Mercury, called quicksilver by the ancients was used to make red mercuric oxide by heating the element in a solution of nitric acid. The reaction of quicksilver in nitric acid is striking as a thick red vapor hovers over the surface and bright red crystals precipitate to the bottom. Alchemists were convinced that mercury transcended the solid and liquid states, earth and heaven, and life and death.
Mercury is one of the seven metals of alchemy (gold, silver, mercury, copper, lead, iron, and tin). The symbol for mercury was also used to represent the planet Mercury in astrology. The metal is often also represented by a serpent or snake.
Ancient alchemists considered mercury to be both one of the seven planetary metals and one of the three primes of Alchemy. In this context, I consider it as a planetary metal. Therefore, I made this a puzzle cache in my series. Enjoy and Good Hunting!
l\lAl lb.olE \V/qS Sb TgS
Bonus! I have created a home-made geocoin prize to cache hunters who find all five geocaches representing the sevel planetary metals of alchemy: lead, tin, iron, mercury, copper, silver, and gold.
This is a home-made geocoin made from cast resin and hand painted. To earn one: 1) Find and sign the logs for the seven geocaches listed above; 2) Enter the correct coordinates for all seven in the geochecker +; and 3) Send the geocoin passphrases the Geochecker+ will give you to me via Geocaching.com's message service. I'll verify you have found and logged a find on all seven and send a prize geocoin to you.
NOTE: This prize geocoin is optional. All you need to do to log a find is find and sign the log. This is merely a bonus.