Alchemy Theory

[BessAgritianin]

Pharmaceutical and herbal knowledge should not be conflated with alchemy.

I appreciate this distinction, but it is a modern one.

In the 17-th century the apothecary was an alchemist: he distilled, calcinated, sublimated and crystallized.
 The Jesuits pharmacies were not mere herbal shops, but laboratories.
 To say that "the pharmaceutical knowledge should not be conflated with alchemy" is to impose a modern boundary on a pre-modern practice.
Then what is the Iindian alchemy used even today in Ayurvedic medicine? It uses processes like purification and calcination of metals and uses them in medicine for treating diseases. It has been practiced for thousands of years and is still used today. Indian alchemy is the basis of the modern Ayurvedic pharmaceutical production.
The Rasa Schastra tradition is not a dead historical curiosity, but it is a living practised science, that unites alchemy and pharmacy in exactly the way that You try to deny.