Eating, swallowing, and consuming

Meaning

The Summary distinguishes swallowing from consuming. Mercury is compared to a lion that eats and swallows metals, taking away their form; gold and silver resist it, and even when they are hidden in its belly the passage says they are not consumed. Philosophical Summary · unit 4 then describes consumption of imperfect metal and a quantitative increase that costs Mercury its perfection. These are not three interchangeable verbs for successful transmutation. The English keeps 'swallows' and 'does not consume' together, preserving the negation on which the distinction depends. The animal's belly is a figure for containment, not a separate anatomical or instrumental ingredient.