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Fixed arsenic and sublimed Mercury

Arsenico fixo; ☿ sublimato; fixari; fixum; fixus; sublimatus

Fixed arsenic and sublimed Mercury are qualified historical preparations invoked in the preservation of iron and copper.

From the book

Nine Books on the Nature of Things

Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Meaning

Fixed arsenic and sublimed Mercury are qualified historical preparations invoked in the preservation of iron and copper. The adjectives distinguish them from an unspecified crude material, but the paragraph does not give a single verified modern formulation. Fixing is also attributed to renewed iron and to transmuted Gold elsewhere. The word therefore describes a sought stable condition in several contexts rather than one identical substance or operation.

Places to read

  1. Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 8Latin“cum Arsenico fixo”