The Philosopher's Stone and Prima Materia

In alchemical literature the Stone is the perfected substance that transmutes metals and heals; the prima materia is the undifferentiated first matter from which the work starts. Writers disagree on whether both are physical, spiritual or both at once, and that disagreement runs through the whole corpus.

The texts below range from medieval Latin dialogues to Renaissance emblem books and Victorian spiritual readings, so the same vocabulary is used for laboratory recipes in one work and for inner transformation in another.