![]() ![]() And of course, the Scots and the Irish adopted the name for their "liquid gold": the Gaelic name for whiskey is uisge beatha, or water of life. Jesus' reference to "the Water of Life" or "the Fountain of Life"). and derives from the Arabic name for miracle substances, "al iksir." Some view it as a metaphor for the spirit of God (e.g. The word elixir was not used until the 7th century A.D. The Elixir has had hundreds of names (one scholar of Chinese history reportedly found over 1,000 names for it.), including (among others) Amrit Ras or Amrita, Aab-i-Hayat, Maha Ras, Aab-Haiwan, Dancing Water, hasma-i-Kausar, Mansarover or the Pool of Nectar, Philosopher's stone, and Soma Ras. Germain, an 18th century nobleman of uncertain origin and mysterious capabilities, was also reputed to have the Elixir and to be several thousand years old. More recently, French alchemist Nicolas Flamel was said to have discovered the elixir, and to have bestowed immortality on both himself and his wife Pernelle. The Indian elixirs were mineral remedies for specific diseases or, at the most, to promote long life. But the elixir of immortality was of little importance in India (which had other avenues to immortality). It is also possible that the alchemy of medicine and immortality came to India from China, or vice versa in any case, gold making appears to have been a minor concern, and medicine the major concern, of both cultures. Since Alexander the Great had invaded India in 325 BC, leaving a Greek state (Gandhara) that long endured, the possibility exists that the Indians acquired the idea from the Greeks, but it could have been the other way around. ![]() Evidence of the idea of transmuting base metals to gold appears in 2nd to 5th century AD Buddhist texts, about the same time as in the West. Mercury, which was so vital to alchemy everywhere, is first mentioned in the 4th to 3rd century BC Arthashastra, about the same time it is encountered in China and in the West. The oldest Indian writings, the Vedas (Hindu sacred scriptures), contain the same hints of alchemy that are found in evidence from ancient China, namely vague references to a connection between gold and long life. Chinese interest in alchemy and the elixir of life declined in proportion to the rise of Buddhism, which claimed to have alternate routes to immortality. British historian Joseph Needham compiled a list of Chinese emperors whose death was likely due to elixir poisoning. Jiajing Emperor in the Ming Dynasty died from ingesting a lethal dosage of mercury in the supposed "Elixir of Life" conjured by alchemists. Many of these substances, far from contributing to longevity, were actively toxic. The most famous Chinese alchemical book, the Tan Chin Yao Ch’eh ("Great Secrets of Alchemy," dating from approximately 650 AD), discusses in detail the creation of elixirs for immortality (mercury, sulfur, and the salts of mercury and arsenic are prominent) as well as those for curing certain diseases and the fabrication of precious stones. Gold was considered particularly potent, as it was a non-tarnishing precious metal the idea of potable or drinkable gold is found in China by the end of the third century BC. The ancient Chinese believed that ingesting long-lasting precious substances such as jade, cinnabar or hematite would confer some of that longevity on the person who consumed them. In the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang sent Taoist alchemist Xu Fu with 500 boys and 500 girls to the eastern seas to find the elixir, but he never came back (legend has it that he found Japan instead). In Ancient China, various emperors sought for the fabled elixir with various results. In other cultures, alchemical philosophy would deem less or more elements (four in most of Europe, thirty-six in India). ![]() ![]() No such potion has ever been discovered though alchemists in ancient China, India, and the Western world spent a great deal of time and effort on it.Īn elixir can be referred to as the 'Quintessence of life' or by other names - quintessence being reference to the five elements of Chinese alchemical philosophy or a theorized fifth element in European alchemy. ![]()
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