258 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



one substance would be sufficient : there must be two Elixirs, 

 a red one to convert silver into gold and a white one to convert 

 the remaining metals into silver. Thus, to convert copper 

 into gold it must first be converted into silver by the White 

 Ehxir, and then the silver into gold by the Red Elixir. All 

 the alchemists were agreed that a minute portion of the Elixir 

 would convert an unlimited amount of an imperfect metal 

 into gold ; Mary the Copt, for example, is quoted as saying 

 " One dirham thereof is sufficient for all that lies between 

 the East and the West." For this conception to have arisen, 

 some idea of catalytic action must have been arrived at ; or 

 it may have originated from the observation of the effect of 

 a small piece of yeast upon a large mass of dough. 



The different stages in the process of transmutation can 

 usually be made to agree with the following scheme : 



(i) Preparation of the materials. 



(ii) Mixing together by pounding. 



(iii) " Putrefaction " or coction at a gentle heat in the 

 dark, in the presence of moisture. At this stage the substance 

 is black. 



(iv) Albification, when the substance goes white. 



(v) Rubification, when the colour changes to red and the 

 Elixir is formed. 



(vi) Fixation, to preserve the strength of the Elixir. 



(vii) " Projection " of a small portion of the Ehxir upon a 

 fused mass of metal in the crucible. 



(viii) " Catalytic " effect of the Elixir upon the metal. 



(ix) Transmutation. 



If in (vii) the Elixir is projected upon Mercury, the latter 

 is converted not into gold but into more Elixir. If stage (v) 

 be omitted, the product is the White Elixir. 



The following little poem is taken from a manuscript of a 

 work, ascribed to Jabir ibn Hayyan, preserved in the Biblio- 

 theque Nationale, Paris (Arabe 2625, foil. 57^-5 8'). 



An Ode from the " Book op Properties " (by Jabir ibn Hayyan), on the 



Elixir, with a commentary. 



1. When the sun is in Aries and the season good and equable 



2. Take calcined shells, pure in colour, and thin plants from the mountain 



3. And sal-ammoniac, which has no equal ; choose the white for your work. 



4. Three parts make complete, with true measure, without deviation. 



5. Then powder them well, so that they become hke clay when it is kneaded, 



6. And dissolve them if you wish to reach to the perfected knowledge of 



the philosophers. 



7. They will give a liquid beautiful in appearance, red as blood when it 



flows. 



8. With this liquid moisten pure gold and carefully chosen cinnabar. 



