administration of iron for the purpose of invigorating the constitution was largely due to its connection with Mars, whose fame for virility assured the possession of similar virtue in his metallic god-son.
To the ancient planetary symbols the alchemists added a number of other signs to represent chemicals of later discovery, and to make their jargon even more incomprehensible than it would have been without them. Thus they indicated earth, air, fire, and water by the signs
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These were a few of their other characters:
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The introduction of any kind of mysticism was dear
to the alchemical fraternity, some of whom, perhaps,
really believed there was some hidden meaning in the
symbols, for there were among the adepts clever men,
true discoverers, who cannot be accused of fraudulent
