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| Keywords: Musaeum Hermeticum 1678 p 398 III. Clavis AQ27.tif Matthaeus Merian 1593 “1650 From Tripus aureus hoc est Tres tractatus chymici selectissimi nempe I Basilii Valentini benedictini ordinis monachi Germani practica una cum 12 clavibus et appendice ex germanico; II Thomae Nortoni angli philosophi crede mihi seu ordinale ante annos 140 ab authore seriptum nunc ex anglicano manuscripto in latinum translatum phrasi eujusque authoris ut et sententia retenta; III Cremeri cuiusdam abbatis westmonasteriensis angli testamentum hactenus nondum publicatum nunc in diversarum nationum gratiam editi et figuris cupro affabre incisis ornati operâ et studio Michaelis Maieri phil et med d com p c Francofurti apud Hermannum à Sande MDCLXXVII as published in the collection Musaeum hermeticum reformatum et amplificatum Francofurti Apud Hermannum à Sande 1678 In Latin The part in question 'I Basilii Valentini benedictini ordinis monachi Germani practica una cum 12 clavibus et appendice ex germanico;' or 'Basil Valentine a German monk of the Benedictine order one study with the twelve keys and the appendix translated from the German ' Basil Valentine in his writings provided twelve keys a widely reproduced sequence of alchemical operations encoded allegorically both in words and in images The images were essential to the communication and had to depict the same scene regardless of the artistry The third of Basil Valentine ™s keys shows a winged dragon with coiled tail and pointed tongue in the foreground of a landscape with high mountains and a city or castle in the background On the left behind the dragon is a running wolf or fox with a bird in its mouth The fox in turn is being attacked by a cockerel on its back a rooster is eating a fox eating a rooster What could this possibly symbolize Lawrence Principe professor of chemistry and history of science at Johns Hopkins University has discovered the surprising answer along with an equally surprising chemical sophistication The rooster symbolizes gold from its association with sunrise and the sun ™s association with gold and the fox represents aqua regia a combination of nitric and hydrochloric acid that dissolves gold The repetitive dissolving heating and redissolving the rooster eating the fox eating the rooster leads to the buildup of chlorine gas in the flask The gold then volatilizes in the form of gold chloride whose red crystals were known as dragon ™s blood The reaction was not reported in modern chemical literature until 1890 http //othmerlib chemheritage org/record b1035996~S6 Catalog Information From the copy in the Roy G Neville Historical Chemical Library http //www chemheritage org/ Chemical Heritage Foundation Downloaded with permission from the Chemical Heritage Foundation as part of the Wikipedian in Residence initiative Chemical Heritage Foundation http //www chemheritage org/ Chemical Heritage Foundation 1678 PD-old-100 PD-old-100 cc-by-3 0 Chemical Heritage Foundation Images from the Chemical Heritage Foundation 1678 engravings Engravings of dragons Dragons facing left Twelve Keys of Basil Valentine Aqua regia Musaeum Hermeticum | ||||