Have you ever thought, “darn, I’ve got this pile of pearls, but what I really want is a delicious liquor?” Or how about “these apples are so good, I wish my apple tree bore fruit every month instead of every year!”

If you have, then you might benefit from owning a philosopher’s stone. Now, I talked about the basic idea of the stone a few weeks ago, but I have since learned that all that stuff about everlasting life and metals into gold is just Philosopher’s Stone 101. According to Giovanni Mercurio da Correggio, a travelling preacher from the late 1400s, the stone can also:

  • turn crystal into precious gems
  • make a malleable, perfected kind of glass
  • turn pearls and gems into a “most precious and potable liquor” (probably meant as a universal medicine, not a great cocktail ingredient)
  • make fruit trees bear fruit twelve times a year
  • make a person immune to heat or cold
  • attract good luck from the stars
  • find hidden treasure and occult secrets
  • allow a person to teleport

And, perhaps most importantly at the time, help a Pope win a crusade. But of course, says da Correggio, all of this is only really possible “if God wills it.”

Da Correggio himself — unsurprisingly — was such a character that for a long time, scholars doubted he actually lived. He seems to have had a habit of turning up at churches or royal courts and proclaiming himself an angel, a prophet, and all kinds of other good things. His description of the philosopher’s stone comes from what was essentially an ad he wrote in hopes that the Pope would hire him. (The Pope was unconvinced.) The one thing da Correggio’s pamphlet does prove is that self-promotion and posturing in hopes of attracting followers is not a modern phenomenon at all! 😛

Resources:

History of Alchemy Podcast, “Giovanni (Mercurio) da Correggio,” here. [This is where I first heard about da Correggio. It’s a very interesting podcast, episodes usually under half an hour.]

Hanegraff, Wouter J. “Pseudo-Lullian Alchemy and the Mercurial Phoenix,” article available here. [This article seems to be the authority on this topic on the web: it had a nice break down of the abilities of the stone.]