CHAPTER II

THE ROMANCE OF THE SEVEN METALS

HROUGHOUT the writings of the early alchemical philo-

X sophers there is constant reference to the mystic connexion
between the seven metals — gold, silver, copper, mercury, lead,
tin, and iron — and the seven planetary bodies — the Sun, the
Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, and Mars.

The origin of this association takes us back to a very early
period when the astrologers of Babylonia formed a cult of their
own that became known as the Chaldean art. This spread to
Egypt, and thence was transmitted to the Greeks and so on to the
Romans, who associated many of their deities with the planets.
The belief that the seeds of the metals were in the earth and that
their formation or growth was fostered by the influence of the
planetary bodies is therefore of great antiquity. Proclus in his
commentary on Timceus says :

Natural gold and silver, as well as all the other metals and like
other substances, are produced in the earth under the influence of
the celestial divinities and their effluvia. The sun produces gold,
the moon silver, Saturn lead, and Mars iron.

It was believed that no planet could undergo a modification
without arousing a corresponding sympathy in the metal. This
sympathy or bond was supposed to be transmitted by invisible
minute bodies which proceeded to the metals from the planets,
each of which had a day in the week on which it manifested its
influence over its particular metal. Thus, gold was dedicated
to Sunday, silver to Monday, iron to Tuesday, and so on.

So strong was the belief in the growth of metals that down to
the sixteenth century mines were sometimes closed for a while
in order that the supply of metal might be renewed.

THE ROMANCE OF THE SEVEN METALS

According to a work of Basil Valentine, said to have been
written at about that period,

All herbs, trees, and roots, and all metals and minerals, receive
their growth and nutriment from the spirit of the earth, which is
the spirit of life. This spirit is itself fed by the stars, and is there¬
by rendered capable of imparting nutriment to all things that grow
and of nursing them as a mother does her child while it is yet in
her womb. The minerals are hidden in the womb of the earth and
nourished by her with the spirit which she receives from above.

From this supposed close association between the planets and
the metals probably came the spiritual connexion that existed
between alchemy and astrology in the early ages. To each of
the seven metals was assigned the symbol of the planet which
was believed to influence it. Thus, the sign used for the sun
became the alchemist’s symbol for gold, while that used for the
moon became the symbol for silver, and similarly with the
other planets.

Without pursuing these old doctrines further, let us consider
some of the traditions connected with the history of the seven
metals.

Gold, the most precious of all, has ever had an attraction for
man. It is probable that it was one of the earliest metals of
which he made use, and may, indeed, have been the first he dis¬
covered, as it was to be found free in nature, in rocks as well as
in the sands of rivers. In Ethiopia and Nubia it must have been
known at a period of great antiquity, and there is evidence that
quartz- crushing and gold-washing were known in Egypt before
2500 B.c.

From the Middle Ages it was believed to possess great medi¬
cinal virtues. As Chaucer observes of his Doctour of Phisik
in the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales ,

Gold in phisik is a cordial,

Therefore he loved gold in special.

In the sixteenth century Paracelsus recommended gold to purify
the blood, and states that if put into the mouth of a newly
B 17

LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY

born babe it will prevent the devil from acquiring a power
over the child. In the seventeenth century it became included
as an official remedy in many of the Pharmacopoeias of Europe,
and was considered to be superior to mercury in its action in
the treatment of many diseases.

Crocus solis , the preparation of gold generally used, was made
by dissolving gold in nitro-hydrochloric acid, and after dis¬
tilling the solution with water and precipitating it with solution
of potass (potash) the resulting powder was washed and dried.
The stannate of gold (purple of Cassius) was prescribed in¬
ternally, and when made into a solution was believed by some
to be the Elixir of Life.

The metal itself was employed in the shape of an amalgam
made with mercury and gold-leaf, which was administered in
the form of a syrup or tincture. The bromide of gold was used
in medicine down to recent times. In alchemical symbolism
and allegory gold was represented as a king.

