a THE DISCOVERY OF ALCOHOL. 97 
a ae Saks MORNE pr ASE 4 
x Dettbirpport of this opinion bike only of vina falsa 
ex saccaro mell et rico, that is to say vinous liquids, , 
false wines,—obtained by the fermentation of sugar, 
i honey, or rice, some of which, hydromel for instance, 
a were known to the ancients. 
-. one But. there is no mention of distillation nor of extraéting 
ee) a more ative principle in any writings of RASES knowr 
a As to ALBUCASIS or ABULCASIM, a Spanish 
- do€tor of Cordova who died in 1107, in the works on 
‘ pharmacy which are attributed to him, there is only 
found a distilling apparatus for preparing rose-water, an 
apparatus differing in principle in no way from those of 
the old Greek Alchemists. Let us at the outset establish 
this identity which is worthy of attention. It results 
3 ~ from the following phrase which it is useful to give 
4 : “in extenso. “ Take a brass pot like a dyer’s, put it on 
_ “the wall and place over it a lid carefully made with 
_ “tubes to which the receivers are adjusted.” 
Besides this, the number of tubes is fixed at two or 
. three. ~ Now this description applies exaétly to the 
4 -alembics with two or three necks of CHRYSOPIUS, of 
*. CLEOPATRA, of ZOSIMIUS and the Alexandrian Alchemists. 
Thus the Arabs at the beginning of the 13th century, 
still used the complicated distilling apparatus of the 
" Greco-Egyptian Alchemists. 
_ Alembics with more necks than these, were still 
in use among the Western Alchemists of the 16th century. 
In the Treatise by Porta entitled ‘f Natural Magic” 
_ which is a compilation of practical processes or secrets, 
_ the author speaks of a head or cap with three or four necks. 
+ But these ideas were abandoned, at least there is no 
N 
