Urine, tartar, hair, and bone

Meaning

The Via recalls searches involving urine, tartar, hair, blood, bone and eggs as part of a failed course of work. Way of Truth · unit 4 presents the speaker's own experience; Way of Truth · unit 18 asks what generations of similarly busy practitioners achieved toward transmuting metals and answers negatively. These ordinary-looking materials are named to expose misdirected effort, not to constitute a recommended ingredient list. The English distinguishes bone-related terms by their context while retaining the bodily and household range. No modern composition, collection method or preparation follows from their appearance. Their role is confessional and polemical within the Via's turn toward its own account of elemental essence and coction.