Alchemical Symbolism in the VMS

[nablator]

Yes, although I read an article that said this was wrong, they weren’t just principles.

I'm interested if you can find the article.

The current thinking, it seems, is that although the theory of metallic transmutation is all wrong, the practice can be shown to be partially factual. For example (I don't know any other) there are some amazing explanations (like the role of impurities) and clarifications of what the alchemists were actually doing, including replications of some of the steps or "keys" documented in Principe & Newman's books, leading toward a rehabilitation of alchemy as an experimental science, dispelling the myth that alchemy was an irrational enterprise:
William R. Newman & Lawrence M. Principe Alchemy Tried in the Fire: Starkey, Boyle, and the Fate of Helmontian Chymistry (2005)
William R. Newman & Lawrence M. Principe Alchemical Laboratory Notebooks and Correspondence (2010)
Lawrence M. Principe The Secrets of Alchemy (2015)