to wordminstrel:

as OED says: Alchemy - the chemistry of the Middle Ages and 16th c.; now applied distinctively to the pursuit of the transmutation of baser metals into gold

e.g. modern chemistry has its beginning in alchemy, alchemists invented basic chemical procedures such as distillation, they discovered basic chemical reactions, they managed to obtain many pure chemical elements etc. unfortunately, only a "show" part of alchemy - unsuccessful attempts to transmute metals into gold - are widely known.
so hypothetical universal solvent should not only dissolve something used for a transmutation but everything else as well.