It is generally thought that alchemists' aim was to discover the Philosophers' Stone which could change base metal into gold. However, alchemists' writings state that they believed the Stone itself was made of gold and their job was to study its magical properties, it supposedly having the ability to defy gravity. They were also interested in creating 'good medicines for general use' from it.

The 17th-century Eirenaeus Philalethes, an expert on alchemy, wrote:

'Our stone is nothing but gold digested to the highest degree of purity and subtle fixation. We call it a stone because of its incombustible nature, but its appearance is that of very fine powder.