Comment 19 by RomeStu :

It reminds me that the title of the 1st Harry Potter book when published in the USA had been changed from "Philosopher's Stone" to "Sorcerer's Stone" in order not to associate something good (philosophy) with magic, but without the historical understanding of medieval alchemy and the quest for the philosopher's stone which was integral to the story.

Was that the reason ? I though it was just part of the Americanisation of the book. Wikipedia says

They thought that a child would not want to read a book with the word "philosopher" in the title and,[30] after some discussion, the American edition was published in October 1998 under the title Rowling suggested, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.[14] Rowling claimed that she regretted this change and would have fought it if she had been in a stronger position at the time.[31] Philip Nel has pointed out that the change lost the connection with alchemy, and the meaning of some other terms changed in translation, for example from UK English "crumpets" to US English "muffin".

Michael