Principe mixed specially prepared mercury and gold into a buttery lump ... on an idea that was “actually widespread in earlier alchemical sources,” Newman writes. The concept that matter ...

At the time, gold and mercury saw heavy use in alchemy recipes. Tycho, inspired by the Swiss physician Paracelsus, used these ...

Alchemical authors frequently employed a riddling ... Eventually, he produced a "sophic mercury" in which gold could be made to dissolve and "vegetate"—forming tree-like growths.

In the eminently hermetic art of alchemy, which is focused on the ancient and occult traditions, the mediating role of the planet Mercury is central. Mercury is the guide of souls and a messenger of ...