Our ancestors knew how to have fun - the Inquisition alone is worth something. Magic, alchemy, the search for the philosopher's stone and even the cloning of people - this is what medieval scientists were having fun with, no match for today's bore. One of the most terrible secrets was the ability to grow a real person, a homunculus, in a glass flask. Can the experiment be repeated at home? Let's figure it out.
Where the legs grow from
Our ancestors' ideas about genetics were very vague, if at all. In the Middle Ages, it was believed that the male seed already contains a tiny little man, which simply grows to normal size in a woman's womb. Having judiciously estimated all the available factors, the alchemists decided that one can do without a vessel of sin (in fact, a woman) - an ordinary glass retort is enough.
Who is dad
The first "creator" of the homunculus is considered to be the medieval alchemist Arnaldus de Villanova, who lived in the 12th century. His research formed the basis of hundreds of dark innuendoes that touch the very essence of human existence. Needless to say, the successes obtained by pseudoscientists in the field of alchemy were completely fictional?
Promotional video:
A creature like a human, grown artificially
Working recipe
Already in the 16th century, the most famous physician of his time, Paracelsus, proposed a supposedly working formula for growing a homunculus. This prominent scientist believed that sperm, enclosed in a special vessel, could develop into an artificial person - all that is needed, trifling magical manipulations. A spherical bottle with human sperm had to be heated at a certain temperature, then cooled in horse dung (what kind of jokes are there) and subjected to mysterious "magnetisation" - what this is to science is not known for certain.
How to feed your baby
After a homunculus is born in a vessel, it should be fed with human blood. In just forty days, the wonderful creature grew up to 30 centimeters. Then the homunculus should be removed from the vessel and used for strange magical rituals - well, not to give it to kindergarten.