Current studies have reaffirmed a strong relationship between knowing and doing in the processes of elaboration, transmission and transformation of knowledge about matter, which in history, as it is known, have been documented and developed through the reflections and practices carried out by alchemists, metallurgists and apothecaries - among other groups of scholars and artisans- during the 16th century. These documents included recipe books, treatises and encyclopedic texts, which could be found circulating more intensely in Europe from the 14th century on. A common feature found within the documentation is their approach to changes regarding the ideas about science and technology, as well as the classification of knowledge. In previous research we had discussed the effectiveness of the traditional classification of texts - concerning ideas about the composition of matter and chemical/alchemical procedures- as either "theoretical" or "practical". However, according to traditional historiography, we have realized that content and format have been the prior criteria in analyzing these texts. We understand that it is necessary to take into account a conceptual discussion of the notions and relations between nature and art, as of science and technology. Besides, research on the ways these concepts have developed, have been transmitted, adapted and / or modified in different cultures and eras, shows that the classification of these texts should not only involve the internal analysis of a group of similar texts, but also the search for their sources, as well as the ways and reasons of their development, and when they were written or compiled. This paper focuses on the ancient art of distillation- given its prominent role in both obtaining medicines and powerful "waters" used by apothecaries and metallurgists- as the reflections on the composition of matter manifested in different types of texts. Thus, we analyze in particular the Liber de arte distillandi ... (1500) written by the surgeon H. Brunschwig, De la pirotechnia (1540) a work of the metallurgist V. Biringuccio and De re metallica (1556) a treatise of the humanist physician G. Agricola, in order to identify conceptions of science and technology, as well as possible relationships between them. (Supported by Fapesp Processo No. 11/14040-9)