Source citation ledger
The Nei P’ien of Ko Hung
Ge Hong; James R. Ware (translation)
translation · 1966 (this translation); Ge Hong 4th century CE
James R. Ware, Alchemy, Medicine and Religion in the China of A.D. 320 (Baopuzi inner chapters).
Alchemy, Medicine, Religion in the China of A.D. 320: The Nei P’ien of Ko Hung (Pao-p’u tzu)
These are separate Atlas meetings that cite this source. Citation is not proof.
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
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
The Baopuzi discusses cinnabar in the craft of elixirs. That is Ge Hong’s China, not the Emerald Tablet’s Latin sentences.
from Ge Hong; James R. Ware (translation) · The Nei P’ien of Ko Hung, 1966 (this translation); Ge Hong 4th century CE
used in · sourced · documented
Cinnabar is associated with Red.
Cinnabar is a red ore. Vermilion is a color of that mineral, not a slogan.
from 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
Cinnabar is associated with Stone.
An ore is a stone before it is an elixir. Ge Hong’s methods start from material.
from 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
Ware’s Nei P’ien instructs compounding Potable Gold with one pound of gold by the old scale: metallic gold is a working material in Ge Hong’s elixir craft. That is Ge Hong’s China, not the Emerald Tablet’s gold-as-goal.
from Ge Hong; James R. Ware (translation) · The Nei P’ien of Ko Hung, 1966 (this translation); Ge Hong 4th century CE
used in · sourced · documented