The alchemists and the early chemical physicians had great hopes of
antimony. “They tormented it in every possible manner,” says Fourcroy,
“in the hope of getting from it a universal remedy.” With it, too,
they were convinced that they were coming near to the transmutation
of other metals into gold. Noticing how readily it formed alloys with
other metals they named it Lupus Metallorum, the Wolf of Metals.
Their process for getting the Powder of Projection, as well as can be
gathered from their mystic jargon was to first fuse the crude antimony,
the sulphide, with iron which withdrew the sulphur from the antimony.
The metal thus obtained they called the Martial Regulus of Antimony.
Regulus, or little king, implied an impure gold. Combining this with
corrosive sublimate and silver, and subliming the mixture they got the
lunar butter of antimony. The sublimation had to be repeated eight or
ten times, the residue, or fæces, being added to the sublimate every
time. At last the sublimed butter of antimony was transferred to an
oval glass vessel capable of containing twelve times its quantity,
and hermetically sealed. The Philosophic Egg, as the vessel with its
contents was called, was then placed in a sand-bath and kept at a
moderate heat for several months. When it had become converted into a
red powder, the operation was finished. This powder was the Powder of
Projection. It was sprinkled on other metals in a state of fusion,
mercury being an ingredient of the fused mass, and yellow gold was
produced.