Poor? Starving? Struggling to survive? Turn any lesser metal into gold!
This was only one of several outlandish claims that alchemists made in the 16th and 17th centuries, during a time of desperation when such suggestions earned them fame and fortune. Alchemists of this period claimed to possess the ability to not only turn lesser metals to gold, but also produce the philosopher’s stone, a mythical crystal whose properties included curing every known ailment, bestowing spiritual enlightenment, and granting eternal life.
The idea is hardly a difficult one to market. For our presentation we plan to sell the irresistible trappings of life and eternal wealth to the historical audience, and use to basic principles of the philosophy of alchemy to explain how such a substance could exist. To a crowd in abject destitution, the relevance was clear; little was more alluring than a get-out-of- poverty card.
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For links to hundreds of primary-source texts on alchemy, click.
For a quick definition of alchemy and its history, click.
