CH. viz. CHEMISTRY OF GEBER. 43 



CHAPTER VII. 



SCIENCE OF THE ARABS (CONTINUED) 



Geber, or Djafer, the Founder of Chemistry Arabs mix up Astronomy 

 with Astrology Albategnius Mohammed Ben Musa first Writer 

 on Algebra Alhazen's Discoveries in Optics. 



Geber's Discoveries in Chemistry, 800-900. The 



greatest of the Arabian alchemists was a man named Geber,- 

 or Djafer, who was born in Mesopotamia about A.D. 830. 

 He has been called the * Founder of Chemistry,' for though, 

 like his countrymen, he spent much of his time in trying to 

 make gold, yet he is the first who, as far as we know, made 

 really useful chemical experiments. 



He explains in his works many of the methods we now 

 use in chemistry. For example, he states that if you boil 

 water, the vapour (or spirit as he calls it) will rise up, and 

 you can collect it and cool it down again in another vessel ; 

 and it will then be pure, because any solid matter such as 

 sand or salt, which does not turn readily into vapour, will 

 remain behind in the first vessel. Again, if you heat wine 

 or brandy gently, a vapour called alcohol or spirits of wine 

 will rise up, because the alcohol turns into vapour more 

 easily than the other materials of the wine. If you collect 

 and cool down this vapour in another bottle, you will have 

 liquid spirits-of-wine. This process is called distillation, 

 and is used by chemists to separate substances which turn 

 readily into vapour, from others which do not boil so easily. 



