Hydrides and Anhydrides

Hydrides and Anhydrides
C. Warren Hunt
1119 Sydenham Road SW
CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA T2T 0T5
Tel. (403)-244-3341, Fax (403) 244-2834
E-mail: archeanc@telusplanet.net
Hydrogen being 90% or more of all matter in the Universe, must have been abundantly present in the formation of the early earth. The consensus among scientists has been that most primordial hydrogen was expelled as the earth accreted. New evidence challenges the consensus raises questions as to the validity of other long-held geological concepts.
The new evidence involves the behavior of hydrogen nucleii, which at pressures characteristic of mantle depths have shed their electrons and inject themselves inside the first electron rings of metal atoms. Thus sequestered within the earth, hydrogen may comprise as much as 30-40 percent of total earth mass today.
Hydrogen penetration into metals was demonstrated by Vladimir N. Larin, a geologist, whose project over the last 34 years has been research in the USSR and FSU on sources of natural hydrogen. Three major effects result from the phenomenon: (1) transmutation, (2) densification, and (3) fluidization.
The following diagram from Larin’s laboratory illustrates the mass that is added to transmuted potassium by hydrogen gas at pressure. The lower curve shows a 2.75% increase in density for the metal alone, rising from ~0.87 to ~2.4 g/cm³ and pressure up to ~30 Gpa. The upper curve shows a 4.25% increase in density of the metal in a hydrogen atmosphere, from ~0.87 to ~3.7 g/cm³ with the same pressure increase. Note the four distinct stages. The stages ascending are:

1. COVALENT ADSORPTION of H by K metal with DENSIFICATION from ~0,87 to ~1.65 g/cm³, nearly doubling the density without any pressure increase. The metal “sucks up” hydrogen.
2. INTRA-LATTICE ADSORPTION of H by K metal with DENSIFICATION from ~1.65 to ~2.0 g/cm³ with pressure rising from zero to 5 Gpa; hydrogen retains its electron.
3. INTRA-LATTICE OCCLUSION of H by K metal with DENSIFICATION from ~2.0 to ~2.35 g/cm³ without further pressure increase; hydrogen sheds its electron.
4. IONIC HYDRIDE where H nucleus penetrates the potassium atomic electron shell, thus effecting metal DENSIFICATION from ~2.35 to ~3.7 g/cm³ with a pressure increase from 5 Gpa to ~30 Gpa. Addition of mass to an atomic core is by definition transmutation. Thus, this stage transmutes potassium to intermetal.

Of the total densification to 4.25 times original density, 40% is in the two spontaneous densification stages, 1 and 3. Stage 4 comprises a further 48% of the densification, the nucleus-injection stage and transmutation stage. Its upper limit is unknown.
From this data it is easily shown that the excess core and mantle density above that of the crust can be attributed to injected hydrogen, and the density differences between inner core, outer core, and lower mantle can be treated as phase effects. In this scenario the idea of an iron core is superfluous.
V.N. Larin demonstrated the fluidity of titanium hydride for this writer by setting a ruby in plasticized titanium intermetal. Under reduced pressure the hydrogen bled off, allowing the metal to recrystallize and leave the ruby set firmly in metallic titanium.
The potassium and titanium behaviors are not unique. All elements but noble gases form hydrides, some readily, others not so readily. Thus, a mixture of non-metal hydrides and fluidic intermetals that comprised the interior of the primordial earth should undergo fractionation and coalescense of components on the basis of mobility and density differences.
Non-metal hydrides, H2O, NH3, H2S, CH4, that were present during accretion of the earth would have been the first to go. Expelled, they accumulated as atmosphere and hydrosphere. Solar wind bombardment and dissociation of non-metal hydrides allowed hydrogen to escape into space. This left residual oxygen and nitrogen to build up in the atmosphere, which then enabled a transformation in the biosphere. Replacement of the early Archean biota of hydrogen-tolerant prokaryotes by oxygen-tolerant eukaryotes in the late Archean is clear evidence of the conversion of the atmosphere at that time.
Intermetal hydride plumes would follow. Coalescing on the bases of differential fluidity and density, viscous intermetal plumes rise buoyantly through the mantle, perhaps lubricated by hydrides of the earth’s third most abundant element, the transition element, silicon. Rising into regimes of reduced pressure the intermetals dissociate or oxidize, creating crust in the forms of rock-forming minerals and metal ores.
The hydrides of silicon, the silanes (SiH4, Si2H6, Si3H8, Si4H10, etc.) are of special interest. Gases at standard conditions, they react vigorously with water, producing quartz, volcanic ash, and rock-forming minerals, depending on depth, pressure and the admixture of other metal hydrides. The high mobility of silane explains the mode of transfer of silicon from the interior to the oxidic crust. Crust then is the residue after silane and intermetal oxidation and release of hydrogen, which eventually escapes into space.
Carbon, the sister element of silicon, is a lesser component of earth makeup, but probably is prominent in the form of carbides in the interior. Its primary hydride form, methane (CH4), although energy-laden like silane, behaves quite differently in three important contrasting ways. First, it does not react with water; second, its combustion products are only gases; and third, it enables the biosphere.
Where silane is stalled in the crust by reacting with water, methane and hydrogen released by its partial oxidation proceed upward in fracture pathways. Methane and hydrogen seep into deep, shield mines and through porous members of sedimentary series. Both are major constituents of fluid inclusions in sub-oceanic basalts as well as in shield granites. Their migration is differentially impeded due to their different molecular sizes. Methane may be trapped temporarily, while hydrogen escapes. Both enter the atmosphere worldwide on a large scale.
Thus the hydridic earth image comprises a mobile inner geosphere of highly-reduced, dense, intermetals and carbides, an outer geosphere of oxidic rock that has accumulated incrementally through geological time, and a transient liquid-gas envelope. The image implies a core that is neither iron nor very hot, because the heat source for endogeny is primarily not primordial heat but the chemical energy released in the upper mantle and lower crust, near the crust-mantle boundary by hydride oxidation.
Hydrocarbons other than methane are partially oxidized carbon forms, and thus unlikely to occur in any form but methane in the earth’s interior where extreme reducing conditions prevail. When methane rises to outer crust levels from the interior, its chemical energy is available to metabolize bacteria and archaea that live there in total darkness at elevated temperatures. They get that energy by stripping hydrogen from the methane and oxidizing it metabolically.
When bacteria and archaea strip hydrogen from methane, they create “anhydrides” of methane, CH3, CH2, etc. Two CH3s combine to make C2H6, ethane; two CH3s and one CH2 make C3H8, propane, etc. The process is known on the surface, where outcrops of petroliferous strata sometimes are sealed by bacterially produced tar seals behind which live oil has accumulated. In this case, bacteria have stripped hydrogen from live oil, rendering it immobile. Anhydride theory merely extrapolates the process backward to explain stripping of methane, the lowest carbon numbered hydrocarbon. Petroleum can be interpreted as degenerated methane, a product of the biosphere. Petroleum produced by bacterial stripping of methane is, a mixture of anhydrides of methane, an organic product produced from inorganic methane.
Coal and oil shales are also anhydride products. In peat and kerogen-rich shales, partially oxidized carbon is present that has lost electrons and thus carries positive charges. By contrast, the carbon in methane that effuses from the highly reduced earth interior has acquired electrons and is negatively charged. Opposite charges cause capture of effusing methane by peat and kerogen. Once captured, methane is stripped progressively of its hydrogen by bacteria and archaea that naturally occur in the peat and kerogen.
The terminal anhydride, pure carbon, the main component of the purest coals and asphaltites, and protein molecules (porphyrins and others) that are found in petroleum and coal are molecular residues of organic origin. The fact that coal and oil shales have more carbon and hydrogen than their peat and fossil predecessors is clear evidence that fossils cannot fully explain their origins. These high carbon and hydrogen contents of oil shales and coals require abiogenic additions, whereas organic molecules require organic provenance. Methane and petroleum found in coal seams and organic shales should be seen as evidence of methane capture, not methane generation.
The topology of petroleum occurrence is a further defeat for the argument in favour of either an exclusively organic or exclusively abiogenic origin for petroleum. If oil were either rising from primordial sources in the earth’s interior or created in “oil windows” by catagenesis, the more mobile fractions would escape from the depths and be found more abundantly near the surface and less mobile fractions, low gravity oils, would be present at depth. Exactly the opposite is the norm. Methane gas, the most mobile hydrocarbon, is more abundant with depth, worldwide; and tars, the least mobile, are most abundant at and near the surface.
Working backwards through the above points, we can say that:

