Alembics & Alchemists

I've been doing some more of my hysterical tinkering with the AD&D rules (treating 2e as an extensive revision of 1e, which is basically what it is in practice). A sticking point comes up with me where the wizard classes are concerned; there's some desire to have a third one, besides mages and illusionists. One of my favorite ideas I've been chewing over is the alchemist.