Now that we’re experts on mercury, sulfur, and salt, we know everything we need to make the legendary Philosopher’s Stone! Well . . . maybe. It turns out, alchemists disagreed about the method for producing the stone: some said it ought to take seven steps, corresponding with the days of the week; others were more lofty in their aims and said a full twelve steps were needed, coordinated with the signs of the zodiac.

And what does it do, anyway? Well, every reader of Harry Potter knows the Stone could be used to prolong life (and potentially return an evil villain to power). Originally, alchemists were a little more practical; they just wanted a Stone that would turn everything else to gold. These two goals — life and gold — seem to have become conflated and intertwined throughout the history of alchemy.

Despite all the confusion and disagreement, some alchemists were absolutely certain they’d made — or seen — or knew of someone who knew someone who had seen — the Stone. Here’s a description of it from J. B. van Helmont, a 17th century chemist who, in addition to handling the Stone, coined the term “gas.”

“I have seen and handled more than once the Stone of the Philosophers: in colour it was like powder of saffron but heavy and shining, even as powdered glass. There was given to me on a certain occasion the fourth part of a grain, or the six-hundredth of an ounce. Having wrapped it in paper, I made projection therewith upon eight ounces of quicksilver, heated it in a crucible, and immediately all the quicksilver — having made a little noise — was congealed into a yellow mass. This being melted in a strong fire, I found eight ounces minus eleven grains of most pure gold.”

There you have it — the form and workings of the Philosopher’s Stone! Since I’m hard at work on a surprise for next week, I’ll leave you with that. (Though really, what could top the spontaneous creation of gold? 🙂 )

Selected Resources

Cavendish, Richard. The Black Arts. J. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1967. (I found this rather suspicious-looking book in a thrift shop. The Helmont quote came from page 154.)

Chastain, Ben B. “Jan Baptista van Helmont.” Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jan-Baptista-van-Helmont

Rosenfeld, L. “The last alchemist — the first biochemist: J. B. van Helmont (1577-1644).” Article found at: https://academic.oup.com/clinchem/article-abstract/31/10/1755/5652008?redirectedFrom=PDF (Technically only the first page is freely available, but just that page is interesting enough!)