An example of analogical thinking in proto-science,
"…[alchemist Edward] Kelley explains the nature of the imperfect metal in his fullest elaboration of sericonian doctrine, as a work based on Saturn, or lead. The power of lead is introduced using an analogy between the metals and the orbits of their corresponding planets; thus the work begins with Saturn because this is also the outermost planet, 'within whose [sic] circle the spheres of the others are naturally encompassed'. Just as the orbit of Saturn must contain those of the inner planets, so the metalline water drawn from Saturn's metallic analogue, lead, must include the properties of the other metals. It follows that lead is the only metal whose menstruum will dissolve the rest.
Both Kelley's orbital analogy and the theory of metals that underpins it are grounded in late medieval sources that present alchemy as a 'lower astronomy' (astronomia inferior), in which the seven metals map onto the seven Ptolemaic planets."
Jennifer M. Rampling (2020) The Experimental Fire. Inventing English Alchemy, 1300-1700. The University of Chicago Press.
Traditionally the correspondences are:
- lead – Saturn
- tin – Jupiter
- iron – Mars
- copper – Venus
- quicksilver – Mercury
- silver – Moon
- gold – Sun
Read examples of scientific analogies
This extract also reflects the common personification of the planets (i.e., 'whose' to refer to Saturn's orbit rather than 'which').
Read about personification in science texts
Read examples of personifying nature
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