Conjectural REMARKS on the SYMBOLS or CHARAC TERS, employed by ASTRONOMERS, to represent the feveral PLANETS, and by the CHEMISTS, to exprefs the feveral METALS, in a LETTER to THOMAS PERCIVAL, M. D. F. R. S. &c. By MARTIN WALL, M. D. Prælector of Chemistry in the University of Oxford. Read October 9, 1782. SIR, Ioble apprenting to a fubject more AM extremely apprehenfive, left the following speculative than ufeful, may be thought unworthy of the attention of your very respectable Society; yet, defirous to fhew my just sense of the compliment, which you have paid me, by propofing me as an honorary member, I advance them with great deference, hoping you will fupprefs them entirely, if they should not meet the approbation of your correct judgment. Whoever engages in the ftudy of Chemistry, cannot but remark, with fome degree of curiofity, how extenfively the ufe of fymbols or characters has prevailed in this fcience; and is naturally led to enquire, from whence this practice originated, and whether the characters ufed are merely arbitrary, or have any relation, real or imaginary, to the fubftances which they are employed to reprefent. That many of them are entirely arbitrary, is commonly fuppofed by thofe, whofe knowledge of chemical authors is only flight and fuperficial; but the enthufiafm of a few, whose reading has been more extenfive, fuggefts a different idea. Every character is, by thefe, conceived to convey an accurate defcription of the qualities of the fubftance, which it reprefents. It is hardly neceffary to obferve, that this opinion is not indirectly fupported by Boerhaave, and his commentator Shaw:* and Dr. Pricet in his account of his extraordinary experiments on mercury, filver and gold, afferts, that the ancient chemifts either knew or believed, that the imperfect metals had a faline principle, which they denoted by a crofs attached to their characters. It is impoffible, perhaps, to advance very far in our enquiries into this subject; yet fome little light may be thrown upon it, by a due attention to those characters, which are above alluded to, thofe by which the metals are reprefented. And firft, it cannot but appear very ftriking, that the symbols employed to represent the feven metals, which alone were known in the earlier ages, are the fame, as those which were applied by the first aftronomers, to denote the feven planets. The chemifts have, in gene *Shaw's Boerhaave, vol. I. p. 68. + Price's Experiments on Mercury, &c. Preface, p. 11. ral, ral, arrogated to themselves the prior right to thefe characters, upon the pretence, that they point out most accurately the various qualities of the metals; whereas, to the planets they have no kind of relation. Yet, notwithstanding the plaufibility of their arguments, I am inclined to entertain a contrary opinion, and to believe that the pretenfions of the aftronomers have a better foundation. Aftronomy was cultivated in all the oriental nations, particularly in Egypt, Phoenicia and Chaldea, in the very earliest ages, of which we have any record. Not only the uniform appearances of the fixed ftars, but even the more irregular movements and revolutions of the planets, and the peculiar circumftances of colour and splendour, by which they are diftinguished from each other, were accurately marked and obferved. In the fame period of time, the opinion of polytheism had been gradually diffeminated : and it was extremely natural, that those splendid bodies rolling, apparently above the earth, in the immenfity of space, by fuch determined laws, fhould be confidered as the habitations of the immortal beings, by whofe immediate influence and fuperintendence the affairs of the world were conducted. Having premised this, let us now, for the farther investigation of this fubject, pay a particular attention to the Mythology of Egypt, which opens an important fund of information, with respect to the hiftory of religion and science, in those early periods: but we must not expect to find the path free from obfcurity and difficulty. In that country, the hieroglyphic mode of writing was used in the greatest extent, and was connected not only with the fciences, but even with religion. By this learned people a circle was employed to denote perfection, and particularly the infinite perfection of the Supreme Being, their Ofiris, whofe refidence they conceived to be in the great luminary of the day, from whence he diftributed the bleffings of light and heat, to animate the universe. Hence, by a very easy and obvious application, a circle came alfo to be employed, as the hieroglyphic of the fun. The form of the crefcent moon naturally pointed out the symbol, by which fhe has always been represented: nor was this planet deftitute of a divine inhabitant; but was fuppofed to be the palace of the Queen of Heaven, the wife of Ofiris, the common mother of mankind.* Cornua fulferunt Imitataque Lunam Says Ovid of the Egyptian Ifis. Met. Lib. IX. 782. That, the idea of the wife of the Supreme Being prefiding over the moon, was afterward introduced into Greece, appears from a beautiful Medallion of the Samian Juno in Mr. Bryant, vol. II. Pl. 12. Το To explain the remainder of the astronomical fymbols, upon the fame principle, it is neceffary previously to remark, that polytheism, in its pureft form, is nothing more than the deification of particular attributes of the Supreme Being, arifing from the infirmity of human nature, unequal to the comprehenfion of one all perfect Being. Hence we are not furprized to find, that the two planets diftinguished by a fplendor, next to that of the fun and moon, were also supposed to be inhabited by, or at least confecrated to the fervice of the two chief Deities, under a different form and name. One of these planets is known by the title of Jupiter, and probably derived both its appellation and its fymbol, from that part of the Ægyptian mythology, which afferted, that when the gods, in the war with the giants, fled from the wrath of Typhor into Egypt, they concealed themselves in the fhapes of various beafts, under which they were afterwards worshipped, and particularly Jupiter under that of a ram, at the celebrated Libyan Temple of Jupiter Hammon. To this circumftance Lucan alludes, in his defcription of the march of Cato through the wilds of Africa;* and Ovid, more distinctly, in his ac Ventum erat ad Templum, Libycis quod Gentibus unum Jupiter, ut memorant, fed non aut Fulmina vibrans, |