In the plant world, ethyl alcohol (ethanol = C2H5OH) is the carrier of the Mercury Principle.

In some treatises, ethyl alcohol is also designated as the Element Air, or even as the Quinta Essentia, but those are exceptions that should not confuse the reader. In a narrower sense, we always consider ethyl alcohol the Mercury of the plant world. Ethyl alcohol is not found in free form in nature, but it can be extracted from plants by fermentation and subsequent distillation. During fermentation, the plant is decomposed, and the grape sugar contained in it, to which the Mercury Principle is bound (a monosaccharide, C6H12O6) is changed into ethyl alcohol and carbon monodixe after the formula: C6H12O6 -- 2 C2H5OH + 2 CO2 Fermentation occurs through yeasts, living microorganisms that produce a ferment called zymase. It converts the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. We can also obtain alcohol from the polysaccharides cellulose and starch by decomposing them. Both consist of grape sugar molecules, but we cannot replace cellulose and starch directly by yeasts. Here now are the structures of cellulose, starch, and grape sugar.

There are different kinds of yeast. The kinds that are of interest to us here are brewer's yeast and wine yeast. The degree of activity of the yeasts depends on the temperature of the surroundings. The most favorable temperature for the fermentation of wine yeast is approximately 20-25 C. During fermentation, the so-called fusel oils are also formed. They consist of other alcohols and waste products of proteins. As they are not part of Mercury, they must be removed in the distillation of the alcohol. During fermentation, the alcohol content rises slowly. When it has reached about 15 percent, the activity' of the yeasts is checked, and it finally stops altogether. A prerequisite is that the solution to be fermented contain a sufficiently large quantity of grape sugar in order to attain such a high percentage; otherwise the attainable quantity of alcohol will stay far below the figure just mentioned. This is also the case in the fermentation of plants without the addition of completely fermentable kinds of sugar. When the fermentation is finished, the alcohol is distilled off and subsequently rectified. More about that later.

After all, there is Mercury and Mercury, just as there is water and water. Besides, it is almost impossible to get completely pure ethyl alcohol. So called absolute alcohol also contains small amounts of other substances. Ethyl alcohol is an easily combustible, clear, colorless liquid, simultaneously fire, water, and air. Mercury The production of Mercury results from the separation and the subsequent rectification. A. Separation After the drawing off of the essential oils, the remaining plant "soup" is subjected to fermentation. Everything is put into a sufficiently large glass flask (the formation of foam is to be expected), and an adequate amount of brewer's yeast or dregs of wine is added (e.g., 25 grams for 5 quarts of soup). On the flask we put a cork with a small fermentation tube and some water or oil (Figure 18). If we cannot obtain a sufficiently large flask or carboy, we can also ferment in a large preserving jar or a glazed earthenware container. We then close the container by laying a cloth loosely over it and putting a plate on top. At room temperature fermentation now starts quickly. Sooner or later fermentation would also occur without any addition of yeast, especially in an open container. This is because the necessary microorganisms are nearly everywhere. Owing to the previous boiling, our plant soup is sterile, however, and there-fore the addition of yeast induces more rapid fermentation. Simultaneously, sterility protects our soup from foreign yeasts and bacteria, whereby we avoid a possible sudden change of the fermentation characteristics. There exist different ways of fermentation, fermentation combined with lactic acid, acetic fermentation, butyric fermentation, and so on. We are here interested only in alcoholic fermentation, and that is why a stopper with a small fermentation tube is especially advisable. Penetration by other organisms is thus excluded, and a sudden change in the fermentation process need not be feared. To nourish the yeasts and to reach a specially lively fermentation and a high alcoholic content, we can add a certain amount of fermentable sugar (up to 1 kilogram for 5 quarts of soup) since some plants contain very little sugar. This technique is permitted since Mercury is the same in the whole plant world. Of course, it should always be quite pure. If we intend to obtain but small quantities of Mercury, we can by all means ferment without sugar . But to do this, large quantities of plants are necessary. Glauber recommends at least 50 pounds.

The duration of the fermentation varies greatly from plant to plant, and the temperature also plays a role. It is done when the gas production stops and the plants sink to the bottom. In the fermentation container we find the four Elements. The plants together with the sugar are the Element Earth. The Element Water is also present. The Element Air is released in the form of gas (carbon dioxide). The Element Fire can be recognized by the liberation of heat energy during fermentation. In the midst of these four Elements develops alcohol, which, however, is not identical with any of the Elements. This is our Mercury, which is therefore sometimes also designated as Quinta Essentia. An often-heard alchemical theorem is: The Quinta Essentia is none of the Four [Elements] but proves to be one of the Three [Philosophical Principles]. The sugar (that in the plants as well as that which is added), the solid or the fixed, becomes volatile (gas development); the life principle, on the contrary, becomes fixed by condensing into alcohol. Hence also the designation Aqua Vitae (water of life). We must now distill off and concentrate (rectify) the alcohol that has arisen through fermentation, whereby it is cleansed of its excess water.

