Well, a universal solvent would be the ultimate paradox, wouldn't it?...since it would also have to dissolve itself. But that never stopped the alchemists before..."burning metal", "turning lead into gold" (transmutation)...

which leads one to believe they must have been onto something else which we can't fathom (or good drugs)...the ol' Philosopher's Stone. Unfortunately, I believe any recorded texts of their earliest work disappeared in the burning of the Library of Alexandria. Perhaps all their ensuing research was an attempt to recapture what was lost there???

Hi shona!