Alchemy is fun like cards, Where possible, having inflamed a person, Cheat him.
Ben Johnson. Alchemist
When talking about the search for this stone, they usually remember the mysterious art of alchemy. Today, many consider alchemy to be a primitive form of chemistry, but it was more than that, as it extended far beyond protochemistry into the realm of mystical and occult knowledge. As astrology studied the dependence of human life on the stars, so alchemy investigated the connection between man and earthly nature, combining chemistry and magic. Alchemists used chemistry as a metaphor for human relationships, just as astrologers used stars. The ancient Greeks, Chinese and Indians usually called alchemy Art or, speaking of the main task of alchemy, change or transmutation in the broadest sense: these are chemical transformations capable of transforming common metals into gold, a precious metal highly prized for its color and ability not to rust. even after lying in the ground for hundreds of years. The transmutation also included physiological changes from disease to health: alchemists believed they could use the stone to create an elixir that could convert dead tissue into living flesh. For the Chinese and Indians, transmutation also meant the transition from the earthly state to the spirit world.
The idea of the elixir of immortality belongs to the Chinese Taoists, who, among other things, were looking for ways to achieve immortality. Founded in the 6th century BC by the sage Lao Tzu, this combination of religion, philosophy, magic and primitive science gave impetus to all areas of practical chemistry: sophisticated methods of preserving dead bodies (an example of this is the tomb of a woman in Ma-wandui with a hermetic chamber sealed with kaolin clay); rigor in the execution of procedures and measurements; the use of a variety of devices, furnaces, furnaces, vessels for reactions and distillation; and, of course, the belief that the elixir could somehow stop aging - its search began around the 4th century BC. It was believed that the strongest form of such a substance should be a solution containing a metal that is resistant to corrosion, "drinking gold", then they believedthat the immutability of this noble metal should be transmitted to the person who drank it.
One scientist cited over 1000 names for the elixir, where gold was far from the only ingredient. For example, the book The Great Secrets of Alchemy by Song Qimyao (581-673 AD) describes formulas based on the use of mercury, sulfur and arsenic. According to the English historian Joseph Needham, it is possible that some Chinese emperors even died as a result of poisoning with such "elixirs of immortality." Hundreds of years later, the failure of the Chinese alchemists became obvious, since they strictly adhered to their only goal - to find the elixir of immortality, in contrast to their Western colleagues, who at the same time sought to discover a way to obtain gold. It is believed that this was one of the reasons why Chinese alchemy did not achieve any significant results in comparison with European; another reason isthat the Chinese adopted Buddhism, which offered a safer path to immortality.
Western alchemy began in antiquity, during the heyday of classical Greek civilization, from roughly the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC) to the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra in 30 BC. Bolos of Mend, a Hellenized Egyptian who lived in the Nile Delta in the 1st century BC, wrote the book On Nature and Mystery, which contained secret recipes for making gold and silver. Most of these recipes ended with a brief description of transmutation: "One essence will be found in another essence, one essence will prevail over another essence, one essence will subdue another essence."
In Alexandria, Egypt, early alchemy flourished thanks to the centuries-old experience of craftsmen in forging and processing gold, which is vividly illustrated by the stunning gold artifacts preserved in the tombs of the pharaohs. It was from this experience that a discussion arose among the philosophers of those days about how the parent metals could be converted to gold. The Stockholm and Leiden papyri dating from the 3rd century AD describe how, using a mixture of sulphates, salts and iron alum, to make fake gold look real. According to the works of Zosima Panopolitan, who lived in the 3rd century AD, it can be assumed that alchemical theory concentrated on the invention of a tincture that could cause transmutation instantly, and it came to be called the philosopher's stone.
Later, the main focus of alchemy turns to a complex set of semi-religious and quasi-magical ideas - from astrology with alchemy to numerology and other occult sciences - that appear to have originated in Egypt during the time of Moses under the influence of belief in the god Thoth. They are called "hermetic enclosures" or "hermetic" after the Greek counterpart of Thoth - Hermes Trismegistus (Thrice Greatest). Other constituent hermeticists have their roots in the Kabbalah, the Jewish teaching about the secret, mystical interpretation of the Old Testament.
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Only a select few were able to look into the magical world described in the hermetic. Nicholas Flahmel, one of those who had access to the "Hermetic art", appears in the first Harry Potter book. Flamel really lived in the XIV century and is said to have created the Philosopher's Stone. According to Lawrence Prinzipe of Johns Hopkins University, an expert in alchemy, “Through the Harry Potter books, millions of readers have come to know the legendary character in the history of chemistry. Otherwise people would probably never know about him."
This classic story is one of the most famous inspiring myths of alchemy. Flamel was born in 1330, apparently in Paris, he was from the lower class and became a clerk, bookseller. The story goes that in a vivid vision an angel appeared to Flamel and gave him a book on the Hermetic art, saying: “Read this book carefully, Nicholas. In the beginning, you will not understand anything from here, neither you nor anyone else. But one day you will see in her something that no one else will be able to see."
Later, a stranger came to his store, who urgently needed to sell one old book, as he was desperate for money. Flamel immediately recognized the copper-covered tome with strange engraved designs and letters in the ancient language, like those shown to him by an angel. He was able to find out that this book was written by Abraham the Jew. Flamel was familiar with the alchemical writings of his contemporaries and knew a thing or two about transmutation, but it still took him twenty-one years to decipher the mysteries of the Hermetic Corps.
