Azoth

( Para cels us ). The universal remedy of Para cels us, in alchemy. The term was applied to mercury, which was supposed to exist in every metallic body, and constitute its basis. The Azoth of Para cels us, according to Mr. Browning, was simply the laudanum which he had discovered. The alchemists by Azoth sometimes meant to expre the creative principle of nature. As “he was commonly believed to po e the double tincture, the power of curing diseases and transmuting metals,” as Mr. Browning explains in a note to the poem, the expre ion is often difficult to define precisely, as indeed are many of the terms used by alchemists.