Who in the 17th century European society would want to employ an alchemist and for what purpose?

They made a checks and balance system to equal power within the branches. the "check" meant that one branch would watch one branch and "balance" them if they were too powerful. if you want more info on this, i would just google checks and balance system.

Your gonna need to tell me more

I'm pretty sure it's b. hope this will you out