element
Mercury (metal)
The liquid metal, quicksilver. Alchemists named it for the planet and for Hermes; the metal, the wanderer, and the hymn’s god are three meetings.
Also known as quicksilver · hydrargyrum
Alchemy
Mercury (metal) is historically related to Planet Mercury.
Alchemists and astrologers used the same name for the liquid metal and the innermost wanderer. The metal is not the light in the sky.
from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents); Ge Hong; James R. Ware (translation) · The Nei P’ien of Ko Hung, 1966 (this translation); Ge Hong 4th century CE
historically related to · sourced · culturally specific
Mercury (metal) is used in Alchemy.
Quicksilver is a working substance in several alchemical crafts. Chinese cinnabar methods and Latin mercury are related as metallurgy, not as one laboratory.
from Ge Hong; James R. Ware (translation) · The Nei P’ien of Ko Hung, 1966 (this translation); Ge Hong 4th century CE; Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)
used in · sourced · documented
Mercury (metal) is associated with Transformation.
Alchemical crafts claim to transform mercury. The metal’s liquidity invited that claim; it is not the planet’s orbit.
from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents); Ge Hong; James R. Ware (translation) · The Nei P’ien of Ko Hung, 1966 (this translation); Ge Hong 4th century CE
associated with · sourced · documented
Planet Mercury is historically related to Mercury (metal).
The wanderer and the metal share a name in alchemy and astrology. Keep the sky-object and the flask distinct.
from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)
historically related to · sourced · documented
Alchemy · Late antiquity
Mercury (metal) is historically related to Hermes.
Latin and later alchemical diction names quicksilver after Mercury/Hermes. The hymn’s cattle-thief is not a flask of metal.
from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents)
historically related to · sourced · culturally specific
Hermes is historically related to Mercury (metal).
The god’s Latin name was given to the metal. Hymn and flask remain two files.
from Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), medieval Latin tradition (Arabic antecedents); Anonymous (Homeric hymn) · Homeric Hymn to Hermes, c. 6th–5th century BCE
historically related to · sourced · documented
Mercury (metal) is used in Medicine.
Quicksilver (hydrargyros) is ranked among simple medicines; Galen records mercury compounded in plasters and external remedies for skin affections, distinguishing medicinal use of the metal from mere metallurgical mention. The simples treatise treats mercury among drug materials applied in pharmacy, not as an altar offering.
used in · sourced · documented
Chinese tradition
Cinnabar transforms into Mercury (metal).
Cinnabar is mercury sulfide. Heating it is a way to the metal; Ge Hong’s inner chapters treat cinnabar as a working red, not as a planet.
from Ge Hong; James R. Ware (translation) · The Nei P’ien of Ko Hung, 1966 (this translation); Ge Hong 4th century CE
transforms into · sourced · documented
sources
- Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet)
Tabula Smaragdina, medieval Latin Emerald Tablet.
- The Nei P’ien of Ko Hung · Ge Hong; James R. Ware (translation)
James R. Ware, Alchemy, Medicine and Religion in the China of A.D. 320 (Baopuzi inner chapters).
- Homeric Hymn to Hermes · Anonymous (Homeric hymn)
Homeric Hymn 4, to Hermes.