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Chemistry, first of all, appeared in the form of metallurgy when the earlier metal-workers made metal articles useful in everyday life, such as pots, hammers, Application of metals and other minerals in medicines is observed some time later. It was in the axes, etc. form of alchemy that chemistry was greatly explored in the medieval period. Though we come across alchemical notions in Vedic literature, actual alchemical practice, in search of an elixir of life and also transmutation of base metals into noble metals, appeared in the early medieval period. Strong belief in the possibility of gold-making and in the elixir of immortality provided a strong motive for carrying out various alchemical experiments. A large number of texts were written about the practice of alchemy in the medieval period, in India as well as in China. A case study of these texts enables one to understand the chemical nature of this activity. In the chapter on "Alchemy in India" we saw how the ancient notions of "the herb of immortality" finally crystallised into metallurgical and physiological alchemy in the medieval period. Use of metals and minerals in medicinal recipes, especially mercurial preparations, increased in the Tantrik period. The alchemical texts 211