1. Topologies of hydrocarbon occurrences indicate that methane effuses from the interior, not petroleum; that
2. Topologies of hydrocarbon occurrences indicate that low-gravity oil is not generated at depth in oil windows; that
3. Methane beneficiates fossiliferous shales and peat deposits, creating oil shales and coal. Oil shales and coal do not generate methane; methane generates oil shales and coal; that
4. Bacteria and archaea in the outer crust strip hydrogen from methane progressively through condensates, high gravity oil, and low gravity oil, to bitumens; that
5. Hydrides of silicon and carbon along with intermetals rise into crustal levels where dissociation and oxidation liberate the heat of endogeny and deposit rock-forming minerals, and metal deposits, leaving only methane and hydrogen to effuse into the atmosphere; that
6. Nonmetal hydrides escaping from the interior of the primordial earth created a reducing atmosphere that was changed over to oxygen-rich by the loss of hydrogen to space; and that
7. The discovery that hydrogen nuclei under pressure penetrate atomic shells of metals, transmuting the metals to intermetals, densifying them, and fluidizing them, creates an entirely new geological picture of the earth’s interior, of endogeny, and of the mode by which the crust was created.

ISIS reports on transmutation

Fleishmann and Pons packed deuterium into a palladium lattice by electrolysis of heavy water. The palladium electrode absorbed a lot of deuterium and the nuclei fused together, generating energy far in excess (about 1 000 fold) of any ordinary electrochemical reactions.

The SPAWAR researchers deposited palladium and deuterium together onto an electrode and speeded up the fusion process with an external electric field (parallel to the electrode surface).

The Fleishman-Pons reactor is a simple electrolytic cell [] In the electrolytic cell, palladium (Pd) was the cathode and platinum the anode. The electrolyte solution contained lithium salts dissolved either in light or heavy water. When electric current is passed through the electrolyte, the water splits into hydrogen/deuterium at the cathode and oxygen at the anode. Pd is used because it absorbs hydrogen/deuterium avidly, thus bringing the atoms close together in its lattice (regularly spaced arrangement of atoms in the solid state).

Blank experiments gave a slightly negative rate of heat generation, on account of heat loss due to evaporation and so on. By contrast, the electrolysis of heavy water resulted in a positive excess rate of heat generation, this rate increasing markedly with current density I, at least as a function of I2, reaching 100 Watt cm-3 at about 1A cm-2.

Prolonged polarization of the palladium electrode in heavy water also resulted in bursts of high rates of heat generation, with the output energy exceeding the input by factors of 40 or more during these bursts.

The excess heat generated tended to go up exponentially with the current. There was a steady rate that appeared to increase slowly with time, with bursts of very high rates superimposed on the slowly increasing steady state.  The bursts occurred at unpredictable times and were of unpredictable duration. Following such bursts, the excess heat production returned to a baseline, which could be higher than that prior to the initiation of the burst.

The heat produced was so great that the electrolytic cells were frequently driven to boiling point, when the rate of heat production just became extremely large. It was not possible to make a quantitative estimate of the heat as the cells and instrumentation were unsuitable for making estimates under those conditions. Also, Fleishman and Pons adopted a policy of discontinuing the experiments (or at least reducing the current density) whenever the water started to boil. At such times, the palladium electrode also started to dissolve, which generated still more heat. They decided to avoid such conditions for fear of uncontrollable energy releases. These bursts of rapid increases of temperature were accompanied by marked increases in the rate of tritium production, suggesting that the nuclear reaction(s) occurring were different from those in the steady state.

[]The research team led by Stanislaw Spzak and Pamela Mosier-Boss at SPAWAR used a modified procedure in which palladium and deuterium were deposited together on a cathode consisting of a thin metal film [6]. In 1995, they first found indications of nuclear activity when the electrolytic cell emitted X-rays with a broad energy distribution, and occasionally with well identifiable peaks. Tritium was detected sporadically and often at low rates. Nevertheless, there were active periods that persisted for days, with tritium produced at approximately 6 x 103 atoms/s.

