Chimica Arcana

To grasp the invisible elements, to attract them by their material correspondence, to control, purify and transform them by the living power of the spirit, this is true alchemy. 

~Paracelsus (1493-1541)

Before any sort of chemical bonding was even thought of there were charts of so-called affinities.  I found this interesting chart dating from 1718 on Wiki. It teaches how the then-known "elements" combined with each other. The top row identifies an element and the columns contain those elements with which it combines. Note that sulfur (middle column) was considered the most promiscuous element, consistent with its primacy as the "soul" of matter according to alchemy. Also bear in mind that this simple chart condenses the then known science of chemisty, ca. 1718.  I like the arcane symbols and could see using some them as avatars depending on my mood:

Click to enlarge or see link above

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Here are my translations of the "elements."

Esprit acides : Acidic (acerbic) spirits

Acide du sel marin: Lit. acid of sea salt, HCl (which was thought to contain oxygen until Davy showed otherwise: link)

Acide nitreux: Nitric and nitrous acids, HNO₃, HNO₂

Acide vitriolique: Sulfuric and sulfurous acids, derived from oleum & vitriol.

Sel alcali fixe: Sodium & potassium hydroxides and carbonates.

Sel alcali volatil: Sal ammoniac, NH₄Cl, which sublimed and was endlessly fascinating.

Terre absorbante: Silicates (sand) and diatomaceous earth.

Substances metalliques: Metallic substances

Mercure: Mercury was considered to be the spirit of matter.

Regule d'Antimoine: Regulus of antimony--metallic antimony. Regulus means "little King"

Or: Gold

Argent: Silver

Cuivre: Copper

Fer: Iron

Plomb: lead

Etain: Tin

Zinc

Pierre Calaminaire: Lit. calamine stone, i.e., calamine ore. Note the French place name.

Soufre mineral: Sulfur or brimstone.  This material held a special place in alchemy, along with mercury and salt.

Principe huileux ou Soufre: The oily essence of organic substances from plants, also called the "sulfur." See the interesting discussion under Spagyric.

Esprit de vinaigre: Vinegar or acetic acid

Eau: water

Sel: Salt held a special place in alchemy along with mercury and sulfur.  

Esprit de vin et Esprit ardents: Any of the flammable alcohols derived from fermentation, e.g., ethanol, methanol, etc.

The Language of Chemistry

Original

Beginning students of chemistry encounter chemical symbols which bear little resemblance to their English names. The roots of several common and especially more historical elements caught my fancy, just as other Latin words buried in English did earlier. link

Several names and symbols come from Latin:

• Sb stands for antimony which comes from the Latin Stibium. The Italians still call antimony stibio. We did too until the Middle Ages. link

• Cu for copper comes from Cuprum, which is related to the word Cyprus, an ancient source of copper for the Romans.

• Fe for iron comes from Ferrum. The Italians call their railroads la ferrovia and Spanish calls hardware ferreteria (cf. bilingual signs at Home Depot). English has the vestigial word, farrier.

• Au for gold comes from Aurum.  We've lost that word in English except for some pretentious words like aureate, aurelia, aureole and the like.

• Pb for lead comes from Plumbum. There are lots of English cognates, including plumbago, plumbing, plumb lines and plumb bobs.

• Hg for mercury comes from hydrargyrum. That's confusing because at first glance it could be water-silver. But "hydra" is more generic and means liquid. Mercury used to be called quicksilver which sort of conveys the same notion as hydrargyrum.

• Ag for silver comes from Argentum. The French still call money l'argent.

A couple names look like Latin but are neologisms coined by Sir Humphry Davy:

• K for potassium comes from Kalium which derives from Arabic al-kali.

• Na for sodium comes from Natrium. The Germans still use both words Natrium and Kalium; they never adopted sodium and potassium. I guess they weren't as impressed with Davy as we were.

Also:

• Sn for tin comes from the Latin Stannum. There is some irony here.  The word Stannum is Latin but appears to derive from Irish or Welsh. The Romans got their tin from the British Isles.  Tin is still mined in Cornwall.

• W for Tungsten comes from an older name, Wolfram, which is still used by the Germans. Tungsten derives from Swedish tung heavy + sten stone. 

Why Does POTUS Mock "In God We Trust"?

The phrase has been on our money since 1864. Why would he mock the continuation of this tradition? Link

Steelies

The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debase the currency. -- V.I. Lenin

If we ever get into another full scale shooting war, it's going to cost dearly just to buy all the brass needed to make ammo casings (shells) for bullets.  We've traditionally made them out of brass (copper alloyed with a little zinc).  The Russians and Chinese make their bullet casings out of steel. Because spent cartridges are essentially thrown away on the battlefield, perhaps this is not a bad idea.

We traditionally made pennies out of copper and its alloys: chart  Since 1982, the U.S. Mint has made pennies out of zinc coated with thin layer of copper to keep up appearances. As of 2010, it cost the Mint 1.79 cents to make a penny because of the costs of the penny's materials and production.

As a kid, I used to go to the bank and buy rolls of pennies. Back then (the late 1960's to early '70's) I could still find lots of bronze "wheat pennies" in circulation. I'd comb through change looking to fill those Blue Whitman folders with pennies. Except for the really rare ones, or the pre-WW II ones in good condition, I did all right. Once and a while I'd find a 1943 steel penny.  I could find them easily in a pile of pennies using a magnet. I got 3 or 4 steel pennies that way. I had to buy the "S" one though. Coins minted in San Francisco were always harder to come by east of the Rockies. And the ones I got were never as nice looking as the one in the photo:

1943-s Steel Cent