Week 6--- Alchemy: Historically an attempt to understand the cosmos... leading to scientific discoveries in chemistry, physics......, some  misguided attempts to use magic to achieve certain goals (making gold out of other things,  achieving immortal life through various means)  , Historical Chinese Taoist "external alchemy"-the search for herbs of immortality- led to some practical herbal medicine....(and lots of death by mercury ingestion) .... "internal alchemy" in which the alchemist overcomes the limits of individuality and gains transcendental knowledge... has enduring relevance for anyone interested in meditation, energetics, philosophy/spirituality or achieving a higher state of being....TCM is an "alchemical" art in the sense that it combines energetic manipulation and herbal elixirs, etc.

So yes, alchemy is or has been science, art, and magic....