Ten years later in 2005, they obtained further evidence of nuclear activity: heat generation, hot spots, mini-explosions, radiation, and tritium production; more importantly, they discovered that by placing the electrolytic cell in an external electrostatic field, the reaction(s) could be much speeded up, and new elements produced, among them Al, Si, and Mg []

Under normal conditions when the cell operation is controlled by the cell current and temperature, the nuclear products consisted of X- and g-rays, tritium, and excess heat. However, when the operating cell was placed in an external electric field, the reaction products included the formation of “new elements” as well as the emission of charged particles such as p+ (protons) and a2+ (alpha particles consisting of two protons and two neutrons).

When H2O was substituted for D2O, neither excess heat nor helium-4 was generated.

Instead of a solid palladium cathode, Arata and Zhang used powdered palladium, or palladium black, which greatly increased the absorption surface area for deuterium. The palladium black was placed inside a container kept under a vacuum at constant temperature for 2-3 days before deuterium or hydrogen gas was injected at a constant low flow rate until the powdered palladium was fully saturated with the deuterium/hydrogen.

Using palladium black with extremely small particle size (15 to 40 nm), a high fusion rate was obtained, amounting to >1015 4He2 atoms in the closed inner space of the cathode. In contrast, no 4He2 (or excess heat) was ever generated when hydrogen was used instead of deuterium, or when bulk palladium was used.

Arata and Zhang also developed other materials that better absorbed H2/D2. In one experiment, Pd particles of 5 nm were embedded inside a matrix of ZrO2. ZrO2 on its own does not absorb H2 or D2, but ZrO2-Pd easily absorbed about 3 D atoms per host Pd atom. Arata and Zhang proposed that the D atoms absorbed are effectively solidified as an ultrahigh density deuterium lump inside each octahedral space within the unit cell of the Pd host lattice. These “pycnodeuterium” (heavy deuterium) are dispersed to form a metallic deuterium lattice with body-centred cuboctahedron structure

[]The minimum requirement for transmutation is a metal hydride film or membrane loaded up with hydrogen or deuterium to a high level, and kept in constant flux. Electrode materials have ranged from carbon, nickel, to uranium. The metal hydride can be loaded by electrolysis of water or heavy water using a thin film of the metal as cathode; or else deuterium gas can be made to diffuse through the metal membrane by injecting the gas on one side and evacuating from the other side. But a wide variety of experimental conditions have been used to trigger or speed up the reactions, including surface plasma electrolysis, plasma discharge, laser initiation and external electric or magnetic fields.

The most commonly reported elements are calcium, copper, zinc and iron. They were found in more than 20 different experiments. Forty percent of the least frequently observed elements were rare earths from the lanthanide group: lutetium, terbium praseodymium, europium, samarium, gadolinium, dysprosium, holmium, neodymium and ytterbium.

Yasuhiro Iwamura and colleagues at Mitsubishi’s Advanced Technology Research Center and colleagues have taken another approach to nuclear transmutation by concentrating on the direct transmutation of one element into another.

They used D2 gas permeation through a sandwich of thin alternating layers of palladium (Pd) and CaO sitting on a bottom layer of bulk Pd. Permeation of deuterium is forced through the layers by exposing the top of the sandwich with a thin Pd film to D2 gas while the bottom is maintained under vacuum. On the D2 gas side, dissociative absorption causes the D2 molecules to separate into D atoms, which diffuse though the sandwich towards the vacuum side, where they emerge from the Pd metal, combine and are released as D2 gas. The element to be transmuted is deposited on the top Pd film  of the Pd/CaO sandwich by electrolytic loading from a salt solution. Cesium (Cs), barium (Ba) and strontium (Sr) have been transmuted in this way. The analysis of elements was done in situ, without removing or disturbing the sandwich, using X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) directed at the topside of the sandwich.

The role of the CaO layer was revealed in an experiment in which Cs was transmuted to Pr. In all three samples with the normal Pd/CaO sandwich, Pr was found as the end product, but not in an experiment without a CaO layer; nor in two experiments in which the CaO layer was replaced by MgO. The CaO layer appeared to increase the deuterium density 10-fold compared to palladium alone. The layer also has a very negative free energy, so that the transition metal Pd serves as a source of interface electrons to screen the positive charges of the deuterons from one another, thereby facilitating fusion and transmutation. It is thought that fusion may have occurred between deuterons to form helium, 4He2, which then further fuses with the heavier nuclei to give the end product.

Stacewicz's Path of the Black Dragon

The Path of the Black Dragon
By Tomas Stacewicz

© Tomas Stacewicz 2010

[...] the dry way uses the vulgar fire (reaches very high temperatures approximating 1000°C); takes days to finish; it concerns Stibnite (Antimony sulphide); it was perpetuated by Basil Valentinus, Cyliani and Fulcanelli.

The amalgams way uses both the vulgar fire from the furnace (Athanor) and glassware; it concerns Stibnite (Antimony sulphide). it was followed by Nicholas Flamel and Eirenaeus Philalethes, and Jean Dubuis.

[...] the wet way uses glassware and a “secret fire” (heat from chemical reactions which reaches temperatures way below 500°C), the process of the wet way is more prolonged and take months
[...]there are several matters used with the wet way, such as the Vitriol (Sulphate salts) and the Red Dragon, or Cinnabar (Mercury sulphide)[...]; the Wet Way of Vitriol was lead by Basil Valentinus and that of Cinnabar by Kamala Jnana and Roger Caro.

This essay mainly concerns with the so-called “Dry Way of Antimony” [...] in the preparation of the Black Dragon it must be subjected to a process of Separatio or Solve. This is done by adding three more matters, namely Mars and a “Double Salt” composed of Tartar [KCO3] and Nitre [KNO3] . The Nitre is an animal salt or saltpetre blended with dew (which naturally contains a nitrate; the Salt of Dew). The traditional Salt of Tartar is sometimes called “potash” or potassium and is a vegetable salt. Together our Nitre and Tartar constitutes our Salt, which is a Double Salt. This is used together with the purified Stibnite during the process of Separation. But before the Separation the Stibnite must be properly prepared to create the “Antimony of the Sages”, which is done through Assation and Purgation.

The initial preparation of the Stibnite is through a process that is described by Canseliet and Solazaref, and by the latter referred to as the “Philosophical Assation”. The reason behind this is that metals taken from the mine or bought in a shop are dead and have to be “reincruded”, i.e. brought back to life. [...].

