chymistry
Chymistry is a historical term for the study of substances and their transformations that was widely used in Europe from the late medieval period through the early modern era. The word is an older variant of chemistry, reflecting a broader practice that combined elements of alchemy, pharmacology, metallurgy, and experimental natural philosophy. In chymistry, practitioners conducted laboratory experiments—distillation, calcination, crystallization, sublimation, and the analysis of minerals and acids—often with aims ranging from practical chemistry to the transmutation of metals and the discovery of new medicines.
Chymistry encompasses both empirical technique and speculative theory, and it remained interwoven with philosophical ideas about
In the late 18th century, the emergence of quantitative methods and a standardized chemical nomenclature contributed