Two Dialogues on Alchemy

...the practice of this art, under the story of Pyrrha and Deucalion. In mythology, Pyrrha and Deucalion survived a great flood and repopulated the earth by throwing stones that turned into humans. Alchemists saw this as a metaphor for transforming mineral matter into a "living" or perfected state.
81 ¶ Under the story of the Gorgon, who turned everyone looking at her into stones, they concealed the fixation of the Elixir. fixation: The chemical process of making a volatile or liquid substance stable when exposed to heat.
82 ¶ Concealing the process of distillation, they said that Jupiter, transformed 5 into an Eagle, flew up with Ganymede into the sky. Distillation involves liquids turning to vapor and rising, much like Ganymede being carried to the heavens.
83 ¶ Under the story of Daedalus and Icarus, they concealed putrefaction and distillation. putrefaction: The stage where matter breaks down and turns black, considered a necessary death before the chemical "rebirth."
84 ¶ They concealed the distillation of the Gold of the Philosophers, saying that when a golden branch is cut off, another immediately grows in its place, also of gold. This refers to the Golden Bough from the Aeneid, which represents the regenerative power of the alchemical material.
85 ¶ They also concealed this distillation by saying that 10 Jupiter cut off the genitals of his father, Saturn. Saturn is the traditional name for lead. This violent separation symbolizes extracting a refined spirit from a heavy, base metal.
86 ¶ The Mercurial water is the chariot of Phaethon. Phaethon lost control of the sun chariot. In alchemy, this refers to the volatile and difficult-to-control nature of quicksilver.
87 ¶ By the armored Minerva, they understood that distilled water which contains a portion of the most subtle sulfur, which sulfur is called iron. 15

88 ¶ By Vulcan, who follows Minerva, is signified the sulfur that follows this water, and its salt in the state of putrefaction.
89 ¶ By the thick cloud with which Jupiter surrounded Io, they signified the film appearing during the coagulation of the Elixir.
90 ¶ The black films appearing in the calcination of sulfur 20 are the black sails with which Theseus returned to Athens. calcination: Reducing a substance to powder through high heat. The black color signifies the "nigredo" or blackening stage of the work.
91 ¶ Under the name of the flood and the generation of animals, they described distillation and the generation of sulfur.
92 ¶ By Mars they signified our sulfur, and by Juno the element of air, and sometimes the element of earth. 25

/93 ¶ By Latona, who was embraced by Jupiter on the island of Delos, they signified our copper. When placed in a boccia, it generates the Sun and the Moon. They concealed the preparation of sulfur by saying that Vulcan, because of his deformity, was cast down onto the island of Lemnos. 30 boccia: original: "boccia" — A round glass vessel or flask used in distillation. The Sun and Moon represent gold and silver.
94 ¶ Atalanta, that is our most swift and light water, is both coagulated and fixed with sulfurs. Atalanta was a swift hunter. In alchemy, her speed represents the volatility of mercury, which must be "caught" or fixed by sulfur.
95 ¶ The lumps of pitch with which Theseus muzzled the mouth of the Minotaur are types of sulfur in the Labyrinth. This means they entangle the mercurial water in our vessel, or boccia. 35