In 1789 Martin Klaproth isolated uranium from pitchblende for the first recorded time, however uranite was used in dying glass in the first century.
Through the age of alchemy, I have not been able to find any reference to pitchblende in any tables from Jakob Böhme or Paracelsus, or anywhere.
Reviews of Google Books, which only traces back to the 19th century, reveals many studies about the mineral from a more modern scientific "atomic theory" concept; to wit: The Playbook of Metals by John Henry Pepper (1861) includes a table of metals with associated ancient symbols (when known) in Chapter III; while a scientific discussion of Uranium, Vanadium, and Yttrium proceed in Chapter XXXV with a history of pitchblende. Robert Boyle's The Sceptical Chymist(1800 edition, of the treatise of 1661) enters great dialogue about the many alchemists, but doesn't give a table that I could find in the public domain. The London Librorum Impressorum Qui in Museo Brittanico, 1813 edition, published references to metallic elements from Apologia pro judicio Scholæ Parisiensis de Alchimia (1604), but it is all in Latin and I find searching it impossible. I have tried searching for translated editions of Geberi de Alchimia from the Islamic alchemist Jabir with little luck as well.
Was this mineral represented at any time with a symbol?
