Mercury of lead

Use in the book

The p. 52 margin anticipates confusion over the title Saturn. Where the Wise speak of Saturn's Mercury in relation to transmutation, Khunrath says they mean the philosophical subject just described, not the running corporeal Mercury of common lead. The gloss continues onto p. 53 and belongs to the universal-matter argument.

At pp. 81–822 corporeal metallic Mercury of Saturn appears again among materials associated with particular work, beside common Mercury and cinnabar workings. Its mention there does not retract the earlier distinction. The passage insists that the proper universal or specified regeneration field remains necessary to the intended result.

Separating the lead-derived name from Saturn of the Wise preserves two genuine textual referents. They are not merely alternative spellings of one substance, and the presence of Saturn in both phrases cannot decide the interpretation without the accompanying adjectives.

Places to read

1. 1599 p. 52 · margin2Common lead’s running Mercury is explicitly excluded from philosophical Saturn’s intended sense.
2. 1599 p. 53 · margin2The Saturn-Mercury gloss completes across the page break.
3. 1599 p. 81Corporeal metallic Mercury of Saturn occurs within discussion of dependent particular works, continued on p. 82.

Translation in this edition

The English can say lead because Khunrath himself writes “common lead” in the primary margin. That explicit identification does not extend to the separate Saturn of the Wise.