OF THE ORIGIN OF CHEMISTRY. 6t 



ncum Mar'nc, where he ufecl oil inflcad of water*. 

 He fpcaks of fublimation f , ami di/lillation per 

 defcer.fnm like wife J. Diofcoridcs, who was the 

 great friend and follower of Cleopatra, the mod 

 luxurious of women, appears not to have been 

 wholly unacquainted with diftillation, as he 

 fpcaks very plainly of <.^*, to which afterwards 

 the Arabian particle al was added . On look- 

 ing into Pliny, we find a dcfcription of a fimilar 

 procefs forcxtradingquickiilver from cinnabar: 

 " Patinis fidilibus impofitum (minium) fcrrca 

 " concha calicc (*c,o coopcrtura, argilla fuper- 

 " illita ; dein fub patinisaccenfum foilibus con- 

 " tinuo igni, atque ita callicis fudore deterfo, qui 

 ** fit argcnticolorectaquicliquore." But certain- 

 ly Calcn knew nothing of this art; for he fays: 

 " Non mul turn abciY, omnia vcllem fubire peri- 

 " cula, fi quam machinam, artcmve invenirc liccat, 

 " ficut in lacle contrariumpartium, fie ct in ace- 

 41 to, fcparandi j} ." He thought, however, that 

 A lixivium could be made with waflicd aflies; 

 and therefore had fome idea of alkaline fait, c- 

 ven of the caullic kind. But he fccms to have 

 been wholly ignorant of reducing them to a dry 

 ftate^. In the iflandof Lefbos they had a ma- 

 nufadory of glafs **. 



In 



"* De fanitatc tucnda, 1. ir. c. 8. 



f De nu-dic. fmjp. fac. 1. ix. 



\ De facile parabilibus. 



f Mat. mcd. 1 v. c. 1 10. 



^ DC mcd. (imp. fac. 1. i. c Ibid. c. 14. 



** AiLcnxui Dcip. 



