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Caput mortuum - Wikipedia

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Caput mortuum (plural capita mortua) is a Latin term whose literal meaning is "dead head" or "worthless remains",[1] used in alchemy. Caput mortuum (alternately called nigredo) signified a useless substance left over from a chemical operation such as sublimation and the epitome of decline and decay; alchemists represented this residue with a stylized human skull, a literal death's head.[2] The symbol shown on this page was also used in 18th-century chemistry to mean residue, remainder, or residuum. Caput mortuum was also sometimes used to mean crocus metallorum, i.e. brownish-red metallic compounds such as crocus martis (ferrous sulfate), and crocus veneris (copper oxidule).[3]

Caput mortuum - Wikipedia Jump to content From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Latin term and symbol used in alchemy For the pigment, see Caput mortuum (pigment) . Alchemical symbol for caput mortuum Caput mortuum (plural capita mortua ; literally "dead head") is a Latin term used in alchemy to signify a useless substance left over from a chemical operation such as sublimation and the epitome of decline and decay (alternatively called nigredo ). Alchemists represented this residue with a stylized human skull, a literal death's head . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The symbol shown on this page was also used in

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