@gasman I would hesitate to call the time “wasted”. It is a very common misconception to view alchemy as some form of magical pursuit. It was, for all intents and purposes, early chemistry. Much of it was highly rigorous and lead to huge developments in chemistry. Was it preoccupied with making gold? Probably, but that doesn’t mean that it was useless. Many people currently thought to be founders of chemistry, such as Robert Boyle, were quite avid alchemists. And the discoveries they made in their attempts at transmutation laid the basis for modern chemistry.
Take, for example, modern physics. Say we take string theorists. Lets say, 50 years from now, string theory is debunked as total flooey (to use the technical term). Does that mean that the current theorists wasted their time? Probably not. Many of them have made huge contributions to the field of physics, and simply because they may be operating under a false theory doesn’t make their time wasted.
And seriously, someone should give Newton a dope slap? For advancing almost every field of science, with huge leaps in mathematics, chemistry, physics, astrophysics, and probably a few more I’m forgetting? Give the man his due.
Also, though I do not know much about the red earth bit, i would suggest seeing if you can contact this guy. I don’t know how willing he may be to answer a random email, but he was my teacher, was a generally highly nice guy, and one of the world leaders on the study of Alchemy. If anyone would know, it would be him.