Alchemy is the ancient study and philosophy of how to change basic substances, such as metals, into other substances. Alchemists were often seen as magical people, keepers of extraordinary knowledge and power.
For those who have read and watched the Harry Potter series, as well as other science-fiction, fantasy books and movies, some of the things alchemists tried to do was turn lead into gold, create the philosopher’s stone and find the elixir of life.
Incredible ideas, surely, they could not believe they could do this? Well, alchemists believed substances, mind, philosophies, religion, magic and astrology were all related. Alchemists performed an array of experiments to prove their theories.
One of these experiments is the homunculus (This is going to blow your mind). A homunculus is a representation of a small human being. It was popularized in sixteenth-century alchemy and nineteenth-century fiction. What? Creating a small human being through experimentation? Certainly, that can’t be? How did they even do it in those years, an era where they lacked the scientific knowledge we now possess?
The term homunculus first appears by name in the alchemical writings attributed to Paracelsus, who lived from 1493 to 1541. In his De natura rerum, he outlines his method for creating the small human beings:
That the sperm of a man be putrefied by itself in a sealed cucurbit for forty days with the highest degree of putrefaction in a horse’s womb, or at least so long that it comes to life and moves itself, and stirs, which is easily observed. After this time, it will look somewhat like a man [sic], but transparent, without a body. If, after this, it be fed wisely with the Arcanum of human blood, and be nourished for up to forty weeks, and be kept in the even heat of the horse’s womb, a living human child grows therefrom, with all its members like another child, which is born of a woman, but much smaller.
As odd as this might sound to some, he was not alone in thinking that small living creatures can be created through alchemy. Surely, a simple superstitious form of science cannot create life? Or can it?
A Russian Youtuber has uploaded videos, claiming he is able to create a homunculus through an egg and human semen. Wait, what?!
Yes, he goes into detail on how the process works and even shows how it is done. Even worse, his videos show him creating what seems to be a living entity through his rather eerie method. Here is his first video on his sinister creations….
While cross-breeding species is exceptionally difficulty, many are sceptical about this individual’s series of videos. After all, humans and chickens are too total separate genus. While the videos make for an interesting, if what disturbing watch, scientifically speaking, an egg will never hatch if you inject human semen into it. Different DNA, chromosomes and all that.
Yet, what is interesting is the individual’s series of videos. His homunculus series shows how he succeeds in growing a living entity through alchemy. While the watcher isn’t sure on the entire process, one has to wander, is there an alchemist out there which can create life through alchemy or is it mere computer generated technology?
His other videos show to make the elixir of immortality, pyrokenisis and how to make a firefly. Is he a highly intelligent man who has tapped into forgotten powers or a mad man? Let us know what your thoughts are?
