4 definitions
Chemistry (n.) holds a noble substance whose beginning is misery and vinegar and whose end is joy and gladness, says Maier.
Geber (n.) was so obscure a classical authority that it would take an Oedipus to solve the Gebrine Sphinx — a Proteus who promises kernels and gives husks.
Gold (n.) is the image the sun has spun into the earth through millions of revolutions — as the heart is the sun's image in man; God is known in the gold.
The Sol niger (n.) is the alchemists' sun equipped with a shadow against all astronomy, since Sol contains darkness as well as light: "What is this sun without a shadow? A bell without a clapper."