The Philosopher’s stone is a legendary substance in
alchemy that is believed to have power to change any
matter (like sodium) into gold. Furthermore alchemists
thought that the Philosopher’s stone would give
immortality, as an elixir of life, to one who finds it. These
ideas through the ages encouraged alchemists to try to
unlock the secrets of the stone. Even now even though
the Philosopher’s stone could not be found, researches
have formed some basic principles of the chemistry
we use today, while it also became a popular tale in
popular culture and became the topic of many novels
and movies.
The history of the philosopher’s stone goes back to
ancient Greece where it is believed that there are four
elements in the world which are fire, water, earth and
air. The four elements are derived from a common
source or prima materia (first matter), associated with
chaos. (1) Studies done for the philosopher’s stone
continued in the middle ages. During the middle ages
the 8 th -century alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan analyzed each
classical element in terms of the four basic qualities. Fire
was both hot and dry, earth cold and dry, water cold and
moist, and air hot and moist. He theorized that every
metal was a combination of these four principles, two
of them interior and two exterior. From this premise, it
was reasoned that the transmutation of one metal into
another could be affected by the rearrangement of its
basic qualities. (2)(3)
Researches continued in the Renaissance. Albertus
Magnus, a famous chemist of its time claimed to
discover the stone. Another claim came from Paris, the
PHILOSOPHER’S STONE
http://evolveconsciousness.org/the-philosophers-stone/
city of one of the most famous
alchemists of all time, Nicolas
Flamel. According to legends
Nicolas Flamel, with his wife
Perenelle Flamel, who was
an alchemist just like Nicolas,
found the legendry book that
is the Book of Abramelin the
Mage. Along with his wife they
spent many years and traveled
the world to translate that
book. It is interesting that when
they returned to Paris they
carried lots of silver and gold.
They were very generous and
they helped many poor people
with the fortune they gained.
According to records Nicolas
Flamel died in 1418 and was
buried in Paris. However many people who claimed to
dig up his grave with an intension to discover wealth,
could not find the body of Flamel in the tomb. There are
even people who claimed they witnessed Flamel after
his death. Even though most of the claims and rumors
are regarded as legends, most of the records shows
the Flamels were indeed real people, they were really
generous but their wealth was exaggerated.
Although according to records that have today, no
alchemist found the Philosopher’s stone, nor discovered
the secrets of alchemy. Their research not only helped
the development of today’s chemistry but also inspired
many writers and directors. Victor Hugo mentioned
alchemy in “The Hunchback of Notre-dame”. In the
Japanese manga Fulmetal Alchemist, people are said
to discover the secrets of Alchemy and people are able
to learn and use it. In the popular book of J.K Rowling’s
debut novel “Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone”,
it is said that Nicolas Flamel was a magician and found
the Philosopher’s Stone. Later Voldemort tried to find
the stone in his attempt to reach immortality.
(1) Mark Haeffner. Dictionary of Alchemy: From Maria
Prophetessa to Isaac Newton. Karnac Books, 2004. p.211
(2) Ragai, Jehane (1992), “The Philosopher’s Stone:
Alchemy and Chemistry”, Journal of Comparative Poetics
12 (Metaphor and Allegory in the Middle Ages): 58–77
(3) Holmyard, E. J. (1924), “Maslama al-Majriti and the
Rutbatu’l-Hakim”, Isis 6 (3): 293–305,doi:10.1086/358238
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