'Vitriol' - poison or cure? Veronika - Week 4

Mixing Psychology and Alchemy

We’ve reached the final week of our slow read of Veronika Decides To Die, and I won’t engage in a plot spoiler, except to say, ‘All’s Well, That Ends Well.’ What I do want to explore is an alchemy reference in this novel by Paulo and it appears in the form of a concept he expands through Dr. Igor, namely ‘vitriol’.

Because there’s so little common knowledge and understanding about the ancient art of alchemy (see my book: The Secret of The Alchemist for more information), most of us have only the modern sense of the word ‘vitriol’ as in:

Merriam-Webster Dictionary: bitterly harsh or caustic language or criticism.

However, traditionally, vitriol as a noun can refer to chemistry and mean sulfuric acid and related compounds, which eat away or attack other substances. Islamic alchemists Jābir ibn Hayyān (721-815 AD), Razi (865-925 AD), and Jamal Din al-Watwat (1318) included vitriol in their mineral classification lists.

Vitriol was one of the most important compounds to the Alchemists. It was distilled from an oily, green substance that formed naturally from the weathering of sulfur-bearing gravel.

And like all other alchemical substances, it also had a symbolic meaning, …