We are still not quite done here. Now that we know aluminium is NOT part of
the formula for acid rain, we may safely assume that (adamantium, arm, ?herb?)
*IS* part of the formula.

But please do NOT make the mistake of now trying every herb with (adamantium x
arm)! You would be wasting time! Go instead to other organ pages, and try
adamantium with each other organ, choosing as many different herbs as you can.
On each other page, when you test (adamantium x ?organ? x ?herb?) if you get
no message, you have eliminated 103 combinations, as opposed to only
eliminating one if you continued on the arm page.

The next "trick" to making potions is to track your "CLOSE" messages on a
separate page of the spreadsheet. By using the Excel trick of sorting by
column (either potion name, mineral, organ, or herb) you can see patterns. If
you got a "CLOSE" for acid rain on the arm page, and later get a "CLOSE" on
the TENDRIL page, compare the two to see if you can discover the formula!
Example: (adamantium, arm, apple) gives a "close . . . acid rain" and
(vanadium, tendril, apple) gives a "close . . . acid rain". So now try:
(vanadium, arm, apple) or (adamantium, tendril, apple).

Remember two other things:
There are actually TWO DIFFERENT FORMULAS for each potion! Its possible to
have two unrelated formulas that DO NOT overlap, even though each gives a
"close" message.

Also, make sure on your "CLOSE" page to only record one of each organ pair.
The organ pairs are included in the spreadsheet (and listed on my website:
www.askgar.com/batmud/ ). But if you record "apple" for one close message,
and "wormwood" for the other close message, you will confuse yourself.
Regardless of which herb you used, store the CLOSE message with the simpler of
the two herbs (the one on top in my spreadsheet). This will make comparison
of two "CLOSE" messages easier to figure out.

If you have any questions, ask them here so we all can benefit!

Porter's Potion Spreadsheet can be downloaded from:
http://www.askgar.com/batmud/

(If any kind wiz could link it from bat.org, that would be greatly
appreciated.)

Porter Guide the Alchemist