Prima material

First, we must look for the prima material, the starting point for Philosophical Mercury. An elusive alchemist called Fulcanelli riddled for us the common name from which Mercury has traditionally been prepared. He says it is an approximation, corresponding to the Oak tree and to the ram. ... 

The sole purpose of alchemy is to take that which is gross and unrefined to transform it into perfection. Perfection, it is to be noted, is a process, not always a quantifiable end. Concurrently, the purpose of alchemical perfumery is to create a perfected and refined scent from the prima materia of individual aromatic materials... 

MATERIALS Cord, string or rags, tape, prima-cord, plastic explosive, blasting caps, firing device. 

MATERIALS 3.5" rocket, safety fuse, prima-cord, blasting cap, plastic explosive. 

These experiments are prima facie identical with those reported by Vesely [2b] and discussed in Example 1. However, the range of aluminium chloride concentration is very different, and so indeed is the behaviour of the DP. Whereas the concentrations used by Vesely ranged from -0.02 to 0.2 mole/l, those used by Kennedy and Thomas lay in the range (2-20) x 10"4 mole/l. We must conclude that the materials used by Kennedy and Thomas were probably very much purer than those used in Vesely s work. 

This book, my opera prima, was conceived for both beginner and experienced chemists, physicists and material scientists interested in the amazing field of molecular organic materials. Some basic notions of solid-state physics and chemistry and of quantum mechanics are required, but the book is written trying to reach a broad multidisciplinary audience. 

This is a name which the [Hermetic] Philosophers have given to their Magisterium [alchemical operation] once it reaches perfection within the red stage. Because their materials are the Quintessence of the Universe and the First Matter of all individual matter in Nature, this materia prima presents a perfect correspondence with Adam. In Adam God put together the purest substance of all beings. Besides that, Adam, whose name signifies redness, best expresses the color and qualities of the Magisterium itself. ... 

Therefore, if Duchamp s Great Work is said by him to be demultiplied, then this specifically means that, scion le bon plaisir de I Artiste, his calculated choice was not to multiply, in either quantity or in quality, his nude principe femelle, meaning Philosophical Mercury. In strictly alchemical terminology, to demultiply means to employ raw, rather than exalted, materials the act is itself wholly reductive versus expansive. He returns, by means of demultiplication, to the First Principles, to the material prima itself. 

Two additional material principles were added to the tria prima in the seventeenth century to form the five-principle view that characterized the iatrochemistry until the middle of the eighteenth century, when the four Aristotelian elements returned largely through the influence of the French chemist Pierre-Joseph Macquer. Robert P. Multhauf has given a splendid account of these pre-modern years in The Origins of Chemistry. ... 

An early step in the direction of viewing composition in material terms was taken by Beguin when he suggested that two empirically identified components might be added to the tria prima ... 

Salt was one of Paracelsus tria prima. Like the other principles and the four elements of the alchemists, salt as principle took its qualities as well as its name from the material bodies with the same properties. In a fire analysis, salt was to be found in the non-volatile residue and extracted from the non-soluble earth by water. This real salt demonstrated the more or less universal presence of the salt principle in all such bodies. The presence of SALT as principle accounted for the body s solidity and resistance to fire. In its material manifestation, it was recognized by its solubility and its saline taste. 

In these circumstances—and in view of increasing industrial interest in coal-based humic acids as chemical source materials (4)—we thought it pertinent to reinvestigate the mechanism of humic acid formation and, as a first step, to direct particular attention to the development of acidity and alkali solubility during progressive uncatalyzed oxidation of a subbituminous coal (Table 1) with dry oxygen. The choice of this particular system is, prima facie, arbitrary since conversion of coal into humic acids can, in principle, be accomplished by several methods. (Among those commonly used are reactions... 

Until now, our primary organizing principle has been understanding a prima facie case of obviousness, the TSM test, and rebutting the prima facie case with unexpected or superior results. To enhance our understanding further, we will see how this obviousness framework has been implemented in regard to different types of chemical subject matter. By presenting the remaining material in this fashion, we can expand on the analytical concepts we have already introduced as well as provide additional specific examples of how that those concepts have been interpreted and applied in the chemical arts. 

As we just learned, combining compounds or materials known in the art to be useful singly for the same purpose can be prima facie obvious. It is also instructive to consider the situation that occurs where one equivalent material or compound is substituted for another in a composition or process. In this context, it is important to not focus solely on the actual equivalence of the material being substituted but also to focus on whether one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate this equivalency. These points are addressed in the case of Smith v. Hayashi, arising from an interference... 

Medieval alchemists had generally adhered to a dyad theory, in which Sulfur and Mercury were the principles of all metals and change was produced by the interaction of these two principles. Substances rich in Sulfur were more combustible, while those rich in Mercury were less so. Paracelsus took this dyad theory and added a third principle of Salt to it. His three principles—the tria prima, or three first things—were able to explain the alchemical transformations of all bodies. This material trinity matched the Holy Trinity in heaven as well as the three principles of which we are made vital spirit, soul, and body. Important in this scheme are correspondences between the great world, the... 

What were principles for Stahl They were not universal elements, like Aristotle s four elements or Paracelsus s tria prima. They were, however, like Aristotle s elements in one crucial respect although they were material, they could not be isolated. Most importantly for Stahl, they were the causes of particular properties of chemical bodies, and they conferred those properties on the mixt bodies that contained them as constituents. Bodies burned if they contained the phlogistic earth or principle. If they did not contain that principle, then they could not burn. The phlogistic earth could therefore reasonably be called the principle of combustibility. 

At the scale of thin sections, dissolution, cementation, and replacement are all prima facie evidence of elemental mobility. It is clear that late diagenesis involves complex history of material transfer at the scale of a few millimeters because detrital materials immediately adjacent to cements and grain replacements may show no evidence of dissolution, or contain no elements in common with the authigenic minerals. For minor elements that are concentrated in authigenic phases in amounts far in excess of their concentration in the bulk rock (e.g., barite cement), extraction from some relatively larger rock volume is necessary. 

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