Alchemical Symbolism in the VMS

[Barbrey]

Yes, although I read an article that said this was wrong, they weren’t just principles.

I'm interested if you can find the article.

The current thinking, it seems, is that although the theory of metallic transmutation is all wrong, the practice can be shown to be partially factual. For example (I don't know any other) there are some amazing explanations (like the role of impurities) and clarifications of what the alchemists were actually doing, including replications of some of the steps or "keys" documented in Principe & Newman's books, leading toward a rehabilitation of alchemy as an experimental science, dispelling the myth that alchemy was an irrational enterprise:
William R. Newman & Lawrence M. Principe Alchemy Tried in the Fire: Starkey, Boyle, and the Fate of Helmontian Chymistry (2005)
William R. Newman & Lawrence M. Principe Alchemical Laboratory Notebooks and Correspondence (2010)
Lawrence M. Principe The Secrets of Alchemy (2015)

You know, I tried to google by subject, and the article didn’t come up, but I think it was by Newman!  Thanks nablator, I’ll see if it I can find it now!

But Matthias is right also in his explanation. The trouble I have is that if I just went by existent imagery for the “peacock” stage, I could never have arrived at my interpretation. But as soon as you know about putrefaction, the black greasy mass, the rainbow colours, and the vaporization/condensing of mercury - the actual lab processes - then the interpretation seems obvious. And I think this will hold even more true for other pages of the VMs. Any page that includes pipes is now vulnerable to an alchemical interpretation! But unfortunately, I believe an alchemy scholar or chemist specialized in medieval practices, with an appreciation for imagery and symbolism, will be the only candidates able to interpret the more difficult illustrations.