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The homunculus is commonly used today in scientific disciplines such as psychology as a teaching or memory tool to describe the distorted scale model of a human drawn or sculpted to reflect the relative space human body parts occupy on the somatosensory cortex (the sensory homunculus) and the motor cortex (the motor homunculus).
For many centuries, it was the most sought-after goal in alchemy. The philosopher's stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, divine illumination, and heavenly bliss. Efforts to discover the philosopher's stone were known as the Magnum Opus ("Great Work"). [3]
The perfection of the human body and soul was thought to result from the alchemical magnum opus ("Great Work"). [1] The concept of creating the philosophers' stone was variously connected with all of these projects. Islamic and European alchemists developed a basic set of laboratory techniques, theories, and terms, some of which are still in ...
In alchemy, the Magnum Opus or Great Work is a term for the process of working with the prima materia to create the philosopher's stone. It has been used to describe personal and spiritual transmutation in the Hermetic tradition , attached to laboratory processes and chemical color changes, used as a model for the individuation process, and as ...
In Psychology and Alchemy, Jung makes the case that the philosopher's stone is a latent reality that exists within the self rather than an external object, and that the alchemists were attempting to communicate this internal dialogue—a conversation between the various components of the human psyche—through the use of esoteric symbols and ...
It is also possible that the alchemy of medicine and immortality came to China from India, or vice versa; in any case, for both cultures, gold-making appears to have been a minor concern, and medicine the major concern. But the elixir of immortality was of little importance in India (which had other avenues to immortality).
In alchemy, putrefaction is the same as fermentation, whereby a substance is allowed to rot or decompose undisturbed. In some cases, the commencement of the process is facilitated with a small sample of the desired material to act as a "seed", a technique akin to the use of a seed crystal in crystallization .
Alchemical symbols were used to denote chemical elements and compounds, as well as alchemical apparatus and processes, until the 18th century. Although notation was partly standardized, style and symbol varied between alchemists.