A r STUDY IN PRIMITIVE CHEMISTRY. 



27 



For Chrysopoia. 



Alum 



Sulphur 1 



Pyrites 



Ochre of Attica 8 



Sinopis of Pontus 3 



Divine Water 4 



Yellow Sory 5 



Yellow Chalcanthon 6 



Cinnabar 



Various ' Plants ' and ' Flowers ' 7 



Cyanos 8 



Gum of the Egyptian Acanthus 



Vinegar 



Urine 9 



Sea Water 



r Lime 



Ashes of Cabbage 



Cream of Tartar 

 Solutions of -I Natron {virpov) 



j Arsenic 



(^Sulphur 

 Milk of an Ass 10 

 Milk of a Bitch 10 



For Argyropoia. 



Lead 



Earth of Chios 11 



White Cadmia 



Asteritis u 



Earth of Cimolia 11 



White Arsenic 



Misy 5 (crude and roasted) 



White Litharge 



Psimmithion 



Red Natron 



Salt of Cappadocia 12 



White Magnesia, 



Aphroselinon 13 of Glass. 



Cyanos 



Burnt Lime 



From the similarity of the contents of the ' Treatise of Moses ' to that of the alchemical 

 Papyri of Leyden, we may conclude that this table represents an alchemist's equipment in 

 Alexandria in the 3rd century A.D. ; and as, moreover, little or no change in nomenclature 



1 ®£oi> iirvpov 3 eo-Tic bxavorov, " Unburnt Sulphur which has been rendered incombustible." According to the loth cent. 

 Lexicon of the MS. of St. Marks, Venice, (Berthelot, op. cit., I, p. 6), this is equivalent to saying "which has been whitened." 



2 Perhaps Orpiment (Berthelot, op. cit., I, Trans., p. 18). 



8 Probably a natural Oxide of Iron ; cf. Pliny, Hist, Nat., XXXV, 13. 



* Solution of Calcium Polysulphide CBerthelot, op. cit., I, Introd., p. 47). 



i> Two varieties of Chalcitis, "lapis ex quo ipsum aes coquitur" (Pliny Hist. Nat., XXXIV, 29, 30 and 31). Chalcitis, 

 weathered into the form of alum called ' schiston ' (Idem, XXXV, 52), from which it appears to be a sulphide or basic sulphate. 



5 Greek ' Chalcanthon ' = Latin ' Atramentum ' = our 'Vitriol.' It seems to have generally contained some Copper Sulphate 

 e.g., Pliny, op. cit., XXXIV, 22, " Color est caeruleus, perquam spectabili nitore, vitrumque esse creditur," and may therefore be 

 assumed to be the decomposition product of copper pyrites. 



1 These were probably symbolical names for mineral substances (Berthelot, op. cit., II, Trans., p. 159, note). 



* Pliny (Hist. Nat., XXXVII, 38) mentions a blue gem called Cyanos, but in the present case some salt of copper may be 

 meant. 



9 Both ordinary, and that of a boy — olpov acpVSpwv. 



10 Symbolical names for sulphur (?) ; cf. Berthelot, op. cit., I, Trans., p. 6. In the ioth century Syriac Dictionary of Bat 

 Bahlul, the milk of a bitch is, however, a synonym for Iron Filings (!) ; cf. Berthelot, La Chimie au Moyen Age, II, p. 130. 



U Various kinds of clay, of which Earth of Cimolia was probably Kaolin. Asteritis has been taken as equivalent to Earth o* 

 Samos ; cf. Pliny, Hist. Nat., XXXV, 53, 56 and 57. 



1* Common salt ; cf . Berthelot, op. cit., I, Introd., p. 266. 

 1* Aphroselinon corresponds to either Selenite, Mica, or Talc (Berthelot, op., cit,, I, Introd., p. 267). 



