456 



SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. 



[Part IV. 



distillation, wliicli they retain to the present clay.' The 

 knowledge of the latter they probably acqiui^ed from the 

 Arabs or Chinese. 



^ " I was frequently visited by one 

 old man, a priest, "who had travelled 

 through Bengal, Burmah, Siam, and 

 many other countries, and who 

 prided himself on being able to make 

 calomel much better than the Euro- 

 pean doctors, as his preparation did 

 not cause the falling out of the 

 teeth^ soreness of the mouth, or 



salivation. He leamt the secret from 

 an ancient sage whom he met with 

 in a forest on the continent of India ; 

 and often when listening to him I 

 was reminded of the mysteries and 

 crudities of the alchemists." — 

 Hakdt's Eastern Monachism, Lond. 

 1850, ch. xxiii. p. 312. 



