<B>A 17th-century alchemist confronts modern science with unintended and amusing results. Another sparkling addition to the multiple <i>New York Times </i>best-selling Ring of Fire alternate history series created by Eric Flint.</B><BR><BR>SCIENCE AND MEDICINE VS. FLIM-FLAMMERY<BR><BR> Thomas "the Great Stoner" Stone once performed miraculous surgery upon Phillip Theophrastus Gribbleflotz, the World’s Greatest Alchemist, using his bare hands, no anesthesia, producing no pain, and leaving no scar. It would have been wonderful if it was real.<BR><BR> But Dr. Tom Stone, the face of modern medicine, has been engaging in fake treatments—bringing all modern medicine into question. Phillip, who has learned a thing or two about actual science from those uptime elopers from Grantville, West Virginia, decides to go to Padua and turn his problems into Tom Stone's problems. <BR><BR> Meanwhile, the wily Bernardo Ponz