Indian rasashastra","Islamic alchemy","European alchemy"]}},"sources":[{"title":"Wikidata item Q39689: alchemy","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q39689","note":"identity and sense of the item"},{"title":"Wikipedia: Alchemy","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy","note":"general description of the item"}],"openQuestions":["Should each regional tradition be a separate entry?","How should history of science sources be linked?","How should internal and external alchemy be distinguished?"],"resources":{"spec":"/models/things/publications/thing-q39689/spec.json"},"provenance":{"origin":"thing registry research (pass 2)","builtFrom":["models/things/publications/thing-q39689/spec.json"],"providers":["Claude"],"researchStatus":"unreviewed","generatedAt":"2026-09-13T20:55:37Z","builder":"tools/build_cards.py@1.0.0"},"completeness":{"sections":{"classifiers":"filled","whatItIs":"filled","purpose":"filled","distinguishingFeatures":"filled","structure":"filled","agentConduct":"filled","ethics":"filled","owners":"filled","relations":"filled","interaction.identity":"filled","interaction.properties":"not-applicable","interaction.recognition":"filled","interaction.capabilities":"filled","interaction.hazards":"filled","interaction.interfaces":"filled","interaction.context":"filled","sources":"filled"},"notes":{"_gate":"Published through the thing publication gate 1.0 on 2026-10-06T19:51:59+00:00: completeness 1.00; sense: Wikidata description; 2 live sources; review by codex: pass","interaction.properties":"Plane INF: no invented physical properties."},"score":1.0}}