# Sulfur

**Solfo**

**Known today as.** Brimstone; “live” sulfur (*solfo vivo*) is native sulfur.

Kind: Mineral  
Qualities: Hot and dry (Galenic tradition).

## What did Canale use it for?

Burnt in the fumigation to expel a spirit; four grains in the oil for the bewitched; in Treatise Two, blessed “by the God who rained you down upon Sodom” (chs. 8–9; Treatise Two).

## What does modern science say?

Burning sulfur gives off sulfur dioxide, which is choking and, in a closed room, dangerous. The association with hell is biblical (Genesis 19; Revelation 21). Sulfur is a real antifungal and antiseptic on the skin.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **sulfur**: 
- **hydrogen sulfide**: formed on the skin

**Mechanism.** Sulfur on the skin is reduced to hydrogen sulfide and pentathionic acid, which kill fungi and the scabies mite and loosen the skin’s scales: the oldest remedy for scabies, still used in infants and pregnancy where permethrin is avoided.

**Dose.** Harmless on the skin; the burning sulfur of fumigation gives sulfur dioxide, which injures the lungs.

**Standing.** Precipitated sulfur ointment remains in the pharmacopoeias; sulfur is in acne preparations.

## What lore surrounds it?

Brimstone was the smell of hell in Scripture (Revelation 21:8) and therefore, by a hard logic, the smoke that drove the damned away: it stands among the foul fumigations of the Italian exorcists. See also the press’s page on [Alchemy](https://thethinkingpress.org/inspirations/alchemy).

## What did the older authorities say?

**Homer.** After the slaying of the suitors, Odysseus calls for sulfur, “the cure of ills,” and fire, and fumigates the hall and the courtyard.

**Paracelsus.** Made sulfur one of the three principles of all things, with salt and mercury: the principle of combustibility, the soul of a substance.

## Sources

- Gupta, A. K., and Nicol, K. (2004). “The use of sulfur in dermatology.” *Journal of Drugs in Dermatology* 3.

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*Sulfur.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-09-25. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/sulfur

Historical description, not medical advice.