1 882. 53 Trans. N. V. Ac. Scz. 



Prof. H. Carrington Bolton of Trinity College, Hartford, 

 Conn., read a paper entitled : 



HISTORY OF CHEMICAL NOTATION, PART I., METALLURGIC 

 ASTRONOMY AND ITS SYMBOLS. 



(Abstract.) 



He defined chemical notation as a method of expressing in symbolic 

 characters and abbreviations the composition and mutual relations of 

 chemical substances, and showed that it has been a marked feature of the 

 science of chemistry in all stages of its history. Symbols occur in Greek 

 alchemical manuscripts of the loth and nth centuries, several hun- 

 dred of which are preserved in the foremost Libraries of Europe. The 

 fact that symbols were in common use at a very early period is indicat- 

 ed by the existence of manuscripts containing keys to these signs, the 

 so called " Lexicons of the sacred art ;" these however are unsatisfac- 

 tory, being almost unintelligible. We are told, for example, that " mag- 

 nesia is the female antimony of Macedonia," and the expression, " sa- 

 cred water," is applied to substances as diverse in nature as marble, 

 litharge, asbestos, antimony, and white-of-egg. Among the earliest 

 signs are those which were applied indifferently to the metals and 

 the heavenly bodies and are still used in astronomy. 



The influence of astrological ideas on alchemy was prodigious, and it 

 is not surprising, if we reflect on the intellectual degradation of the 

 period referred to. Several authors have discussed the mystical as- 

 sociations of the planets and the seven metals, and have sought to dis- 

 cover the origin of their common symbols. Some claim that the signs 

 were first given to the metals and then transferred to the planets : this 

 view was held by those influenced by the vagaries of alchemy. Others 

 derive them from supposed resemblances to symbolic articles associated 

 with the divinities who presided over the corresponding planets. Ac- 

 cording to the celebrated philologist Scaliger, the signs have the fol- 

 lowing origin : 



^ the scythe of Time, or Saturn. 



li the thunderbolt of Jupiter. 



$, the lance and buckler of Mars. 



the disk of the Sun. 



C( the crescent of the Moon. 



? the mirror of Venus. 



$ the caduceus of Mercury. 



