"There was red mercury, a powerfully acting body, united with the tincture of antimony, at a gentle heat of the water-bath. Then, being exposed to the heat of open fire in an aludel, (or alembic,) a sublimate filled its heads in succession, which, if it appeared with various hues, was the desired medicine.">[
[Footnote 12: "Salamander, &c." The four represent the spirits of the four elements, fire, water, air, and earth, which Faust successively conjures, so that, if the monster belongs in any respect to this mundane sphere, he may be exorcized. But it turns out that he is beyond and beneath all.]
[Footnote 13: Here, of course, Faust makes the sign of the cross, or holds out a crucifix.]
[Footnote 14: "Fly-God," i.e. Beelzebub.]
[Footnote 15: The "Drudenfuss," or pentagram, was a pentagonal figure composed of three triangles, thus: [Illustration]
[Footnote 16: Doctor's Feast. The inaugural feast given at taking a degree.]
[Footnote 17: "Blood." When at the first invention of printing, the art was ascribed to the devil, the illuminated red ink parts were said by the people to be done in blood.]
[Footnote 18: "The Spanish boot" was an instrument of torture, like the
Scottish boot mentioned in Old Mortality.]
[Footnote 19: "Encheiresin Naturæ." Literally, a handling of nature.]
[Footnote 20: Still a famous place of public resort and entertainment. On the wall are two old paintings of Faust's carousal and his ride out of the door on a cask. One is accompanied by the following inscription, being two lines (Hexameter and Pentameter) broken into halves:—