Next comes a process called the Purgation or simply “Purge”, where the Stibnite is purified of its silica using a refractory clay crucible put into a furnace and through a “distilation per descensum”. The greatest problem with the Purge or Purgation is that the alchemist needs to know exactly the suitable temperature for Stibnite ore purgation, so that the Sulphur isn’t burnt away. This of course requires lots of experience of metallurgy.

[Both] the dry and amalgams paths start off with the same preparation and separation in creation of the so-called “Martial Regulus of Antimony”. We may now proceed with it, having prepared and purified the Stibnite ore through Assation and Purgation for it to become the Antimony of the Sages. The Antimony, being finely grinded, is now placed inside a refractory clay crucible. Next the alchemist puts a quantity of finest and very old Mars, also grinded to a fine powder. [...] the Double Salt, finely grinded, is also to be joined according to specific ratios of quantity, which are partly described in the works of the ancient Masters of the Art, such as Flamel and Philalethes.

The crucible is sealed with a lid and placed inside the furnace. A heat resistant cover, with a chimney hole, is placed onto the opening of the furnace with which to contain the heat. The temperature is now supposed to reach almost 1000°C during the process of Separation of the Martial Regulus from the Antimony. Or to be more specific, the Regulus is separated from the Antimony with the assistance of Mars and the Double Salt. When all reaches the desired temperature and is melted the compound or alloy is then poured into a stainless steel mould with a conical shape.

After cooling the waste material is gently removed from the solidified matter with a hammer. The result is the so called Martial Regulus of Antimony, also called the “Starry Regulus”, or using Fulcanellis own words “Astral Stone”, “Celestial Water”, “Alkehest”, and “First Mercury”. These wastes left after the creation of the Regulus are in Alchemical parlance called the “Caput Mortum” and from this is the Sulphur extracted, which is called “First Adam” by Fulcanelli.

In the last part of the first stage of the Great Work the Martial Regulus or Mercury is to be put through a process of Mercurial Purification. This basically means that the Regulus or Mercury is put into the crucible anew, heated to the melting point when it is again poured into the conical mould to cool off, while Adam melts over the Starry Regulus to create a thin enamelled layer. When cooled it creates a scoria called “our Vitriol”. And this process of Purification is repeated two or three more times to reflect the three days between the crucifixion and resurrection of the Christ. The three nails used in the crucifixion mentioned above echo this process of purification by Mars. Each time this is repeated the Regulus takes a more shining or starry appearance, likened to the Mercury. This is a reference to the glorius body of the Christ after his resurrection, but also to the star that guided the magi (alchemist) at the birth of Jesus. In this purified state the First Mercury has been transformed into the “Philosophical Mercury”. This matter now produced is also called the “mirror of art”, a term understandable by looking at the image of the purified Regulus shining like a mirror.

In each of these Purifications the thin enamelled layer or Vitriol created changes its colour and in the 3rd or 4th Purifications takes the form of a clear substance.

Thus far the Alchemical work upon the Black Dragon or Stibnite is similar in the Dry Way of Fulcanelli and Canseliet, and in the Amalgams Way of Flamel and Philalethes alike. But as the latter now proceed with a wet or humid processes, the path of Fulcanelli, as taught by Canseliet, continues to proceed with the Dry Way using ovens and crucibles. Thus we now proceed with the second part of the Great Work or Coagula, which constitutes the Eagles or Sublimation of the Alchemical Sulphur and Mercury, together with the Green Lion. This process is sometimes also called the preparation of the “Rebis”. The end result of this is the so-called “Remora”. Remora, or “suckerfish”, is a fish that reputedly is very hard to catch and therefore serves as a good metaphor for the difficulty of this process and where most fail in the work. It was mentioned already by Michael Sendivogius.

According to Canseliet Adamic Red Earth is placed at the bottom of the crucible. Next is placed the Philosophical Mercury, also called Eve in Fucanellian parlance. When the desired temperature is reached the Red Earth will give away its Sulphur, which will rise and blend with the Philosophical Mercury above it, which in turn will start to melt and rise to the surface. These melted parts of the Philosophical Mercury is called the “ocean” in which the blackish fish Remora is suppose to swim. When the melted Mercury blends with the Green Lion it becomes golden and when cooled produce the Remora.

Thus the resultant of the Eagles process will be the fish Remora. Its blackish colour has also given it the name of “Black Crow” according to Fulcanelli. The third and last part of the Great Work concerns Coction or cooking of the Remora with the “Secret Fire”, or Golden Salt. This is the digestion process that supposedly all have failed since the days of Fulcanelli as it constitutes the most difficult phase of the work. This process is supposed to eventually result in the Philosopher’s Stone.

Philalethes - A Brief Guide to the Celestial Ruby

A BRIEF GUIDE TO THE CELESTIAL RUBY
by Eirenaeus Philalethes

 Thus you see that the stone which is to
be the transformer of metals into gold must be sought in the precious
metals, in which it is enclosed and contained. It is called a stone by
virtue of its fixed nature, and it resists the action of the fire as
successfully as any stone.

In species, it is gold, more pure than the
purest; it is fixed and incombustible like a stone, but its appearance is
that of a very fine powder, impalpable to the touch, fragment as to smell,
in potency a most penetrative spirit, apparently dry, and yet unctuous, and
easily capable of tingeing a plate of metal.


"Thus you see though our stone is made of gold alone, yet it is not common
gold; the latter must be dissolved in our mineral water which does not wet
the hands; this water is mercury, extracted from the red servant, and is
capable of accomplishing our work without any further trouble. It is the
one true natural first substance, to which nothing is added, and from which
nothing is subtracted, except certain superfluities, which however it will
cast off without any aid by its own inherent vital action.

"Consider these signs, that which dissolves is spirit; that which
coagulates is body. A body cannot enter a body so as to cause dissolution,
but a spirit can enter it, attenuate, and clarify it. For every agent has a
tendency to assimilate to itself that which it acts upon, and every natural
effect is conformed to the nature of the efficient; hence water is
necessary if you would extract water from earth.


 Our mercury is in fact a pure water,
clean, clear, bright, and resplendent, worthy of all admiration.

"Our stone is produced from one thing, and four mercurial substances, of
which one is mature; the others pure but crude, two of them being extracted
in a wonderful manner from their ore by means of the third. The four are
amalgamated by the intention of a gentle fire, and there subjected to
conction day by day, until all become one by natural, and not manual
conjunction.

