CHEMICAL LITERATURE. 433 



CHEMISTRY. 



CHEMICAL LITERATURE. 



PROF, H. CARRINGTON BOLTON. 

 \_Exiract from an Address Delivered at Montreal^ Atigust 2j, 1882.'] 



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The very earliest information concerning chemical arts comes to us from that 

 ancient nation supposed by some to have given its own name to the science it- 

 self; not only do the sculptured tombs and temples of Egypt portray with unim- 

 peachable authenticity and wonderful accuracy the technical skill of that venerable 

 people, but these same monuments are even now relinquishing their hold on 

 long-buried treasures in the form of papyri, whose perplexing script no longer con- 

 ceals their meaning from the erudition of Egyptologists. 



Of these miraculously preserved papyri the most valuable to chemistry is 



" t discovered by Prof. George Ebers at Thebes in 1872, and named after its 



;ned discoverer. We have described this elsewhere and shall not here enter 



details. It is the most ancient medical work extant, being assigned to the 

 eenth century B. C, and contains a vast amount of information on the med- 

 d practice and the pharmaceutical preparations at that remote period. The 

 nknown author wrote less obscurely than many of a much later date, and when 

 the whole papyrus shall have been deciphered it will prove an invaluable contri- 

 bution to chemical history. 



The most ancient manuscript treating exclusively of chemical operations is a 

 Greek papyrus of Egyptian origin preserved in the Library of the University of 

 Leyden. Its authorship is unknown, its date is placed by Reuvens in the third 

 or fourth century A. D. This MS. consists of a collection of prescriptions and 

 receipts for conducting various operations in metalHc chemistry, such as the test- 

 ing of gold and silver; the purification of lead, of tin and of silver; the hardening 

 of tin and of silver; the albification of copper, etc. It deals little with alchemy 

 though some of the receipts evidently refer to transmutations, as those entitled 

 ''the preparation (artificial?) of silver;" '-the preparation of gold;" "the puri- 

 fication of tin by silver," etc. 



Reference is made to sandarach (realgar), cadmia zinc ore), chrysocolla, cin- 

 nabar, natron (soda), mercury and other chemical substances, but no receipts are 

 given for their preparation. The author quotes from the Materia Medica of Dio- 

 scorides who probably preceded him by about two centuries. It is to be regretted 

 that the full text of this ancient manuscript has never been published; the little 

 known of it foreshadows information of great interest. 



