Mercury Sulfur Theory

The doctrine of the four elements was not very convenient for interpreting experimental data regarding the properties of metals, since it took as a main property of bodies, primarily their physical properties. The development of alchemical practice required the creation of a new theory based on the chemical properties of substances. The theory was created in the Alexandrian era as a basis for the concept of mercury as a special, “primary” metal, based on the unique ability of mercury to form amalgams with other metals ^[1] .

The mercury-sulfur theory of the origin of metals, designed to explain such properties of metals as gloss, malleability, combustibility, and justify the possibility of transmutation , was created at the end of the 8th century by the Arab alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan ^[2] . According to this theory, all metals are based on two “principles” - mercury (philosophical mercury) and sulfur (philosophical sulfur). Mercury is the “principle of metallicity”, sulfur is the “principle of combustibility”. The principles of the theory, therefore, acted as carriers of certain chemical properties of metals, established as a result of an experimental study of the effect of high temperatures on metals.

Alchemical principles, in turn, are formed by elemental elements : mercury contains water and air, and sulfur contains earth and fire. Philosophical mercury and philosophical sulfur are not identical with mercury and sulfur as specific substances. Ordinary mercury and sulfur are a kind of evidence of the existence of philosophical mercury and sulfur as principles, and the principles are more spiritual than material.

According to the teachings of Jabir, dry vapors, condensing in the ground, give sulfur, wet - mercury. Sulfur and mercury, subsequently combining in various respects, form seven metals: iron , tin , lead , copper , mercury , silver and gold . Gold as a perfect metal is formed only if completely pure sulfur and mercury are taken in the most favorable proportions. In the earth, according to Jabir, the formation of gold and other metals occurs gradually and slowly. The "ripening" of gold can be accelerated with the help of a certain "medicine" or " elixir ", which leads to a change in the ratio of mercury and sulfur in metals and to the conversion of the latter into gold and silver .

The term elixir (al-iksir) comes from the Greek xerion ^[3] , that is, "dry"; later in Europe this substance was called the philosopher's stone ( Lapis Philosophorum ). Since the process of transforming imperfect metals into perfect ones can be identified with the healing of metals, the elixir, according to the ideas of the followers of Jabir, should have many more magical properties - heal all diseases, and possibly give immortality (hence the “ elixir of life ” ).

The problem of transmutation of metals, therefore, in the framework of the mercury-sulfur theory is reduced to the task of isolating the elixir, denoted in alchemical symbolism by the astrological symbol of the Earth.

Since the properties of substances such as metal salts are rather difficult to explain using two principles, Ar-Razi improved the theory at the end of the 9th century by adding a third principle to it, the “principle of hardness” - philosophical salt. Mercury and sulfur form solids only in the presence of this third principle. In this form, the theory of the three principles acquired logical completeness; however, in Europe, this version of the theory received universal recognition only in the 15th-16th centuries thanks to the work of Vasily Valentin , and then Paracelsus and his followers (“ spagirics ”).

An integral part of the mercury-sulfur theory in the European alchemical tradition was its esoteric , spiritualistic interpretation.

Mercury (Mercury) was identified in alchemy with the female, volatile, passive principle, and sulfur (Sulfur) - with the male, constant, active. Mercury and sulfur had a huge number of symbolic names. In alchemical symbolism, they were depicted as winged and wingless dragons , or in the form of a woman and a man (usually the queen and king), dressed in white and red robes, respectively ^[4] . The union of the king and queen constituted an alchemical marriage; the result of this marriage was a hermaphrodite (rebis), which usually served as a symbol of the elixir.

Three alchemical principles constituted an important part of the numerological constructions of alchemists, according to which matter has: four corners, four elements - in its virtue; three angles, three principles - in its substance; two corners, two seeds, male and female, in its matter; one corner, universal matter, is at its root. The sum of the numbers in this construction is ten - the number that is put in correspondence with matter (sometimes - gold).

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