No, this kind of reductive thinking doesn’t hold. Ever heard of that alchemist quack who also did some math on the side? Newton, his name was.

From Wikipedia:

Alchemy (from Arabic: al-kīmiyā) was an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition practiced throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia, originating in Greco-Roman Egypt in the first few centuries AD. It aims to purify, mature, and perfect certain objects. Common aims were chrysopoeia, the transmutation of "base metals" (e.g., lead) into "noble metals" (particularly gold); the creation of an elixir of immortality; the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease; and the development of an alkahest, a universal solvent.

So, what was irrational with alchemy at the times Newton lived?

By the way, please do not confuse true with believable: astrology is not true and not believable; cold fusion is not true but believable.

Newton lived in the 17th century.