Alchemical symbol

This article contains Unicode alchemical symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of alchemical symbols.

Alchemical symbols in Torbern Bergman's 1775 Dissertation on Elective Affinities


Alchemical symbols before Lavoisier

Alchemical symbols, originally devised as part of alchemy, were used to denote some elements and some compounds until the 18th century. Although notation like this was mostly standardized, style and symbol varied between alchemists, so this page mainly lists the most common ones.

Three primes[]

According to Paracelsus (1493–1541), the three primes or tria prima – of which material substances are immediately composed – are:^[1]

Sulfur or soul, the principle of combustibility:

[1]