"Afterwards the fire being changed, these volatile substances should be
fixed and digested by means of heat which becomes a little more powerful
every day, (i.e., by means of fixed and incombustible sulphur of the same
genus) until the whole compound attains to the same essence, fixity and
colour.


"There are many degrees or phases of this our process, which I may describe
as follows.

The first is calcination. Calcination is the first purgation of
the stone, the drying up of its humours, through its natural heat, which is
stirred into vital action by the eternal heat of water, whereby the
compound is converted into a black powder, which is yet unctuous and
retains its radical humour. This calcination is performed for the purpose
of rendering the substance viscous, spongy, and more especially
penetratable; for gold in itself is highly fixed, and difficult of solution
even in our water, but through this calcination, it becomes soft and white,
and we observe it in its two natures, the fixed and the volatile, which we
liken to two serpents. In order that a full dissolution may be made, there
is need of contrition, that the calcination may afterwards produce a
viscous state, when it will be fit for dissolution.

" When the substances are first mixed, they are at enmity with each other,
by reason of their contrary qualities, for there is the heat and dryness of
the sulphur fiercely contending with the cold .and moisture of the mercury.

They can only be reconciled in a medium which partakes of both natures, and
the medium in which heat and cold are reconciled is dryness which can
co-exist with both. Thus cold and heat are brought to dwell peaceably
together in the dryness of the earth, and the dryness and the moisture in
the coldness of the water.

"Its sufficient cause is the action of the inward heat upon the moisture,
whereby everything that resists it is converted into a very fine powder;
the moving and instrumental cause is the fire contrary to nature, which
being hidden in our solvent water, battles with its moisture, and digests
it into a viscous or unctuous powder.

"Calcination then is the beginning of the work, and without it there can be
neither peaceable commixtion, nor proper union. The first dealbation
reduces the substance to its two principles, sulphur and mercury; the first
of which is fixed, while the other is volatile. They are compared to two
serpents, the fixed substance to a serpent without wings, and the volatile
substance to a serpent with wings. One serpent holds in his mouth the tail
of the other, to show that they are indissolubly conjoined by community of
birth and destiny, and that our art is accomplished by the joint working of
this mercurial sulphur, and sulphureous mercury. Hence the whole compound
is at this stage called 'Rebis', because they are two substances, but only
one essence. They are not really two, but one and the same thing."


Understand then that the alchemist takes four mercurial substances, namely
four metals, as these are all alleged to have mercury as their base, and he
reduces them to their two fundamental principles. In other words, we gather
that most important secret that the end of the first process delivers into
our hands two products made from the chaos or mixture of the four, and
these are named sulphur and mercury. Take good notice now that really we
have only one mass of matter, which may be easily divided into two, the
sulphur and the mercury.


Chapter 2. Sophic Fire

it has often been told that the whole art consists of
first cooking, and later roasting; and this fact appears quite true.


(a) The metals necessary to take in hand
Three are essential; and these are the salt, sulphur and mercury-or the
secret fire, sulphur and mercury. Gold or silver is the sulphur, mercury is
prepared from antimony and iron, or a regulus of these two. The secret fire
might be the name given to the mercury when prepared, or might be a kind of
water which acts as a catalyst. These two names are always purposely mixed
up, that is, one often being named for the other so that mistakes may be
made, but in truth they are two different things. The secret fire which
might be termed the fiery water dissolves the metals; this latter is a salt
nitrate, often termed vinegar, to be found everywhere, easily, and never
valued; yet never mentioned in any alchemical treatise by name. (A natural
product found everywhere and in everything.)


(f) The periods before changes can be expected
These are doubtful, depending upon the correct heat, the proportions used,
and other factors, but most adepts say forty-two days to the black stage,
ninety days to the white stage, and five months to the red stage which
signifies completion. Once the powder is made these times may be reduced to
a few days to make any amount more with the finished product.

Monti - A Brief History of the Atom

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ATOM, COLD FUSION AND COLD FISSION

ROBERTO A.MONTI

Researcher Istituto TESRE - CNR

SUMMARY

Part I : Between 1913 and 1921, Thomson, Parson, Lewis, Allen and Harkins made up the essential elements to the definition of the "alpha-extended model" of the atom. Whereas Thomson, Parson, Lewis and Allen mainly dealt with the atom structure, Harkins specifically analyzed the nucleus structure . Even though they were contemporary, these scientists seem to have ignored their mutual researches ( in fact, Rutherford can be considered as the cause of the "separation" between Harkins, in particular, and the other authors ). As a result the different contributions, given by the above mentioned scientists, could not merge into a single, coherent model .

Part II : In 1937 Ferrmi designed an artificial neutron generator which he made by means of a "semi-cold" fusion between heavy ice and deuterium ions. In 1940 Borghi, apparently unacquainted with Harkins's ideas, advanced again the hypothesis according to which the neutron was a particular bound state of the hydrogen atom ; and, between 1950 and 1955, he designed and made the neutron synthesis, starting from a cold hydrogen plasma . From 1959 onwards Kevran found and experimentally reproduced several cold fusion and cold fission which he defined as "low energy transmutations" . In 1965, following Kervran's example George Oshawa made a new series of cold fusions electrochemically and biologically induced . In 1984 Rose and Jones "rediscovered" cold fission. In 1990 the experimental reality of cold fusion has been confirmed .

PART I : BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ATOM

1815 Prout noted that the weights of the several atoms appeared to be multiples of the weight of hydrogen, and advanced the hypothesis that all other atoms are composed of hydrogen atoms (1).

1860 Marignac supposed the deviations of atomic weights from integral numbers to be a consequence of the fusion process of hydrogen atoms (1) .

1863 De Chancourtois arranged the elements in a spiral in the order of their atomic weights, and made the remark : "the properties of substances are the properties of numbers" (1) .

1869 Mendeleef built his Periodic Table of the Elements. The properties of the elements are periodic functions of the atomic number (1) .

1897 J.J.Thomson discovers that the cathode rays are material particles, charged with "negative" electricity : the electrons (2) .

1898 W.Wien identifies a particle which is "positively" charged, with a mass equal to that of the hydrogen atom, in a beam of ionized gas: the proton (3) .

1902-1904 Lord Kelvin formulates the first atom model, which was so strongly supported and developed by J.J. Thomson that it became known as the "Thomson (first) atom" .

According to this model, the atom consists of a sphere of uniformly distributed charge, about one Angstrom in diameter, in which the electrons are embedded like raisins in a pudding (4), (5) .

