Isaac Newton’s handwritten manuscript was recently discovered via an auction.

The mid-17th-century document had been in private hands for most of the 20th century. The Chemical Heritage Foundation, a non-profit based in Philadelphia, has obtained Newton’s manuscript through an auction in February of this year.

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The document contains the recipes that the renowned physicist hoped to use in his alchemic endeavours. Among its contents are the instructions needed to create a sophick mercury, which is a substance needed to make the legendary Philosopher’s stone. Published report from National Geographic stated that the English scientist copied the recipe by hand from a text owned by American alchemist George Starkey and added his own notes to the back of the document, which experts said should provide clues as to how he interpreted the complex and enigmatic instructions used by alchemists.

"The significance of the manuscript is that it helps us understand Newton's alchemical reading -- especially of his favorite author -- and gives us evidence of one more of his laboratory procedures," said James Voelkel, curator of rare books at the Chemical Heritage Foundation's Othmer Library of Chemical History.

Alchemy is also known as chymistry during the 17th century. It was centered on the belief that metals were made up of several different compounds, including a mercuric or sulfuric principle, and altering one of these principles would alter the metal itself. Still, a lot of alchemists also believed that using the Philosopher’s Stone would allow this to happen automatically.

In addition, Newton has written other unrelated notes on the distillation of iron ore on the back of the manuscript. It can be considered as laboratory notes of a process Newton had tried or was thinking of trying. The physicist would always turn over a manuscript and write on the blank page on the back, according to Voelkel.

Science historian William Newman of Indiana University said that the newly acquired manuscript will help scholars understand how alchemy influenced Newton.