Alchemy Rediscovered and Restored by Archibald Cockren is about lab experiments done in the study of alchemy and the particular art of extracting vital essence from metal. Excerpt: "To most of us the word 'alchemy' calls up the picture of a medieval and slightly sinister laboratory in which an aged, black-robed wizard brooded over the crucibles and alembics that were to bring within his reach the Philosophers' Stone, and with that discovery the formula for the elixir of life and the transmutation of metals. But one can scarcely dismiss so lightly the science—or art, if you will—which won to its service the lifelong devotion of men of culture and attainment from every race and clime over hundreds, or, indeed, thousands, of years, for the beginnings of alchemy are hidden in the mists of time. Such science is something far more than an outlet for a few eccentric old men in their dotage."
