96 TIMEHRI. 
tacles which receive the distilled liquid. Such is the 
exact origin of the word alembic still in use at the 
present day. 
One distinétive charaéter of the primitive alembic— 
described by ZOSIMIUS, is the multiplicity of the tubes 
leading off the vapour—he distinguishes alembics with 
two or three necks, namely, the dzdicos and ¢ribicos. The 
flowing of the vapour took place simultaneously through 
these multiplied necks and condensation took place in 
two or three receptacles at the same time. In another 
figure is seen an alembic with one neck which is pro- 
vided with a large copper tube. Again, an alembic 
described by SYNESIUS, an author of the 4th century, 
and figured in less ancient manuscripts, shows the boiler 
with its head or top furnished with one tube, the whole 
heated in a bain marie or water bath. This form was 
hardly altered up to the 16th century. Perhaps one of 
these apparatus may be found in the temple of Phta at 
Memphis where researches have been recently com- 
menced. ZOSIMIUS in faét speaks in formal terms of 
apparatus which he had seen in the temple of Memphis, 
The alembic passed from the Greco-Egyptians to the 
Arabs without any notable change. The latter were not 
the inventors of distillation as is often affirmed. In 
chemistry as in astronomy and medicine, the Arabs 
confined themselves to the reproduétion of the apparatus 
and processes of their masters the Greeks, bringing how- 
ever to the task a certain completion of details. It is 
wrong to attribute the discovery of distillation and of 
alcohol to RASES or to ABULCASANI and other Arab 
authors—at all events quotations verified with care, have 
not furnished me with any indications of this kind. 
