So, I was reading "The Way To Wealth" by Benjamin Franklin and came across an anecdote that I really liked. He wrote "Get what you can, and what you get hold; 'Tis the stone that will turn all your lead into gold." This is obviously a reference to the philosopher's stone. The definition according to Wikipedia follows.
The philosopher's stone (Latin:
lapis philosophorum)
is a legendary alchemical
substance said to be capable of turning base metals
(lead,
for example) into gold
(chrysopoeia)
or silver. It
was also sometimes believed to be an elixir
of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality.
For many centuries, it was the most sought-after goal in Western
alchemy. The
philosopher's stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of
alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss.
Efforts to discover the philosopher's stone were known as the Magnum Opus.[1]
Of course, the stone is probably the most well known today, at least for Americans, as the sorcerer's stone in the Harry Potter books
by J. K. Rowling.
We haven't exactly had a tradition of alchemy in this country, and anyway, alchemy had pretty much died out by the time North America was settled.
In case any of you are wondering, one definition of alchemy in the New English Dictionary is
"a form of chemistry and speculative philosophy
practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and concerned principally with
discovering methods for transmuting baser metals into gold and with finding a
universal solvent and an elixir of life."
Of course, Franklin wasn't writing about this stone.
Ben Franklin's alchemy was all about saving money. Who needs a substance to turn lead into gold when you can turn pennies into gold just by socking them away? Which brings me to to the second definition of alchemy according to the New English Dictionary, which is "any magical power or process of
transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of
great value." This definition definitely applies to Ben's idea. I can say that because to me (a world-class shoe shopper) saving money is magical. While reading this I started wondering if there were any modern day nuts out there who were still trying to make the philosopher's stone, and so I looked it up on you tube. Out of the many that I watched (I couldn't help it; I was amazed that people would still even try), the following is by far my favorite. It's short, so check it out. I think Ben Franklin would approve.
