Ye olde alchemists sinfully went out of their way to be kind and merciful to strangers. Falsely merciful, mendaciously kind. Both alchemy and alchemists suffered greatly as a result.
External alchemy is a trap. Alchemists knew fools, morons, and the possessed would read their texts, and misdirected them. Playing around with methanol or aqua tofani is less dangerous than fumbling an internal alchemical process. Losing a few fingers is a small price to pay to avoid spiritual injury. No of course the philosopher's stone is not literally some crimson metal oxide. You can't pour the alkahest into a cup.
The trap works because internal alchemy can be assisted using chemically-mediated divination. Analogies can be verified and extended using chemical correspondence. If you die of recklessly ingesting your analogy, well, it could be worse.
Consequently, even had any of the competent alchemical texts had survived, it would be impossible to read them. The only way to know what they mean is to already know what they mean. Revenge fully sour: legible provided you have no need to understand it.
Consequently, rather than an alchemical tradition, there is a deluded poser tradition.
Unless being a moron is your goal, it is necessary to reinvent alchemy. Rediscover the starting point.
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