The philosophers stone was said to be the petrified eye of the god Odin, which he threw into the Well of Mimir, to gain knowledge and wisdom. Possesion of the eye was said to grant the wisdom of the gods upon the person holding it, but at the price of that persons sanity. That much information flooding a mortal's brain was said to have caused madness, and the person never uttered a coherent word ever again.
