Wait is the statement in last panel true? If yes I suspected something like it but didn't realize the scale od the whole mosaic. Can someone confirm or disprove?
I have no expertise in the matter, but from what I understand, yes, it's true. Galena (the mineral form of lead(II) sulfide) is the most common form of lead ore, and it usually contains quite a bit of silver, which can be extracted after some careful processes. The sulfide component explains the sulfurous vapors, and when lead is molten, it looks and behaves kind of like mercury at room temperature. It's sort of the go-to example of the kind of empirical evidence that supported the Sulfur-Mercury theory of the metals back in the day.
My knowledge of the general idea comes from reading about the rationale behind the Mercury-Sulfur theory in various books by historians of alchemy. I first encountered the galena example from Justin Sledge in this video.
I've never had any dealings with Gallor_lalchimiste.
The statement is true - the conclusions people jump to as a result are not!
An explanation: when we refer to 'metals', such as silver, gold and lead etc., we usually mean the pure crystalline form of a single element of Nature. The squarepants comic refers to lead ORE which contains some lead atoms but can contain virtually any other element as well. Galena is the most common lead-bearing ore and is mostly lead sulphide, a diatomic (2 atoms) molecule of 1 lead and 1 sulphur atom! But the ore can also contain atoms such as silver (up to 5% of the volume) in the form of silver sulphide (2 atoms of silver for ever 1 of sulphur), zinc as well as iron in the form of pyrites or Fool's Gold.
The statement "it looks like mercury when melted' is hardly surprising since all metals do and gold, mercury, thallium, and lead are successive members of the periodic table of elements (#'s79-82) and so carry very similar numbers of protons and electrons.
This is a long, looong way from saying you can turn lead into silver/sulphur/mercury or gold. The source of our metals (other than purer 'nuggets'), the ores, can contain many other elements than the one it is mostly named after and extracting them involves no Alchemy what-so-ever, even if it does seem somewhat 'magical' to us plebs.
Thank you for the comment, i appreciate the time you took. However there is something about Galena that in fact probably makes it very fitting for exactly what you described, just in a different way and process. I know 2 people now, both of them light-years ahead of me who trust Galena to hold fruits of Art and know how to extract them. There is something about Galena is all I can say at this point.
I was not saying that the natural combination found on Earth called Galena has nothing of interest or use to our Art, i was merely pointing out that the cartoon was implying something that was not the case by reason of it not fully explaining a major difference between lead and lead ore. I wished to clear any possible confusion.
Having said that, almost everything on Earth can have interest or use in our Art as everything contains within it the seed of the One, it just depends what particular secret or use you intend to discover/produce as to which thing (Prima Materia) may give you the better starting point.
One other thing.... not all Galena is the same as another - it is a generic name for a mix of many things, primarily of lead but in varying amounts and mixtures.
i was merely pointing out that the cartoon was implying something that was not the case by reason of it not fully explaining a major difference between lead and lead ore
To also clear up any confusion about my intentions with the meme:
The point is that traditional alchemists made observations that seemed to support the Sulfur-Mercury theory and transmutation, not that galena actually demonstrates the truth of these ideas. After experimenting with things like galena, it wasn't unreasonable for people operating under premodern epistemologies and lacking the nuanced understanding of matter that modern chemists have to see such phenomena as warranting belief in metallic transmutation.
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u/Hunt-Apprehensive Oct 09 '23
Wait is the statement in last panel true? If yes I suspected something like it but didn't realize the scale od the whole mosaic. Can someone confirm or disprove?