Any information about the Philosopher's Stone is considered a legend. And who can believe that there is a certain substance, the use of which turns the simplest metal alloy into gold or silver bars. In addition, it was argued that, thanks to this mysterious thing, it is possible to extend the life span as much as you like or create an elixir that gives health and endless youth. Only at the beginning of the search, the mysterious substance was called the philosopher's stone. Subsequently, it was renamed and called "primordial matter".
Alchemists spent many years in endless experiments. It was they who created the basis of modern sciences: such as metallurgy, or chemistry, but their main goal - to find primary matter, remained unattainable for them. You can admire the tales of the search for the philosopher's stone, but the real story about him is incomprehensibly cruel, breaking the fate of thousands of people.
According to historical documents, the first person who owned a magic stone was a resident of Ancient Egypt, Hermes Trismegistus. It is not known for certain whether this historical character is real or legendary. Or maybe we are talking about the ancient Egyptian god, called Thoth? On the tomb of Trismegistus, records were found called the tablets of Hermes. The stone is engraved with 13 instructions, addressed to future generations.
It should be noted that Trismegistus wrote many books, but, unfortunately, most of them died along with the Library of Alexandria, and the rest, according to historical documents, were hidden in a cache, the location of which has remained unknown. Only a few not very successful translations of the first alchemist's books have survived. Thus, the recipe for the primordial matter of Hermes was lost.
The second owner of the philosopher's stone is considered to be King Midas, who, according to legend, received it from Dionysus himself. They said that whatever Midas touched, everything turned to gold. Sounds beautiful, but is it true? It is known that Midas owned gold mines located in France. Perhaps, the source of the receipt of gold in his treasury has no secret, but is quite prosaic.
A surge in the search for a recipe for a mysterious stone falls on the middle of the 10th century.
So, once, the English monarch Edward instructed his alchemist to smelt more gold, providing him with everything he needed for this experience. And the alchemist fulfilled the order. The gold was of a very high quality. Several coins minted from it are kept in museums in England.
Another historical mystery. In a very short period of time, Emperor Rudolph II acquired a huge stock of precious metals in ingots (about 15 tons!). Everyone knew that the monarch had a very small supply of precious metals and suddenly such wealth. And this gold was, surprisingly, unusually pure and high-grade, which at that time was not technically feasible.
Promotional video:
Unfortunately, most alchemists, more often than not, deceived their clients. For example, a charlatan alchemist took a piece of iron, melted it and, making several passes with a magic wand over the metal, presented the solidified metal with a small piece of gold to the astonished audience. And the trick was only in the dexterity of the fraudster: making passes, he imperceptibly threw a real piece of gold into the boiling metal.
Many talented scientists and researchers tried to find the Philosopher's Stone. Among them were Roger Boyle and Isaac Newton. There is a version that Newton was ahead of the famous alchemist Nicolas Flamel in his search for primal matter. Once a unique ancient Jewish book fell into the hands of Flamel. It was sold to him on the street by an old beggar. The book itself was gilded, and the pages were made from cut bark of young trees. A unique treatise was called - "The Book of the Jew Abraham". It took Flamel a lot of time and effort to translate the book, written using ancient Hebrew symbols and kabbalistic signs. Moreover, on the very first page was written a warning about the death of the one who dares to read it. Twenty years later, Flamel managed to decipher the records in the book, and he allegedly discovered the secret of the philosopher's stone. Rumors immediately spreadthat the married couple Flamels became rich quickly and are in excellent health. Flamel has acquired a colossal property.
The rumor of a talented alchemist spread throughout Europe. Of particular interest to the public were the books written by Flamel. In them, a successful scientist described his life and the history of an alchemical book, thanks to which he revealed the secret of primal matter.
Left alone, after the death of his wife, Flamel began to spend all his money on charity: he built churches, shelters for the poor, hospitals …
And although the official date of his death is 1417, many said that Flamel faked his death, and he himself went to Tibet, to the mystical and mysterious Shambhala. One can not believe in his departure to Shambhala, but when Flamel's tomb was opened in the 16th century, it turned out to be empty. There is evidence that in the 18th century Flamel was seen in the Turkish province - and this is four centuries after his death!
In 1700, during his trip to the East, the French physician Paul Luca met a saint who looked about 30 years old, but it turned out that his real age is a hundred years! He told the traveler that he lived in a remote abode of the sages, and he remains young thanks to the philosopher's stone, given to him by Nikola Flamel himself. Dervish assured that Flamel and his wife were alive, as well as the Count Saint-Germain.
The fate of the treatise "The Book of the Jew Abraham" is interesting. After Flamel's “alleged” death, she was not found, but she was later found in the archives of Cardinal Richelieu, whose subordinates searched all of Flamel's homes after his death.
Many people know about Flamel, but historians will give many examples of alchemists suddenly becoming very rich people. For example, a certain George Ripley, who lived in the 15th century, donated a huge, at that time, amount of 100 thousand pounds to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (at the current exchange rate, this amount is about $ 1 billion US). The Austrian emperor Ferdinand III was so infected with alchemical experiments that he personally obtained gold of a high standard from mercury and a powder prepared by the alchemist Richthausen. The hunt for gold did not pass by the famous astronomer T. Brahe, who built a laboratory next to his observatory, where he conducted numerous experiments on the transformation of substances.
In the 17th century, the Scottish adept Alexander Seton, in the presence of scientists from the most famous universities, melted a mixture of sulfur with lead in a container, then added an unknown yellow powder to the mixture, stirred the mixture with an iron rod for several minutes, and when he extinguished the fire, the pundits saw the purest gold. By order of the Elector of Saxony, Alexander was seized, tortured, but he did not reveal the secret. With the help of a Polish nobleman, he managed to escape from the dungeons, and in gratitude for his salvation, Alexander gave the Pole the remains of the Philosopher's Stone. But this artifact did not last long in the hands of the Polish alchemist, he was deceived at the court of the Duke of Württemberg, where he intended to show the experience of transmutation, and the philosopher's stone was taken away. After that, the traces of the Philosopher's Stone, which previously belonged to Alexander Seton, are lost.
Modern scientists consider it quite possible that there are methods that transform one substance into another. The only question is, how could alchemists, possessing only the knowledge of medieval science, achieve such stunning results? Science, so far, can not answer this question. And even suppose that the ancients managed to create the elixir of eternal youth in this way, then the representatives of the ancient civilization could well survive to this day. And even perhaps they are among us, who knows!