ABSTRACT
The claims associated with the practice of alchemy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were many and extended beyond the traditional understanding that it was concerned primarily with the transmutation of lead into gold. Alchemists claimed that the material they sought, sometimes called an “Elixir,” or more commonly the “Philosopher’s Stone,” could heal illnesses, extend one’s life span, and even purify and redeem an individual’s spirit. An anonymous sixteenth-century manuscript published by Elias Ashmole (1617-1692) in 1658 entitled The Way to Bliss noted that a ring made from material from the Philosopher’s Stone could heal the political divisions of a kingdom.
