Only a few metals were known to the alchemists. They were, namely, gold, silver, iron, mercury, tin, copper and lead. Since they knew only seven planets and seven gods, they named these seven metals after these seven gods of the planets. These metals then, were known as the "Seven Metals of the Ancients." Gold, the noble metal, was named after Sol, the golden sun whose symbol was the perfect sphere; silver was named after Luna the moon, because of its white lustre, and represented by the crescent; iron, the hard metal of war, was named after Mars and given the symbol of Mars' shield and spear; mercury or quicksilver, because of its mobility, was named after Mercury or Hermes, the messenger of the gods, and given the symbol of Mercury, which was the Caduceus (twined serpents on a staff); tin was named after Jupiter, the god of lightning. Copper, found on the shores of Cyprus, was named after Venus, because it was thought that Venus rose up all bright and shining from the sea shores of Cyprus, and since Venus was a vain maiden her symbol was the hand mirror. Lead was named after Saturn (Kronos) the dull, slow-moving god, often pictured as an old man carrying a scythe or hour-glass and whose symbol was the scythe.

The seven metals were each assigned a day in the week; thus, Sunday was gold (Sol), Monday was silver (Luna), Tuesday was iron (Mars), Wednesday was mercury, Thursday was tin (Jupiter), Friday was copper (Venus), and Saturday was lead (Saturn).

In a similar manner, Astronomy and Astrology played a very important part in the art of Alchemy. The seven metals then had not only the symbols of the planets, but also the symbols of the Zodiac as given in the following table:

The Zodiac table was also translated into alchemical use as the table below shows. By this method the signs would be understood only to the philosophers who knew that the signs of the Zodiac had at least two different meanings. By the use of such signs, involving more than one definite meaning, the alchemists were enabled to keep their art a mystery and a secret. In pursuing the secret art of transmutation, the work must be carried out under the proper astrological signs as shown below:

Calcination meant to oxidize, congelation meant to solidify or crystallize, fixation meant to make stable, and solution, digestion, distillation, sublimation and separation are self-explanatory. Ceration meant to bring the material to a soft, wax-like, or fluid state, fermentation meant the rarefaction of a dense body by the interspersion of air in its pores, multiplication meant transmutation or gold making, and projection meant that by the use of the Philosopher's Stone at this point in the work, base metals could be changed into gold. The "stone" could be multiplied by dissolving it in mercury.

Not only did these ancients use peculiar signs, but they also employed pictures and colors in their art. The colors had a great significance to the alchemists. Gold was represented by a red king, silver by a white queen, a white sublimate by an ascending dove, antimony by a grey wolf, black or purifying matter by a black cow, earthly matter by a toad, sulphur by a wingless lion, mercury by a winged lion, and a fire was represented by a salamander. Certain actions also had their significant meanings. For example, to cut off the black crow's head meant to continue the heating until the black color changed to white. When the mixture was black it was called black raven; as it turned white, it became known as virgin's milk or the bone of the whale. Winged and wingless serpents or dragons symbolized the volatile and fixed principles (mercury and sulphur) respectively; the three serpents, the three principles (mercury, sulphur and salt); a serpent nailed to a cross, the fixation of the volatile. Flamel likened the great stench of dragons to that of sophic sulphur and sophic mercury. Sophic sulphur was made by dissolving gold in Aqua Regia, evaporating and oxidizing the crystals. The resultant finely-divided metal was sophic sulphur. Sophic mercury was silver dissolved in nitric acid, evaporated and oxidized. The resultant powder was the final product.

Sophic mercury was volatile and white in character, while sophic sulphur was fixed and red in color. The alchemists thought the former to be silver while the latter was considered to be gold, because of the great importance they attached to the colors of the respective materials. The Great Work referred to the making of gold and Little Work to the making of silver. The pictures of the alchemists, done in oil colors were merely paintings to the uninformed. Here are some of the interpretations of the paintings. The Iris, for example meant the rainbow colors of the Great Work; the Vine the symbol of fruitfulness; lunary herb, the potent signature herb of Luna; Moly, a magic herb with black root and white flowers, given to Ulysses by Hermes as a counter charm against the spells of Circe. (Moly was hard for mortal man to dig, but with the gods all things are possible.) Harvest (wheat and corn) referred to the "vital principle"; the rose, Ben Johnson's flower of the sun, the perfect ruby which he calls elixir; the golden apples of Hesperides or the golden bough had reference to the symbol of the gold-making power of "the Stone." The mulberry ministers represented the mysterious transmuting powers of the silk worm; myrtle, the symbol of immortality; the olive is sacred to Minerva, goddess of wisdom; saffron, the powers of dyeing and tingeing and it also meant the Philosopher's Stone. Runaway Daphne symbolizes the laurel, because Daphne ran from Apollo and was changed into a laurel. Apollo (Phoebus) and Daphne sometimes represent fixed and volatile principles, and sometimes masculine and feminine principles.

