The frog

[Barbrey]

In the last two, the frog is symbolizing prima materia.

I have been fond of chemistry since I was ~13, when I got a toy chemistry set for Christmas.  I wish I could have the time, knowledge, and resources to decipher alchemical treatises like that one, to infer what reactions and substances they were referring to.   Unfortunately most people who study those manuscripts are historians and paleographers who don't know much of chemistry; and there are few if any competent chemists who can even read those books.

(For instance, my guess about the Emerald Tablet is that it is talking about the element mercury,.  It dissolves gold and silver - often referred to as "Sun" and "Moon", it seems -- and can be recovered by distillation at a few hundred degrees, leaving behind any impurities dissolved in it, and decomposing its oxides.  The vapor is invisible but it is still mercury that will condense when cooled: "that which is above is from that which is below, and that which is below is from that which is above", etc.  Not coincidentally, the fist known Arabic version of the Tablet dates from about the time when Jabir bin Hayyam is reported to have perfected the still or alembic, like the one shown in that image, and used it to discover sulfuric and other acids...)

All the best, --jorge

You’re further along than me, Jorge, if you know chemistry well. I doubled in Archeology and Literature!  The VMS led me to alchemy a few years back, and I would say I have an intermediate knowledge of the theory and concepts of this particular time period’s alchemy now, after much bemused reading. Alchemy literature is tedious and I would never have dreamed of wading through if it were not for the VMS forcing me to out of my own curiosity!

Some leading experts (and collaborators) in alchemy today are professors Lawrence Principe and William Newman. They make a point of marrying theory to actual practice. I find them very accessible to read and they’ve made some fun videos. Give them a try.

And yes, all about Mercury in my opinion too. But opinions differ, what can you do?