Alchemy, widely practiced in the Middle Ages, was a prescientific enterprise combining chemistry, physics, metallurgy, medicine, astrology, mysticism, and religion.

• 盛行于中世纪的炼金术曾经是一项近代科学产生之前的富于冒险的事业，它是集化学、物理学、冶金技术、医学、秘方和宗教于一炉的秘术。