208 
that Geber acquired some of his notions of chemistry from 
t. 
Biveral MSS., purparting to contain the writings of Geber, 
exist in various librariesin Europe; these were translated into 
Latin as early as the year 1529, and into English in 1678. We have 
reason to believe that the Latin translation was faithfully done, 
if the Arabic text be not corrupt. The work consists of four 
treatises :—(a) Of the search for Perfection, (8) Of the Sum of 
Perfection, (y) Of the Invention of Verity, and (6) Of Furnaces. 
Geber was acquainted with the seven metals known to the 
ancients, and he regarded gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, and 
lead, as compounds of mercury with sulphur in different pro- 
portions. Gold and silver are the most perfect metals, and are 
composed of the purest mercury and sulphur ; the other metals 
consist of less pure mercury and sulphur, but may be conyerted 
into gold and silver by purifying their constituents, and uniting 
them in different proportions. He also describes various chemical 
substances, among others the following. The carbonates of 
potash and soda were known to Geber, and were procured from 
the ashes of plants. Caustic soda was procured from the car- 
bonate by heating its solution with quicklime, as in the present 
day. Common salt was purified by ignition, solution, and 
filtration, and the solution was afterwards evaporated, and the 
salt crystallised out. Nitrate of potash, or saltpetre, and 
chloride of ammonium, or sal ammoniac, were apparently 
common in Geber’s time ; as also were alum, borax, and green 
copperas, or protosulphate of iron. Geber procured nitric 
. acid by distilling copperas, saltpetre,and alum, and he used the 
acid for dissolving silver, and when mixed with sal ammoniac for 
dissolving gold. He obtained nitrate of silver in the form of 
crystals, and noticed their fusibility. Various compounds of 
mercury are described, among others corrosive sublimate or 
chloride of mercury, cinnabar or sulphide of mercury, and the red 
oxide of mercury, in which, nearly ten centuries later, oxygen gas 
was discovered by Dr. Priestley. Geber also obtained sulphuric 
acid by distilling alum. He appears to haye been acquainted 
with the various processes of distillation, sublimation, calcination, 
filtration, and many others; indeed, with almost all the pro- 
cesses practised by his successors during the succeeding eight 
or nine centuries. 
It is probable that some of the processes described by Geber 
were worked out in the medical schools of Arabia, and were 
known shortly before his time ; yet he was himself a patient 
worker, and often intersperses his descriptions of substances and 
processes with remarks on the method of experimenting, and 
the mode of thought most suitable for the studies which he 
describes. He has often been called the ‘‘ Founder of Chemistry ;” 
at least his works are the earliest with which we are acquainted, 
and he was venerated as Masier alike by the alchemists and 
chemists of the Middle Ages. 
Geber appears to have been acquainted with many chemical 
appliances. In the earliest translations of his works we find 
figures of various furnaces and forms of distillatory apparatus ; 
one of them, not unlike a still now in use, is represented above. 
The greater number of vessels described and figured by Baptiste 
Porta in his treatise De Distillationibus, published in 1609, are 
to be found in the first Latin translations of the works of Geber. 
G. F, RODWELL 
THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION 
TRE following is the text of the reply of the Govern- 
ment to the deputation which recently had an 
interview with Mr. Lowe and Mr. Goschen :— 
“11, Downing Street. 
“ Dear Sir Henry Rawlinson,—Mr. Goschen and I have 
carefully considered the documents which you have laid 
before us with regard to the proposed Arctic Expedition. 
“ We do not find in them anything which shows that 
there is any pressing reason why the expedition should be 
sent this year. 
“ We give no opinion as to the expediency of such an 
expedition at a future time, but we are clearly of opinion 
that it would not be right to send out a second scientific 
expedition precisely at the moment when the public re- 
venue has to bear the main burden of the expenses of the 
operations intrusted to the Challenger. 
“T believe it has been erroneously stated that the 
NATURE 
[ Fan. 16, 1873 
Challenger Expedition involves very little expense. That 
is not so. The cost has already been considerable, and 
nothing has been spared to insure success ; there will 
further be an additional annual outlay for three years. 
“Under these circumstances, we regret that we cannot 
recommend the sending an exploring party to the Arctic 
Ocean as a Government enterprisesthis year, 
“ Believe me, yours very truly, 
* (Signed) “ROBERT LOWE. 
“ Sir Henry C. Rawlinson, K.C.B.” 
It is clear, we take it from this, that it only remains for 
the men of science to make out their case, and we believe 
that the Arctic Committee are fully alive to this. The 
Daily News in a leader has indicated what we had 
already ventured to suggest as the weak point of the 
appeal, namely that it was incomplete, and that many 
men of science knew nothing of the proposed expedition, 
But in doing this we had no intention to cast a slur upon the 
Geographical Society ; on the contrary we think that that 
Society’s action in this matter is one which the Royal 
Society could now follow with the greatest advantage to 
science, and which we hope it will follow. 
In 1865 the Geographical Society begged the Royal 
Society to take the lead in this matter, but the Royal 
Society Council declined. In 1872 the Geographical 
Society again entreated the Royal Society to take he 
matter up, but again received a chilling reply to the effect 
that the Royal Society Council would be prepared to give 
advice when applied to by the Government. ? 
The Geographical Society then did the next best 
thing. It applied to other leading scientific societies, and 
to some few scientific men for statements of results to be 
derived from Arctic exploration. These it received and 
laid before Government, without giving any undue pro- 
minence to purely geographical results. 
It is clear, therefore, that it is now the duty of the 
Royal Society and the other societies at once to add 
their influence to the movement; let a joint com- 
mittee be formed to report, if need be, to the various 
councils. In this way the knowledge posessed by all 
specialists ought to be made available for the common 
good, so that a complete statement may be forwarded to 
the Government in the summer to enable the officers of 
the expedition to be appointed in time to avail themselves 
of special training, 
NOTES 
THE recent fusion of the Ethnological and Anthropological 
Societies under the designation of ‘‘the Anthropological In- 
stitute of Great Britain and Ireland,” not only did good 
service to science but has financially proved thus far so 
successful that the Report of the Council for 1872, to be pre- 
sented to the members next Tuesday evening at the annual 
meeting, announces a handsome surplus income applicable to 
the reduction of liabilities incurred in former years. In this 
promising condition of financial prosperity it is all the more 
to be deplored that a serious dissension has arisen in the 
Council in reference to the nomination of a successor to Sir John 
Lubbock, who, to the universal regret of the members, vacates the 
presidential chair, under the pressure of parliamentary and other 
engagements. Touching this matter we have received a copy of a 
printed statement signed by Mr. Harris andseven other members of 
Council, which alleges that ata Council Meeting, held on the 17th 
of last month, Dr. Charnock was placed on the House List for 
1873, but that at a succeeding Council Meeting of January 7, 
this nomination was rescinded and the House List recast with 
the substitution of Professor Busk as President in the place of 
Dr. Charnock. This recasting of the List is made a matter of 
protest, and the members of the Institute, with whom the final 
decision rests, are appealed to. We need hardly remark that 
