Alchemical Symbolism in the VMS

[Barbrey]

Anonymous, Ymage de vie, plus miscellaneous alchemical receipts, Late 15th century, Folio 9r
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This nice ms. has a lot of illustrations of apparatus, very technical and practical. There's nothing like them in Q13: fractional distillation tower, retorts, pelicans: they would be too easy to identify. Actually there may be 9 You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. disguised as leaves on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. . Why 9? Is it because of the 9 muses? I don't see a link (other than the general sense of being "inspired by the muses") between the 9 muses on mount Helicon, with or without Pegasus, and alchemy.

The bathing nymphs in Q13 especially in f84 are far too numerous to mean something practical in recipes, what could they mean in theory? The multiplication process?

Yes, maybe. I don’t really understand the multiplication process. There are a few candidate bath sequences that might be appropriate for it. Mercury tends to play a prominent role, and it seems to involve further distillation of the “stone” once you achieve it?