1904 Hantaro Nagaoka hypothesizes that the positive charge is concentrated in the center of the atom and that electrons form a ring, around such a nucleus, which is similar to that around Saturn (6).

1905 Albert Einstein formulates the theory of Relativity. With the gradual "disappearance" of the Ether the physical space where to place the atom and rebuild its structure disappears as well. The establishment of the theory of Relativity compromises the development of a model of the atom consistent with the experimental evidence, and deviates the "natural course" of Atomic Mechanics (7).

1910. J.J.Thomson definitely confirms the discovery of the proton, made by Wien

(8) .

1910. Ernest Rutherford gathers and develops the observations of Geiger an

Marsden, two of his young assistants. He concludes that the atom has a "nucleus"

where the positive charge is concentrated.

In some way, around it, the electrons are placed. Being excessively enthusiastic for the results obtained with the "bombardment method", Rutherford directs Nuclear Physics towards "high energies" .

Rutherford's model has a fundamental flaw : the dimensions of the nucleus result to be "very small" (of the order of 10^-12 cm) on the basis of the hypothesis that "the central charge…may be supposed to be concentrated at a point", which allows the erroneous exchange of the word "surface" of the nucleus with the word "centre" of the nucleus (10) .

His model, moreover, does not answer three major questions :

1. Negative electrons are attracted by the positive nucleus: yet they appear as "distant" from the nucleus. Why don't they fall on it ?
2. Electrons are supposed to be distributed and "moving" around the nucleus. Why don't they radiate electromagnetic energy ?
3. Nuclear charge is an integer multiple of Wien's "elementary positive charge". How come doesn't the nucleus "explode" because of electrostatic repulsion ? (11).

1913 Niels Bohr attempts an answer to the unsolved questions . These are his answers : 1) The atom is a "planetary" system ; centrifugal force prevents an electron from falling on the nucleus. 2) He simply postulates that electromagnetic laws are not valid for nuclear orbits. He then states that as a consequence of "its small dimensions" the nucleus does not influence "the atom's ordinary physical and chemical properties which, on the other hand, depend on external electrons". 3) As far as the third issue is concerned, he ignored it (12) .

1913 J.J.Thomson observes that no one has ever demonstrated that electrons are spherical and that the Coulomb field-at a micro level-has a spherical symmetry . He builds Thomson's "second" atom : a "rigid" atom and, consequently, a "theory of valence" (13) .

1915 Bohr's atom is absolutely incapable of eliminating the fundamental contradictions with the laws of electromagnetism. Above all, it is incapable accounting for chemical phenomena (14) .

1915 A.L.Parson introduces the magnetic field: the electron is not just an electric charge, but it is also a small magnet .

Position of electromagnetic stable equilibrium of electrons in atoms are possible.

In 1911 Kamerlingh onnes even provided a model of this "magnetic electron": a superconductive ring where electric flux going into the ring generates a magnetic field. Both are exceptionally stable.

Moreover Parson observes that the planetary atom is irremediably inconsistent with chemical and stereochemical evidence.

But his model has two flaws: 1) He does not extend the same hypothesis he made about the electron to the proton .

2) He maintains the "uniformly charged sphere of the Kelvin or Thomson atom" as a model of the nucleus (15) .

1915 William D. Harkins reconstructs the Periodic Table of the Elements, and provides two models (a spiral one and a helicoidal one). He moves from the hypothesis that every element's chemical properties essentially depend on the nucleus structure, which is composed of the sum of hydrogen and helium nuclei. He resolves the problem of the nucleus stability by advancing the hypothesis that the hydrogen atom "captures" its electron and, thus, gives raise to a neutral particle: the neutron. Electrons which have been captured "cement" (bind) the protons (16).

1916 G.N. Lewis works on Thomson's and Parson's ideas and "stops" the atom: "Bohr, with his electron moving in a fixed orbit, (has) invented systems containing electrons of which the motion produces no effects upon external charge . Now this is not only inconsistent with the accepted laws of electromagnetics but, I may add, is logically objectionable, for that state of motion which produces no physical effects wathsoever may better be called a state of rest" (17).

Lewis builds the theory of valence .

1918 H.S. Allen sees how the "rigid" atom stands. He lists the remarkable amount of experimental data in favour of a rigid structure, and he concludes by observing that: "it will be necessary to revise the prevailing view as to the small size and pure electrostatic field of the nucleus", and that: "Bohr's theory as to origin of series line in spectra may be restated so as to apply it to the ring electron. The essential points of the quantum theory and of Bohr's equations may be maintained, even if his atomic model be rejected" (18) .

1919 J.J. Thomson introduces magnetism and builds everything anew: series line in spectra, ect. from the point of view of the rigid atom. But he does not take into account the contributions of Parson, Lewis, Allen and Harkins (19) .

1919 E. Rutherford believes he has disintegrated nitrogen. As a matter of fact, he has fused a helium nucleus with a nitrogen one, expelling thus a proton . And, what is worse, he is convinced once and for all of the quality of the "bombardment method". He hopes for the future that growing energetic projectiles be available. It is the prelude to the birth of High Energy Physics (20) .

1920 W. D. Harkins publishes the first version "alpha extended model" of the nucleus . But his theory has a fundamental flaw : he places the "right" neutron and nucleus in the "wrong" atom of Rutherford and Bohr (21) .

1921 J. J. Thomson confirms that Bohr's planetary model - as far as atoms with many electrons are concerned - would become "hopelessly intricate" (22) .

1921 A. H. Compton provides experimental evidence in favour of magnetic electron (23) .

1921 W. D. Harkins further develops the "alpha extended model" of the nucleus and finally introduces in current terminology the neutron as "sum" of a proton and an electron (24) .

1921 Crehore points out that the rigid atom is by now currently used in chemistry, where it daily proves itself useful. He suggests that the entire field of chemistry is not a silly thing to be lightheartedly neglected in order to support Bohr's atom . He observes that those "useful" results from Bohr's theory can be obtained from other atomic models - i. e. rigid atom . And he adds that despite what Bohr did it is not essential to assume things against ordinary laws of electromagnetism . The rigid atom is based on the laws of electromagnetism : "So long as there is strict adherence to the Bohr model, an understanding of phenomena on the basis of electromagnetic theory will remain difficul, if not impossible… The abandonment of ring of electrons from an atomic model does not seem to be so revolutionary when viewed in the light of these facts" (25) .

