For a long time, it was the most sought-after goal in Western alchemy. In the view of alchemists like Sir Isaac Newton and Nicolas Flamel, familiarity with the philosopher's stone would bring enlightenment upon the maker and conclude the Great Work.
Alchemists once thought a key component in the creation of the stone was a mythical element named carmot.
The 8th-century Arab alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan (Latinized as Geber) analyzed each classical element in terms of the four basic qualities of hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness. Fire was both hot and dry, earth cold and dry, water cold and moist, and air hot and moist. He further theorized that every metal was a combination of these four principles, two of them interior and two exterior.
From this premise, it was reasoned that the transmutation of one metal into another could be affected by the rearrangement of its basic qualities.
This change would presumably be mediated by a substance, which came to be called al-iksir in Arabic (from which the Western term elixir is derived). It is often considered to exist as a dry red powder (also known as al-Kibrit al-Ahmar الكبريت الأحمر—red sulphur) made from a legendary stone—the philosopher's stone.
In the 11th century, there was a debate among Muslim chemists on whether the transmutation of substances was possible. A leading opponent was Avicenna (Ibn Sina), who discredited the theory of transmutation of substances.