Since parts of the corpus were written in Hebrew, Flamel's wife Pernel invited him to seek advice from some Jewish rabbi who was studying mystical Kabbalistic texts. Knowing that many Jews were forced to move from France to Spain, Flamel rushed there, in Santiagode-Compostella, along with pilgrims to the Temple of St. James, hoping to meet the right person on the way. Already on the way back, he met the Jewish sage Kanchez, who was able to shed light on the secrets of this mysterious manuscript and gave Flamel a key with which he could decipher the entire contents of the book.
Flamel returned home to his wife, and after three years their efforts were crowned with success. At about noon on Monday, January 17, 1382, they turned half a pound of mercury into silver using the White Philosopher's Stone. Then at five o'clock in the afternoon on April 25, 1382, using a red type of stone, they turned mercury into gold. Flamel and Pernel continued their work and received the stone several more times.
In the end, they began to say that Flamel managed to prepare the coveted elixir of immortality. However, this elixir apparently did not help him much, as he died in 1417 (or March 22, 1418, according to another source), having lived to be eighty-seven or eighty-eight years old. Today his tombstone is in the Cluny Museum, where he was transported from a Parisian grocery store, where it was used as a cutting board.
However, some believe that Flamel staged his funeral. This view is borne out in the first Harry Potter book, where Flamel and his wife have a much happier fortune, living until 665 and 658 or so, leading a quiet life and pottery in Devon. How did they do it? Perhaps the answer is found in Flamel's most famous book, An Explanation of Hieroglyphic Figures, or His Secret Book of a Blessed Stone Called the Stone of the Philosophers, where with the help of various figures, supposedly carved into a crypt that Flamel acquired in a local parish, he encrypted stone. Like other alchemists, he kept the nature of the stone a secret and spoke about his work only in the most vague and figurative expressions, without giving clues as to what he was doing.
According to one theory, Flamel announced the creation of the stone to hide the real source of his wealth, which was acquired through dubious deals. Some sources note that Flamel really became a very wealthy man, so much so that he was able to found and finance fourteen hospitals, seven churches and three cathedrals in Paris alone and even more in Boulogne.
Upon closer inspection, however, Prinzipe found that Flamel's story was not supported by the facts. "In the world of alchemy, as in the world of magic, things often seem different from what they are." The Flamel couple did live at that time, however, modern historians have not been able to find evidence that they ever practiced alchemy, the first mention of their interest in the Philosopher's Stone appeared in 1500, much after their death. Flamel's most famous book, Hieroglyphic Figures, was published in 1612 and, as research has shown, was written at the end of the 16th century. All other alchemical texts attributed to Flamel were created after his death.
"Archival documents show that Flamel's fortune was not as huge as the stories are trying to convince us, and it was born not thanks to the transmutations of metals, but due to clever play on the Paris real estate exchange and was supplemented by the fortune that Pernel inherited from previous marriages." says Prinzipe. Nevertheless, after his death, the story of Flamel continued to acquire details and details. Early evidence speaks of his enormous wealth, and in the 18th century it was already about extending life, no doubt with the help of the philosopher's stone.
In 1712, a traveler met a "learned dervish from Asia Minor" who had recently seen the Flamel spouses, healthy and strong, already over 375 years old, living in India. Half a century later, they find themselves in the Parisian opera. "This curious detail is also quoted in the Harry Potter book, where Rowling calls Nicholas an opera lover and mentions his age - 665 (it was in 1995 or 1996)," says Prinzipe.
Even with the dubiousness of his pursuit of alchemy, not to mention the fact that he allegedly found the Philosopher's Stone, Flamel's work had a great influence on famous 17th-century alchemists such as Robert Boyle and Sir Isaac Newton. Newton had a copy of Flamel's work and wrote a seven-page review entitled Explaining the Hieroglyphic Figures of Nicholas Flamel, 1399, in an attempt to show the true ancient alchemy, the modern understanding of which is distorted.
The quest to find the stone did not seem too dubious an undertaking in the borderline era for magic and science. The idea that metals consist of a set of elementary primary substances was then very popular, and this idea itself originates from ancient Greek philosophy and science. Empedocles, and then Aristotle, developed a theory according to which all things are made of four elements - air, earth, water and fire. Thus, if the alchemist could find a way to change this mixture, then it is logical to expect that one metal could be made to another.
As Prinzipe says, at the beginning of the modern era, alchemists tended to distinguish between different early messages. Like any self-respecting scientist of antiquity, they paid attention that Aristotle's recipes could not be repeated in their laboratory. The widespread idea that all metals consist of only two elementary primary substances, sulfur and mercury, in different proportions and different purities, arose around the 9th century, and only then * came to Europe.
However, by "sulfur" and "mercury" they did not mean the elements themselves, but their properties: "sulfur" was usually considered as the primary element of combustion and color, and it was believed that it was present in metals, since they change into an earth-like substance under exposure to fire. Properties such as fusibility, malleability and luster were attributed to "mercury", a metallic primordial substance. Thus, if you combine the yellow color of sulfur with the metallic luster of mercury, you get a yellow metal. With the right recipe, you can create gold.
As Flamel's story shows, two types of philosopher's stone were distinguished, or perhaps two degrees of perfection: one for transmuting "imperfect" metals into silver - a white stone, and the other - for creating gold - a red stone, or "powder of transformation." In the first Harry Potter book, Voldemort hunts for a stone that is red as blood.
Usually the elixir of immortality is described as a solution of a stone in wine, which revives the blossoming of youth. How does he work? Just. In the words of Paracelsus (Falstaffian character and pioneer in chemistry, also known as Theophrastus Philip Aurelius Bohm-bastfon Hohenheim, 1493-1541): “The Philosopher's Stone cleanses the human body of all impurities by introducing new and younger forces that join to his nature."
Roger Highfield
