INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHERIISTKl
OCTOBER, 1936
1203
CHEMICAL SYMBOLS 0 Our readers have evinced so much interest in the symbols which have appeared in our pages from
time to time, that we take pleasure in printing them here, together with an explanatory key. We are able to reproduce these symbols through the courtesy of The Laboratory, Volume 4, KO.3, published by the Fisher Scientific Company, 711 Forbes Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., “The Alchemistic Symbols, A Brief Account of Their Origin and Meaning” by Jas. Lewis Howe, Washington and Lee University, published by Baker & Company, Inc., Newark, N. J., and the “Alchemical Symbols as Used in Pharmacy,” by Chas. H. LaWall [ A m .J. Pharm., 106,409-20 (November, 1934)l. 0 These symbols are only those used for decorating the pages of INDEBTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY, and are by no means a complete group of those used by the alchemists. One writer states that for the element mercury, for instance, there were no less than 20 symbols and 35 different names in the seventeenth century. Indeed, many alchemists devised their own nomenclature and symbols as a means of protecting their records by making them quite unintelligible to others. 1
a
2
0
13
S
6 22
14
21
16
e 27
23
30
34
Q 0 36
Q
Q Q lj Q
@ 29
7
0
37
41
Q 41
0
Q
5’
a
57
R 66
69
28
Q 35
XIercury Vinegar 3. Water 4. Aqua regia 5. Oil 6. Tin 7. Cobalt 8. Salt 9. Sulfur 10. Platinum 11. Gold 12. Wax 13. Saltpeter 14. Air 15 Zinc 16. Sal ammoniac 17. Bismuth 18. Acid 19. Earth 20. Carbon 21. Magnesium oxide 22. Gold hydroxide 23. Nickel 24. Element 25. Copper 2 6 . Lead 27. Crucible 28. Sodium chloride 29. Kaolin 30. Antimony 31. Iron 32. Quick lime 33. Vitriol 34. Crystal 35. Acetic acid 36. Fire 37. Platinum 38. Silver 39. Salt 40. Iron oxide 41. Ferrum 42. Quinta essentia 43. Marcasita 44. Pars cum parte 45. Mercurius vivus 46. Glass 47. Tigillum 48. Mercurius vivus 49. Fusio 50. Flowers of sulfur 51. Talc 52. Powder 53. Alum 54. Filter 55. Bath 56. Gum 57. T o precipitate 58. Arsenic bisulfide 59. Retort 60. Alembic 61. T o purify 62. Hour 63. Ashes 64. Soap 65. Day and night 66. Phlogiston 67. iimmonium ohloride 66. Spirit of wine 69. Sand 70. Arsenic 1. 2.
