"If a person were to want to work with some old alchemical text or group of hieroglyphic emblems and the image of a Red Lion occurred, then the alchemist would know that this image was a reference to Sulfur combined with Mercury to control the force of nature. Even descriptions written without an image of the red lion could be rather descriptive:

Afterwards take the lion in the pelican which also is found [at] first, when you see its tincture, that is to say, the element of fire which stands above the water, the air, and the earth."