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The notation of alchemy: symbols for the elements, the planetary metals, processes and apparatus, as used in the early modern period.
A closed historical domain. Nothing here is in current technical use; where an alchemical sign survives into modern chemistry or astronomy it is recorded there as well, with the lineage noted.
Historically documented throughout, from printed alchemical works. Alchemical notation was never standardised in its own time and the records say where a reading is uncertain.
An upward-pointing triangle, the alchemical sign for fire.
A downward-pointing triangle, the alchemical sign for water.
An upward triangle crossed by a horizontal bar.
A downward triangle crossed by a horizontal bar.
A triangle above a cross, the sign for sulphur and for the principle of combustibility.
A circle divided by a horizontal line through its middle.
A circle with a cross above it, the inversion of the sign for Venus.
A pair of overlapping triangles, or a stylised S-and-Z form depending on the source.
A looped form resembling a script V or a hooked stroke, denoting sulphate salts.
A form resembling a crossed or looped stroke, denoting ammonium chloride.
A sign for saltpetre, potassium nitrate.
A sign for the acid mixture that dissolves gold.
A sign for nitric acid.
A sign for mercury sulphide, the chief ore of mercury.
A sign for bismuth, one of the later metals to be distinguished.
A sign for phosphorus, isolated from urine in 1669.
A sign for reducing a substance to powder by strong heat.
A sign for separating substances by boiling and condensing.
A sign for a solid passing directly to vapour and back.
A sign for controlled decay, held to precede regeneration.
A sign for making a volatile substance stable against heat.
A sign for the working of a substance from within.
A sign for a liquid setting into a solid.
A sign for taking a solid into solution.
A sign for the distilling head, the characteristic alchemical vessel.
A sign for the vessel in which substances are melted at high heat.
A sign for a water bath, giving gentle and controlled heat.
A sign for a round vessel with a long downward-bent neck.
A circle within a square within a triangle within a circle — the emblem of the great work.