There is a new biography, "Isaac Newton" by James Gleick. Newton was a deeply religious man, a keen observer and a fearless questioner and through his questioning found answers.

My Encarta dictionary traces the word alchemy to an Arabic word "al-kimiya" meaning "the chemistry" and ultimately from the Greek word "khemeia". It defines it as "an earlier and unscientific form of chemistry, seeking to transform base metals into gold and to discover a life-prolonging elixir, a universal cure for disease and a universal solvent". If one substitutes getting rich without working for transforming base metals into gold, it could be that we still have a few alchemists in spirit out there. :)

John