There is much lore that surrounds the beneficial effects of the oils of metals in and on the human body. Their use is attested in the alchemical writings of ancient Egypt. The processes that we use, and the texts we primarily draw from in regards to laboratory methods of production and specific actions and benefits, come from the literature of the European medical-alchemical tradition of the early modern period (16th-18th centuries). In an era when most court physicians were trained in alchemy and spagyric medicines, the oils of metals were highly regarded as a special elite medicine with a potency far surpassing that of substances derived from the vegetable kingdom.
While modern studies of the oils of metals themselves are lacking, we do now understand through the lens and idiom of chemistry that these unique compounds are not extracted from metals, but rather synthesized through the aforementioned catalytic conversion reaction process. And we have identified what compounds these oils contain, as many of the same phenols, terpenes, aldehydes, esters have been identified in plant-based essential oils and studied as to their effects on human health.