ARABIC CHEMISTRY 253 



necessaire meme pour tirer des remedes utiles de tous les 

 etres de la nature, sans en excepter ni les mineraux ni les 

 metaux ; I'autre est cette Chimie folle et insensee, et cependant 

 la plus ancienne des deux, par le moyen de laquelle les artistes 

 s'imaginent pouvoir convertir les metaux imparfaits en metaux 

 purs et parfaits. La premiere a conserve le nom de Chimie, 

 et Ton a donne a la seconde celui d'Alchhnie." 



This attitude towards mediaeval chemistry dies hard, but 

 it is an attitude which cannot be maintained. We ought not 

 to be bhnd to the fact that the transmutation theory, the 

 sulphur-mercury theory of metals, and the phlogiston theory 

 denote a very high development of chemical thought, and were 

 in general accord with the observations, experimental data, and 

 philosophical systems of the times in which they were current. 

 Can we say more for any chemical theory of the present day ? 



The scholars who have studied mediaeval Arabic works on 

 chemistry may almost be numbered on the fingers of one hand. 

 If to Berthelot we add Prof. E. Wiedemann of Erlangen, Mr. 

 Robert Steele, Messrs. Stapleton and Azo, and M. Georges 

 Aristarkhes, we shall have a practically complete list of those 

 who have made even tentative excursions into the territory. 

 Of these, Berthelot is the only one who has published complete 

 texts, thirteen of which were printed in tome iii of La Chimie 

 au Moyen Age. Berthelot 's pioneer work was extremely useful, 

 and contained a mass of hitherto inaccessible information ; 

 but his conclusions were, as usual, hastily drawn and based 

 upon too slender a foundation ; they must therefore be 

 accepted with considerable reserve. 



It is sometimes stated that the number of Arabic chemical 

 works preserved to us is small, but this is far from the truth. 

 A rough preliminary census of the MSS. in most of the principal 

 libraries of Europe and Cairo has shown that there are at 

 least 300 different treatises extant, including practically all 

 those mentioned by the great Muslim bibliographer, Hajji 

 Khalifa. Some of these works, such as the Nihayat at-Talab 

 of Al-Jildaki, run to a thousand pages, so that the task of 

 arriving at a satisfactory knowledge of the development of 

 chemistry in Islam will be no light one. It becomes obvious 

 that Berthelot's conclusions, based on the study of thirteen 

 small works (occupying altogether only 205 pages), cannot 

 be regarded as authoritative. 



It was from the Greeks that the Arabs obtained their early 

 knowledge of chemistry. One of the first Muslims to take an 

 interest in alchemy was Khalid ibn Yazid ibn Mu'awiya (635- 

 704), who was taught the science by a monk named Marianus, 

 in Alexandria, and who had many translations made of Greek 

 alchemical writings. Khalid himself is said to have written 



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