B. Purification

By means of distillation we can separate the liquids from solid substances and likewise liquids with different boiling points from each other. The boiling point is that temperature at which a substance changes from the liquid to the gaseous state. If we wish to separate two liquids with different boiling points, constant adherence to the boiling-point temperature of the lower boiling liquid is sufficient. In this way only one of the two liquids can evaporate while the other remains in the fractionating flask, at least for the major part. Part of the higher-boiling liquid, however, is swept along in the evaporation of the lower-boiling one. The separation of the two liquids must therefore be repeated several times. The more strictly we keep to the temperature, the more successful the separation will be. We begin the purification of Mercury with the separation of the plant soup into a solid and a liquid part by filtration. We squeeze the solid parts firmly by hand so as to obtain the greatest possible amount of liquid. We then dry the remaining plant residue on a cloth or a fine net in a warm spot. We can also dry them in the sun, since the volatile constituents of the plants are gone. When the plant parts are dry, we keep them in a suitable container for later incineration and calcination, by means of which we obtain the Philosophical Salt (see page 93). We put the filtered alcoholic liquid in a fractionating flask, which is then connected with the distilling apparatus (see Figure Below).

To achieve a particularly good separation of water and alcohol, we also use specific columns. Among these we find simple glass tubes that can be filled with small glass rings, as well as complicated models (see Figure Below). As the escape of the vapor is retarded in these columns, the vapor of the liquid with the higher boiling point condenses before reaching the condenser and falls back. Some columns have a vacuum jacket to guarantee a specially uniform heating. With columns without jackets, the results very much depend on the ambient temperature. Distillation in a water or oil bath is expedient, as in this way the burning of the plants, or the forming of a ring in the flask, is prevented. When distilling combustible substances, an open flame must be avoided for safety. The boiling point of ethyl alcohol is 78 C at sea level; in higher altitudes it is somewhat lower. At the first distilling off of our Mercury, the temperature should not exceed 85 C. When nothing more comes over, the distillation is completed.

The liquid residue in the fractionating flask is preserved. We shall later obtain the fixed Sulfur from it. (See page 86.) An alcohol meter serves to determine the alcohol content of our distillate. It consists of a glass tube closed at both ends, one end of which is weighed by a weight, while the other has a calibrated scale. Some alcohol meters also have a built-in thermometer, since the measuring must always be done at a specific temperature (= density). The alcohol meter floats vertically in mixtures of alcohol and water. As it is calibrated to a specific temperature, the distillate must be brought to this temperature (by heating or cooling). So we put our distillate into a sufficiently large glass measuring cylinder and carefully dip our alcohol meter into it after previously making sure of the right temperature. The first distillate still contains a large amount of water as well as a small part of other alcohols and impurities. These are removed in the subsequent distillations. In so doing, the exact observation of and adherence to the temperature is of importance. First we discard the so-called first runnings that go over before the thermometer at the fractionating column indicates the boiling point of the ethyl

alcohol, that is, 78 C. The substances of the first runnings all boil at lower temperatures than ethyl alcohol. As soon as the thermometer rises to 78 C (or shows the boiling point of ethyl alcohol corresponding to the altitude of the laboratory), we replace the receiver and remove the first runnings. We also keep back both the remaining water and the so-called fusel oils by a precise control of the temperature. Both water and fusel oils boil at a higher temperature than ethyl alcohol, and we regulate our equipment accordingly. The use of proper columns facilitates fractionating, that is, the separation of ethyl alcohol from the other substances. With every distillation our distillate becomes purer. After about seven distillations we get a clean ethyl alcohol of high percentage, our Mercury. In addition, some of the impurities can be removed with a charcoal filter. Continual purifying of Mercury through repeated distillations is called rectification. As alcohol is strongly hygroscopic, we shall hardly obtain a 100 percent concentration. Through the process of freezing we can further separate the remaining water, since water freezes at 0 but ethyl alcohol only at -114. In chemistry still other processes are applied. The remaining water is bound by the addition of a certain amount of calcium oxide (CaO). Then we distill again. Likewise, sodium and magnesium are used in this way. In alchemy such techniques are not permitted because they "mineralize" the alcohol. ("The tears of Diana [Mercury] are determined.") For our purposes the way of repeated distillations, possibly with a column, such as a Vigereux column, is quite adequate. The purified Mercury (approximately 95 percent alcohol) is preserved in a tightly closed bottle.