The three-headed serpent signified the "Stone," which is supposed to be composed of spirit, soul, and body, proceeding from a common source. It is single in essence, but triple in form. The Ram, Crab, Scales, and the Goat represented the four seasons. Saturn biting the hand of an infant is suggestive of the mythological story of the use of infants' blood for the mineral spirits of the metals. The Bible story of King Herod is supposed to have had some influence on this idea. The Gnostic symbol of Egypt, consisting of the snake seizing hold of its own tail, which led Kekulé, in 1865, to formulate the theory of the benzene ring, represented the eternal cycle, the symbol of eternity and regeneration. Numbers were also assigned to the Seven Metals of the Ancients, thus: Lead was given the number 1, Tin 2, Iron 3, Gold 4, Copper 5; Mercury 6; and Silver 7. The statement is attributed to Rhazes that "the 'Stone' is triangular in essence and square in quality."

While the search for the Philosopher's Stone was not the only objective pursued by the alchemists, it constituted without doubt a major objective. The "Stone" was, of course, never found. Many valuable concomitant discoveries, however, did result from the search engaged in by countless men of that period. Among these might be mentioned the accidental discovery of the element phosphorus, by the alchemist Brandt in the seventeenth century. When he observed the phosphorescent property of the substance, Brandt was certain he had found the "Stone." The sequence of the process concerned with seeking the Philosopher's Stone was:

1. Purification of the primitive materials

2. Preparation of the proximate materials

3. Treatment in the Philosopher's Egg or Hermetic Vase with the attendant color changes

4. Increasing the potency of the resulting stone (multiplication)

5. Transmutation (in the operation of projection)

It was further stated that in the Sacrament of the Altar were concealed the most profound secrets of spiritual alchemy; that the perfection of the Great Work was the birth of the Philosopher's Stone in the Sacred Nativity; that its sublimation was the Divine Life and Passion; that the black state represented death on Calvary; and that the perfection of the red state corresponded to the resurrection of Easter and the Divine Life thereafter.

Following are two unrelated examples of writings attributed to the alchemists. Doubts exist concerning the exact origin of these writings but nevertheless they serve to show the kind of writing engaged in by the early workers in science of that period.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy tovs
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

The second represents the writing of a somewhat later period and is more easily read, although perhaps no more readily comprehended. The mysticism and religious influences are quite evident in these quotations.

We have an Heaven yncorruptible of the Quintessence,
Ornate with Elements, Signes, Planetts, and Starrs bright,
Which moisteth our Erthe by the Suttile influence;
And owt thereof of a Secrete Sulphure hid from sight,
It fetteth by virtue of his attractive might;
Like as the Bee fetcheth Hony of the Flowre.

Philalethes in an exuberant mood let loose the following deluge of synonyms of mercury: "Mercury is our doorkeeper, our balm, our honey, oil, urine, may-dew, mother, egg, secret furnace, oven, true fire, venomous Dragon, Theriac, ardent wine, Green Lion, Bird of Hermes, Goose of Hermogenes, two-edged sword in the hand of the Cherub that guards the Tree of Life, etc., etc.; it is our true, secret vessel, and the Garden of the Sages, in which our Sun rises and sets. It is our… " and he inverts a second nomenclatory cornucopia upon the head of the unfortunate neophyte.

"Owing perhaps to their abhorrence of Greek paganism, the Arabs were sparing in their use of the considerable variety of Greek symbols, and it was not until alchemy had become established in Western Europe that its practitioners developed the comprehensive code which permeates medieval alchemical writings. In designing symbols for the elements and principals, simple geometrical figures were introduced. Gradually, an imposing array of hieroglyphics came into use; but unfortunately, and probably of set purpose, there was no uniformity in their application, as will be evident from a glance at a list given in Basil Valentine's 'Last Will and Testament.' Gold, for example, was represented at one time or another, in more than sixty different ways. To add to the confusion, anagrams, acrostics, and other enigmas were introduced, and various secret alphabets and ciphers came to be used by alchemists; in some of these, letters and numerals were represented by alchemical and astrological signs. An additional barrier was erected in the shape of an extensive structure of pictorial symbolism and allegorical expression. Ideas, processes, even pieces of apparatus, were represented by birds, animals, mythological figures, geometrical designs, and other emblems born of a riotous, extravagant, and superstitious imagination."

While the alchemist was very much of a mystic in his thinking and in his writing, nevertheless, he was fully cognizant of the religious phase of life and looked to the All-Protecting Spirit, or as we know it today, the Almighty, for protection and for a blessing. That this is true, is borne out by the observation that in any picture of an alchemist's den or laboratory one always will note a stuffed fish or one carved from wood hanging from the ceiling of the laboratory. The interpretation for this lies in the fact that the Greek word for fish is "Ichthus," in the Greek spelled IXOY. Each letter of this word then spells a word of the following statement, "Jesus Christ, of God the Son, Savior," spelled according to the Greek as follows, SYMBOLS!!!

For each of the zodiacal signs there is a corresponding alchemical process, some of which-calcination, solution, digestion, distillation, sublimation, separation, fermentation-are recognizable to us now. Projection was the ultimate process-transmutation.