COUP DE THEATRE

1921 Albert Einstein receives the Nobel Prize for Physics. He is given the Prize for the "discovery of the laws of photoelectric effect" . But it inevitably assumes the "political value" of an "endorsement" of the theory of Relativity .

1922 Niels Bohr receives the Nobel Prize for Physics. He is given the Prize for his studies on "the atoms structure and radiation" .

RELATIVITY AND PLANETARY ATOM BECOME "OFFICIAL SCIENCE"

On a theoretical level, physicists impose the planetary atom on chemists.

Chemists "suffer" but, as a matter of fact, do not give a damn. The theory of valence

is, and continues to be, that by Lewis and Thomson (26) .

FINAL HOAX

1925 Bohr's atom has some problems with the anomalous Zeeman effect. Uhlenbeck and Goudsmit "discover" the magnetic electron . Before introducing such a "revolutionary concept" they ask for advice to the least apt person: Niels Bohr . Bohr takes the opportunity of staging a clever "coup de main", that of introducing the main argument adopted by Parson and Allen against planetary atom at the basis of the "new Quantum Mechanics of Heisenberg" and inside the planetary atom : the magnetic electron. With a warm letter encouraging the "birth" of Spin, Bohr gives them his approval (27).

1926 E. Schroedinger presents his "An undulatory Theory of the Mechanics of Atoms and Molecules": "The point of view taken here… is rather that material points consist of, or are nothing but, wave systems" (28) . Schroedinger does not ask himself what his "wave systems" are made of. By paraphrasing Einstein, one could say that "the ether took its revenge and ate matter" (29) .

1928 W. D. Harkins attempts to produce gold by introducing an electron in a mercury nucleus, but fails (30) .

1932 J. Chadwick "discovers" the neutron (31) .

1932 W. D. Harkins timidly lays claim to the neutron (32).

Heisenberg states that "Harkins's neutron" (the sum of a proton and electron) is "different" from "Chadwick's neutron", that is, a "new" particle which "does not contain" electrons, but "creates" them at the moment of its decay (33) .

As a matter of fact, as we have seen before, Harkins placed the right neutron and nucleus in the wrong atom: "his" neutron cannot be accepted because it is "incompatible with Bohr's atom an Heisenberg's Quantum Mechanics" .

1935 Thus, it is J. Chadwick who receives the Nobel Prize for Physics "for the discovery of the neutron".

THE ATOM IS COMPLETED

PART II : BRIEF HISTORY OF COLD FUSION AND COLD FISSION

1794. French revolution. May 8. Lavoisier is beheaded.

Lavoisier introduced the "galilean method" in chemistry, contributing to its "scientific foundation". On the basis of his experiments he could observe that "in all chemical reactions the same quantity of matter is present before and after the reaction". Lavoisier consequently hypothesizes that in a chemical reaction transmutations from one element to another do not occur (34).

1799. Vaquelin observes what Lavoisier had no occasion to observe: the

transmutation from one element to another. The experimental method of Vaquelin is as stringent as Lavoisier's method. But Lavoisier cannot take note of it (35).

1792 - 1801 On the bases of his experimental observations Herschel concludes that the sun has a solid, "cold", nucleus (36).

1815 - 1847 The Restoration "excessively" rehabilitates Lavoisier: the "intransmutability" of the chemical elements becomes a dogma instead of an experimental hypothesis. Alchemy (which, on the other hand, admits transmutations of the chemical elements) is "discredited".

However the experimental results of Vaquelin are too stringent to be denied. Therefore they are neglected. The last official trace of these experiments can be found in Regnault's Course de Chimie (1847). Then they disappear (37).

1848. Berzelius reports Vogel's experimental evidence for biological transmutations

(38).

1848. - 1900 Nineteenth century is the century of the steam engine. During its

second half the sun becomes - contrary to experimental evidence - gaseous and hot: a big steam engine (39).

1919. E. Rutherford obtains the fusion of the a helium nucleus with a nitrogen one.

Transmutations are possible but - in his opinion - only "high energy transmutations" ("hot" fusion - bombardment method) (20).

1926. Nernst, Jeans and others suggest that "since the outflowing heat ( from the Sun

represents the energy liberated by subatomic processes, the amount can only be calculated if we know the laws of liberation of subatomic energy, and any procedure which evades this difficult problem begs the question". Eddington begs the question (40).

1933. Georges Ranque discovers the "Ranque Effect", which can offer an

experimental answer to the problem of the formation and of the internal structure of

the sun. But nobody gives it the proper attention it deserves (41).

1937. While looking for "an artificial generator of neutrons", Enrico Fermi

accomplishes a "semi cold fusion" between "heavy ice" and deuterium (heavy hydrogen). But he does not give it enough attention, as he should (42).

1940. Seemingly unaware of Harkins's work, Don Carlo Borghi makes the

assumption again that the neutron is a peculiar "bound state" of the hydrogen atom. His hypothesis is obviously refused because it "contradcts Bohr's atom and Heisenberg's Quantum Mechanics". Borghi does not realize the "danger" of his hypothesis. He insists and is estranged (43).

1950 - 1955 D. C. Borghi planned an experiment to synthesize neutrons starting from a cold hydrogen plasma. Expelled from Milan, he moves to the Vatican. With the money he is given - under the counter - by De Gasperi, he starts his experiments in a Roman laboratory. Borghi succeeds where Harkins failed: "cold" synthesis of the neutron shows that the neutron really is "the sum of the proton and an electron".

De Gasperi's death marks the end of Borghi's financial support. He emigrates to Brazil in order to continue his experiments. In Recife he founds the Centre for Nuclear Energy (CEN) (44).

1958. Borghi tries to present his experimental results at the Vienna Convention. But

Amaldi's action prevents him from having his paper accepted. Estranged once again, Borghi leaves the scene for good (45).

1958. C. L. Kervran discovers "low energy transmutations". He regrets the disastrous

effects induced by the uncritical and univocal adoption of Rutherford's method in the study on the atom's structure. He concludes that nuclei are "rigid" structures and composed of "bricks".

He lists a first series of ascertained low energy transmutations: cold fusion and cold fission examples; and provides some models of "Kervran's atom". But contemporary physicists refuse to believe in the experimental evidence in front of them because it would question the interests, by now widely well - established, of "High Energy Physics".

Kervran is estranged (46).

