Alchemy

The first reference to alchemy, the search for an elixir of immortal life, was made by a Chinese Taoist in approx 140BC. These early alchemists were seeking to convert other metals into gold, not to create wealth, but as a step towards discovering the recipe for eternity. Among their experiments were an attempt to develop an immortality pill through refining mercury sulphide: The use of this poisonous substance lead to many deaths, including Tang emperors.

The phrase "talk gibberish" alludes to the Persian scientist and alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan (c. 721 – c. 815), whose name was latinised as geber. Gibberish referred to the incomprehensible jargon he used when describing how to turn base metals into gold.

In the 9th century Chinese alchemists in search of the elixir of life created a mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. Ironically, short of a path to immortality, they had discovered gunpowder.

The medieval alchemists failed to form gold out of cheaper metals. However, in the process of searching, they discovered the strong acids: sulfuric acid, nitric acid and hydrochloric acid - substances much more useful to modern industry than gold could possibly be.

The Alchemist in Search of the Philosopher's Stone, by Joseph Wright, 1771

Had the medieval alchemists learned how to make gold out of lead, it would have been an economic failure. The large increase in the gold supply would have decreased its value.

During the 4th Parliament of King Henry IV, which met at Westminster Palace from January 14, 1404 until  March 20, 1404, they signed into law the Gold and Silver Act 1403 or Multipliers Act 1403 or Alchemy Act 1403, forbidding alchemists from turning base metals into gold. It was repealed by Royal Mines Act 1688, 

Sir Isaac Newton, who revolutionized mathematics and physics, spent almost as much time writing about and studying alchemy, and firmly believed in its viability as a science.

James Price was an English chemist and Fellow of the Royal Society who gained attention in the early 1780s by claiming he could transmute mercury into silver or gold using a special “powder.” At first, his demonstrations seemed convincing enough to impress local gentry and even some scientists — though not his more skeptical peers at the Royal Society.

When the Society demanded that he repeat his experiment under proper supervision at their laboratory in London, Price delayed, made excuses, and finally agreed to a public demonstration at his home in Guildford in August 1783. But instead of performing the experiment, he shocked his guests by drinking prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide) — a deadly poison — and died almost instantly.

In 1980, nuclear physicist Glenn Seaborg transmuted several thousand atoms of bismuth into gold at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. His experimental technique, using nuclear physics, was able to remove protons and neutrons from the bismuth atoms. Seaborg's technique would have been far too expensive to enable routine manufacturing of gold, but his work was close to the mythical Philosopher's Stone.