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Elements:
  • 🜁 1f701
  • 🜂 1f702
  • 🜄 1f704
  • 🜃 1f703

Solvents:
  • e035
  • 🜅 1f705
  • e00d
  • e05a
  • 🜆 1f706
  • 🜇 1f707
  • e036
  • 🜈 1f708
  • 🜋 1f70b
  • 🜌 1f70c

Mercury:
  • 263f
  • e042
  • e043
  • e044
  • e045
  • 🜐 1f710
  • e055
  • e00f
  • e041
  • 🜑 1f711

Sulfur:
  • 🜍 1f70d
  • e056
  • e00e

Salt:
  • 🜔 1f714
  • 🜭 1f72d
  • 🜦 1f726
  • e040
  • 🜮 1f72e
  • e016
  • 🜧 1f727
  • e012

Vitriol and niter:
  • 🜖 1f716
  • 🜗 1f717
  • e05c
  • 🜕 1f715
  • e03a
  • e047
  • e046
  • e053

Sal ammoniac:
  • 🜹 1f739
  • 26b9
  • e05e
  • e04b
  • e04c
  • e04a
  • e04e
  • e04d

Gold / Sun:
  • 2609
  • e03e
  • e03d

Silver / Moon:
  • 263d
  • 263e
  • e051
  • e052
  • e050
  • e044

Iron / Mars:
  • 2642
  • 🜜 1f71c
  • 🜝 1f71d
  • e010
  • 🜡 1f721
  • 🜟 1f71f

Copper / Venus:
  • 2640
  • 🜥 1f725
  • e038
  • 🜠 1f720
  • e011
  • 🜢 1f722
  • 🜡 1f721
  • e017
  • 🜧 1f727
  • e012
  • 2647

Tin / Jupiter:
  • 2643
  • e059
  • 🜩 1f729
  • e013

Lead / Saturn:
  • 2644
  • e009
  • e03f
  • 🜪 1f72a
  • e014
  • e04f

Antimony and regulus:
  • 2641
  • 🜫 1f72b
  • 🜭 1f72d
  • 🜦 1f726
  • 🜥 1f725
  • 🜰 1f730
  • 🜳 1f733
  • 🜵 1f735
  • 🜴 1f734
  • 🜟 1f71f
  • 🜱 1f731
  • e015
  • 🜬 1f72c
  • 🜯 1f72f

Other substances:
  • e01e
  • e034
  • 2646
  • e018
  • 🜾 1f73e
  • 🝏 1f74f
  • 🝐 1f750
  • e037
  • 🝎 1f74e
  • e03b
  • e03c
  • e033
  • e022
  • 🝆 1f746
  • e061
  • e048
  • e029

 
  • e054
  • 🜿 1f73f
  • e057
  • e05f
  • e060
  • e058
  • 🝑 1f751
  • 🝒 1f752
  • 🝈 1f748
  • e019
  • 🝕 1f755
  • e05b

Apparatus / processes:
  • 🝫 1f76b
  • e05d
  • 🜊 1f70a
  • e039
  • e01c
  • 🝞 1f75e
  • 🝧 1f767
  • e01d

Astrology:
  • 2648
  • 2652
  • 264b
  • 2651
  • e00b
  • 🜨 1f728
  • 264a
  • e00a
  • 264c
  • 264e
  • 2653
  • e049
  • e00c
  • 2650
  • 264f

 
  • 2649
  • e01f
  • 264d
  • 🝰 1f770
  • 2645

Measures and weights:
  • e002
  • e004
  • ʒ 0292
  • 🝳 1f773
  • e02b
  • e003
  • 2125
  • e001
  • e005
  • 2114
  • 2108
  • 211e

Paleography:
  • e100
  • e11b
  • e200
  • e101
  • e102
  • e201
  • e103
  • e104
  • e105
  • e106
  • e122
  • e107
  • e108
  • e109
  • e10a
  • e10b
  • e10c
  • e10d
  • e202
  • e204