Silver, which was originally called white gold, entered into
the composition of the electrum of the Greeks, and, alloyed with
gold, formed the metal from which some of the earliest-known
coins were struck. Silver nitrate, probably the first salt pre¬
pared from the metal, is said to have been discovered by Jabir-
ibn-Hayyan (Geber) about the eighth century. It was known
in the Middle Ages as lapis infernalis and afterward as lunar
caustic, and was first prepared in sticks, now commonly called
caustic, by Glaser, an apothecary in Paris in the seventeenth
century. Silver was associated with the moon, and for this
reason was regarded as a potent remedy for all diseases affecting
the brain. It was used by the Arab physicians in the treatment
of vertigo and falling-sickness. The employment of pills of
silver continued down to the eighteenth century, a favourite
form of administration being pilulce lunares , or Pills of the
Moon, which were composed of silver nitrate combined with
opium, musk, and camphor. Another preparation, known as
tincture of the moon, consisted of a solution of silver nitrate
18

AN ALCHEMIST
From an engraving after Stradano

18

Kir iA? f-

THE ALCHEMIST
From an engraving after Brueghel

THE ROMANCE OF THE SEVEN METALS

mixed with a little copper to give it a bluish tint. The metal
was represented by the alchemists as a queen, and its symbol
was a crescent moon.

Copper, which was associated with the planet Venus, was
known and used before iron, and was smelted from the ores by
primitive man. Its ductility rendered it particularly adaptable
for the making of utensils and implements, and later it formed
a component part of the bronze employed for weapons and
knives. As the copper ores were frequently found associated
with other metals it was probably soon discovered that by
alloying it could be rendered hard enough to fashion into tools.
It was known to the Greeks in the time of Homer, for he tells us
that the shield of Achilles was composed of gold, silver, tin, and
copper, while the arms of the heroes were of copper. Bronze
was used by the Egyptians as early as 2000 B.c., and was em¬
ployed for making vases, statuettes, mirrors, and arms, and the
alloy used consisted of from 80 to 85 per cent, of copper, with
between 20 and 15 per cent, of tin.

The metal-workers in ancient times obtained the red and
black copper oxides by heating copper to redness and allowing it
to cool in the air. They distinguished between the scales which
fell off during the cooling and those that could be obtained by
heating the metal, and these oxides were used for colouring glass.
The oxy-acetate of copper, or verdigris, was known and used as
a pigment at least five thousand years ago, while later it was
employed by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans as a remedy
for various affections of the eyes. The Egyptians prepared it
by covering plates of copper with the refuse of grapes after the
juice had been taken.

At a very early period mercury was known in China and India,
where it was found native or obtained by heating cinnabar, the
sulphide, with iron filings in an earthen vessel to the top of
which a cover was sealed with clay. The iron decomposed
the sulphide, and the liberated mercury was volatilized and
condensed on the cover, whence it was collected. This early

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LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY

crude form of distillation became one of the chief operations
among the alchemists for separating the volatile from fixed
substances.

Mercury is mentioned both by Aristotle and Theophrastus
about 325 B.C., and was originally called ‘quicksilver’ when
found in the liquid state. About a.d. 50 it is mentioned by
Dioscorides, who calls it ‘hydrargyrum,’ or ‘liquid silver,’ and
states that it was frequently confused with minium, or red oxide
of lead. It was originally thought that cinnabar, the sulphide,
and native quicksilver were two distinct substances. The im¬
portant use of mercury for extracting gold from its matrix and
other metals goes back to an early period, and Pliny records that
quicksilver was employed in his time for separating the noble
metals from earthy matter. The crushed gold-quartz was
shaken up with mercury, which dissolved out the gold; the
amalgam of gold and mercury thus obtained was then squeezed
through leather, which separated most of the mercury. The
solid amalgam was then heated to expel the mercury that was
left, and the pure gold remained. It is probably owing to this
power of mercury over gold that the alchemists came to regard
it as a very important metal.

The Arabian alchemists were the first to investigate the pro¬
perties of mercury, and it is to Jabir-ibn-Hayyan that we owe
the earliest description of the red oxide, and also of the per-
chloride of mercury commonly known as corrosive sublimate.
Until about the eighth century mercury was regarded as a power¬
ful poison. It is so described by Galen, but Avicenna, the
Arabian physician, observed that quicksilver in the metallic
form could be swallowed without ill-effect and that it passed
through the body unchanged. Following the old theory of the
alchemists, Jabir-ibn-Hayyan laid it down that all metals con¬
sisted of sulphur and mercury in different proportions and of
different degrees of purity. Sulphur, he believed, caused the
alterations in metals when heated, while mercury imparted lustre
and malleability as well as other metallic properties.

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THE ROMANCE OF THE SEVEN METALS

The red oxide of mercury subsequently played an important