Alchemy conjures up images of mysterious men in dark laboratories, battling with forces they don't understand in a vain effort to turn base metal into gold. But on what are these images based? Transmutations: Alchemy in Art by Lawrence M. Principe and Lloyd DeWitt (Chemical Heritage Foundation, $25) brings together alchemical paintings from the Eddleman and Fisher collections at the Chemical Heritage Foundation, based in Philadelphia, including The Search for the Alchemical Formula by Charles Meer Webb, shown here. This short book provides an introduction to the dark dawn of modern chemistry.