Synopsis
This article draws conclusions from experiences gained in the experimental replication of the alchemical processes described in the Processus Universalis recipe group. It shows how the interaction between historical texts and present-day experimentation can provide insights into the assumptions upon which the descriptions and recipes of historical chemical processes were based. It also shows how the Experimental History of Science can be used as a tool for conducting plausibility checks for processes described in historical sources. Furthermore, the methodological significance of qualitative experiments facing the lack of quantitative information is discussed as well as the problem of reconstructing seventeenth or eighteenth century knowledge and conceptualizations of raw materials.