 
  • e023
  • e203
  • e025
  • e10e
  • e020
  • e205
  • e206
  • e207
  • e10f
  • e11a
  • e127
  • e120

 
  • e110
  • e121
  • e123
  • e111
  • e124
  • e112
  • e113
  • e125
  • e114
  • e126
  • e115
  • e116
  • e117
  • e118
  • e119
  • e11e

Editorial marks:
  • 26b9
  • e031
  • 2041
  • e026
  • e027
  • e02c
  • e006
  • e02d
  • e021
  • e02a
  • e028
  • 229e
  • e02f
  • e030
  • e02e
  • 261e
  • 🝮 1f76e
  • 25a1
  • e032

Symbol Guide

Newton's use of alchemical symbols was creative and unorthodox. Like most alchemists, he employed the planetary symbols for the known metals, and used standard symbols for common substances such as sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride), salt of tartar (potassium carbonate), vitriol (iron and copper sulfate), and the strong acids. But in addition to these and other well known symbols, he created a multitude of additional, more personal pictograms. The easiest of these to decipher are Newton's signs for the ores of the metals. These he represents by taking the standard alchemical symbol and attaching an "o" to it for "ore." With Newton's other symbols things become much more difficult, since he does not decode these for the reader. In general, a horizontal line through a circle may be taken to indicate a salt, a cross atop a circle may indicate an antimonial compound, and the asterisk-like sal ammoniac star attached to a symbol may indicate that the chemical in question is volatile. At present the editors do not claim to have exact knowledge of the chemical referents to which most of these compound symbols correspond. Hence we have provisionally employed the terms for them supplied by Marie Boas and A. Rupert Hall in their article "Newton's Chemical Experiments," Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences, 1958, pp. 113-152. As our knowledge of Newton's chymistry deepens, the referents to these pictograms may well become known, in which case we will add them to the site.

Term Pictogram
Antimony
Antimony Ore 🜫
Aqua Fortis
Aqua Fortis
Aqua Regia
Aqua Regia 🜇
Aquarius
Aries
Bismuth (Neptune, Trident)
Bismuth ore
Bismuth ore [variant] 🜾
Caduceus, sideways 🝐
Cancer
Capricorn
Copper (Venus)
Copper antimoniate 🜥
Copper ore 🜠
Crucible 🜊
Drachm symbol ʒ
Earth
First quarter moon (Silver)
Gemini
Gold (Sun)
Inverted leo
Iron ore 🜜
Iron ore [variant]
Iron ore [probable variant] 🜝
Iron ore and copper combined [probable] 🜡
Last quarter moon
Lead ore 🜪
Lead (Saturn)
Lead (Saturn unbarred)
Libra
Leo
Mars (Iron)
Mercury
Mercury sublimate 🜐
Mercury sublimate [variant]
Niter 🜕
Nota Bene
Oil 🝆
Term Pictogram
Ounce sign
Pisces
Recipe
Regulus 🜰
Sagittarius
Sal ammoniac 🜹
Salt 🜔
Salt of antimony 🜭
Salt of copper antimoniate 🜦
Scepter of Jove 🝏
Sublimate of copper antimoniate
Sublimate of salt of antimony 🜮
Sublimate of salt of copper [probable variant]
Scorpius
Scruple
Spiritus Vini (Impure ethanol) 🜈
Sublimate of antimony
Sublimate of antimony variant 🜬
Sublimate of copper
Sublimate of copper 🜢
Sublimate of salt of antimony variant
Sublimate of salt of copper 🜧
Sulfur 🜍
Tartar 🜿
Taurus
Tigellum 🝧
Tin (Jupiter)
Tin ore
Tin ore 🜩
Trident, sideways 🝑
Trident, sideways, starred 🝒
Urine
Vinegar 🜋
Virgo
Vitriol 🜖
Vitriol [probable variant] 🜗
Vinegar of antimony 🜯
Water 🜄
White hourglass 🝮
White right pointing index

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