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The philosopher's stone, in Latin philosophi lapis, is a legendary substance that supposedly could turn inexpensive metals into gold and/or create an elixir that would make humans younger, thus delaying death. It was a longtime "holy grail" of Western alchemy. In the view of spiritual alchemy, making the philosopher's stone would bring enlightenment upon the maker and conclude the Great Work. It is also known by several other names, such as the 'Golden Wedding Garment', the 'Soul body', the 'Astral body' and the 'Living Stone', spoken of in some of the ancient philosophies as the 'Diamond Soul' Heindel, Max, Freemasonry and Catholicism, ISBN 0-911274-04-9.

In alchemy

Transmutation of metals

The concept apparently originated from the theories of the 8th century alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan, known to the west also as Geber. He analyzed each Aristotelian element in terms of four basic qualities of hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness. Thus, fire was both hot and dry, earth cold and dry, water cold and moist, and air hot and moist. He further 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 effected by the rearrangement of its basic qualities. This change would presumably be mediated by a substance, which came to be called al-iksir in Arabic (from which comes the Western term "elixir"). It was often imagined as a dry powder, made from a legendary stone — the "philosopher's stone". The stone was believed to have been composed of a substance called carmot.

Geber's theory and the concept of the philosopher's stone may have been inspired by the knowledge that metals like gold and silver could be hidden in alloys and ores, from which they could be recovered by the appropriate chemical treatment. Geber himself is believed to be the inventor of aqua regia, a mixture of muriatic and nitric acids, which is one of the few substances that can dissolve gold (and is still often used for gold recovery and purification).

In art and entertainment

The Philosopher's Stone has been subject, inspiration, or plot feature of innumerable artistic works — novels, comics stories, movies, animations, and even musical compositions. It is also a popular item in many video games. The following is a very incomplete list.

Novels

Comics, movies and animations

Music

Video and computer games

Also, a "philosopher's stone" (together with a "jewel-encrusted golden sword") were promised as grand prizes in contests connected to the Atari Swordquest Airworld video game. However, both the game and the contest were cancelled when Atari was sold to Jack Tramiel.

References

See also

Alchemy | Gold | Legends

Философски камък | Pedra filosofal | De vises sten | Stein der Weisen | Piedra filosofal | Ŝtono de la saĝuloj | Pierre philosophale | Pietra filosofale | אבן החכמים | Filosofinis akmuo | Философски камен | Steen der wijzen | 賢者の石 | De vises stein | Dei vises stein | Kamień filozoficzny | Pedra filosofal | Философский камень | Viisasten kivi | De vises sten | Bato ng pilosopo | 賢者之石

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Philosopher's stone".

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