1965. Following Kervran's studies George Oshawa, with some assistants, makes a

vast number of "cold fusions", biologically and electrochemically induced. Particularly important is the "cold fusion" of iron 56, starting from carbon and oxygen; it is electrochemically obtained with three different methods (47).

1974. Omero Speri and Piero Zorzi make a system to be used to obtain

"electrochemically induced nuclear microfusions". The system works for two years and is regularly patented (48).

1984. Moving from a model of the sun's internal structure which is radically different

from the "thermonuclear" one, Renzo Boscoli advances the hypothesis of a cold fusion experiment based on the "slow bombardment" of lithium deuteride with neutrons and gamma rays (49).

1984. Rose and Jones "discover" a "new kind of natural radioactivity" which is

Experimental evidence for the alpha extended model of the atom (50).

1984. P. Armbruster, G. Munzenberg et al. work "on the production of heavy elements by cold fusion" (51).

1984. H. G. Clerc et al. "rediscover" cold fission (52).

1984. - 1989 While working at a new model of the atom, R. A. Monti comes to know

Boscoli's, Kervran's, Speri and Zorzi's, Oshawa's and Borghi's papers. He applies for a grant with the National Research Council (CNR) to work on cold fusion. The grant is turned down. And since he is "unemployed" as an experimentalist he works on History of Physics and Theoretical Physics: "The criogenic model of nuclear fusion (1988); "Historico - critical analysis of atom models" (1988); "Reconstruction of the Periodic Table of the Elements according to the Alpha - Extended Model of the Atom" (1989). (53)

March 1989 Fleishmann and Pons realize a cold fusion experiment which draws great attention. (54)

April - May 1989 High Energy Physicists start a huge campaign to "invalidate" cold fusion in front of the public.

6 July 1989 J. Maddox, Director of "Nature", believes "it is time to settle once and for all cold fusion as pure delusion".

March 1990 Salt Lake City, First Annual Conference on Cold Fusion. A year later researchers are able to publicly "produce" a mass of experimental results which cover forever with ridicule the "enemies" of cold fusion. Maddox pretends nothing happened.

August 1990 Soviet - American Gallium Experiment (SAGE) confirms that there is no experimental evidence for Thermonuclear reactions in the sun. (55)

June 1991 Second Annual Conference on Cold Fusion, Italy.

Lawrence Principe - The Aspiring Adept - Incalescent Mercury

The main text of the Mercurialist school held that Philosophical Mercury was to be prepared by the purification of common mercury. This purgation must remove not only the external, visible impurities but also its "internal superfluities". The first are removed by straightforward means of purification - washing and grinding with salt and/or vinegar, distillation, combination with sulphur to form cinnabar (mercuric sulphide) followed by "revivification" with reducing agents, and so forth. The internal "impurities" are considered more intrinsic, being carried from the first formation of the mercury in the earth, not separable by ordinary means and yet not an essential part of the mercury; their removal required a "more Philosophical" manipulation. These impurities render common mercury useless for the Philosophical Work, because as DuClo writes, "it is necessary first to purge it and free it from excessive coldness and moistness" and incorporate other materials with it to increase its hotness. (DuClo aka Claveus - Apologia, De Triplici praeparatione auri et argenti). Collesson refers to the liberation of common mercury from "its phlegmatic nature... and from a black excrementious earth that was not part of its natural composition" (Jean Collesson - Idea perfecta philosophiae hermeticae). Van Suchten proposes cleansing common mercury from these debilitating impurities with an alloy of "martial regulus of antimony" (antimony metal reduced from the native sulphide ore by iron) and silver. The same agent is prescribed throughout the Philalethean corpus under disguised names, as Newman has shown (Newman, Gehennical Fire). Both Philalethes and van Suchten claim that besides cleansing common mercury, the antimonial alloy impregnates it with a "volatile Gold", otherwise called the "Mercury of Iron", which gives the prepared product its alchemically significant properties (Suchten - Secrets).

Once common mercury is rightly purified, it becomes more active and penetrating and is then called "animated" or "Philosophical Mercury". This animated Mercury can then be used for the "radical dissolution" of gold, and the mixture of Mercury and gold (after some further operations) digested into the Philosophers' Stone itself. The Mercury's action on gold is seen as twofold. First, its radical dissolution of gold liberates the "seeds of gold" hidden within the innermost recesses of the metal; second, like common water acting on plant seeds, this Mercury loosens their shells and nourishes them; indeed DuClo calls it "alimentum seminum metallorum", the aliment of metallic seeds. The germination, nourishment and cultivation of golden seeds allows for the multiplication of its virtue, as from one grain a plant grows to yield a hundreed grains or more, and thus the Philosophers' Stone is capable of transmuting base metals into gold. Common gold is dead, but the animated Mercury animates the gold in turn and makes it grow. This germination and growth process is visible, according to some authors; Collesson writes that the Mercury and its employment are not right "unless the common gold visibly vegetates and the peacock's tail appears. (Collesson - Idea perfecta)

[...] Boyle [...] begins by discussing the possibility that there exists a mercury "more subtle and penetrant than that which is common ... a more Philosophical Mercury" that bears a special affinity with gold and would grow hot ("incalesce") when mixed with it.

[...] Most important for the present study of Boyle's incalescent mercury is a fragmentary letter from Starkey to Boyle that has been dated to April/May 1651. This letter, discovered and published by Newman in 1987, contains Starkey's "key into antimony", a practical process lucidly described that results in the production of "a mercury that dissolves the mettals, gold especially". Newman has also discovered the missing segment of the letter (in a published German translation) where Starkey explicitly remarks that by his method "[common] mercury can be made into a mercurius Philosophorum".

[...] Starkey [...] never mentions that his mercury grows hot with gold. The identity of the mercuries of Starkey and Boyle can, however, be rendered certain. Starkey considers that the alloy of antimony and silver that he prescribes to be amalgamated with common mercury functions to "purge all superfluities from it", as witnessed by the black powder that the amalgam spews out when it is ground.

[...] When decoded, this receipt for incalescent mercury employs antimony [...] and copper [...] instead of antimony and silver. This apparently simple substitution is significant, for while Starkey prescribed the use of silver in his 1651 letter to Boyle and in most of the Philalethes' tracts, his 1654-55 Marrow of Alchemy repudiates the use of silver (specified under the Deckname "Diana's doves" throughout the Philalethean corpus) as "tedious labor" and substitutes instead "Venus" or copper.