36 MR. H. E. STAPLETON ON SAL-AMMONIAC : 



The important point of these quotations is that they are the actual arguments em- 

 ployed by alchemists in upholding the possibility of the conversion of base metals into 

 silver and gold. Both are taken from alchemical works, and in Tughra'i's treatise, the 

 author at once follows up his statements by the remark " If then such changes can be 

 brought about by artificial means, what is to prevent similar transmutations among the 

 metals?" 



The argument must indeed have seemed an almost unanswerable one to Muhamma- 

 dans of those times, for the transmutation of dead and living matter is a dogma founded 

 upon popular observation, while its strength is sufficiently shown by the fact that it gains 

 a certain amount of credence in European countries even at the present day. 1 As Maspero 

 has pointed out, such ideas are likely to have been fostered in the early ages of Islam by 

 the belief of the Egyptians that their gods, after death, were changed into gold, silver, 

 and lapis lazuli ; 2 but in all probability, a far more potent influence was the belief that 

 existed throughout Muhammadan times in the essential unity of the world of nature. No 

 strict line of demarcation separated plants and minerals from animals and man ; all were 

 looked upon as closely related units of a single whole. 



In accordance with this belief we find Arabic alchemy based upon the principle that 

 minerals consist of Body, Soul and Spirit. 3 By an obvious deduction it follows, that as 

 the products of the Art, i.e., gold and silver, resemble a human body,* their difference 

 from the baser metals may possibly be ascribed to their healthier condition- In other 

 words, the base metals must be suffering from diseases, and these diseases it is the 

 business of alchemy to cure. 



One of the clearest expositions of this doctrine that is to be found in alchemical 

 literature, occurs in the Prdiosa Margarita Novella, written at Pola, in Istria, by one 

 Petrus Bonus, ' Ferrariensis Physicus subtilis,' in the year 1330. Though the writer 

 was a European, he is evidently drawing on Arabic authorities for his material. 



The extract is made from a chapter bearing the rubric, ' In quo ostendit, quid 

 sit Theriaca et venenum in lapide Philosopher* um, secundum antiquos Philo- 

 sophos.' 



"Sic et hie lapis efticit in metallis leprosis, et ideo quandoque venenum, quandoque 

 Theriaca dicitur. Metalla enim corrupta, quae sunt quatuor, 5 laborant speciebus leprae 

 quatuor, ex aliquo quatuor humorum 6 corruptorum, et sanatur per dictum lapidem, sicut 



1 A case in point is the English and American belief mentioned by Dr. Annandale in a recent mimber of the Journal of 

 the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Vol. LXXIII, Part III, No. 4, 1904) that Hair — Worms represent a stage in the development of 

 a horse-hair into an eel or snake. From the quotations just given, it seems possible that the idea may have been introduced 

 into Europe by the Arabs. 



* Dawn of Civilisation, p. 1 10. 



3 Ibn Khaldun, trans, cit., Ill, p. 220. 



* Ibn Khaldun, trans, cit., Ill, p. 212. Both this, and the previous statement are quoted from a treatise of a pupil of the' 

 Spanish alchemist Maslama al-Majntl, who died in 1007 A.D. 



b Iron, Copper, Tin and Lead. Bonus subsequently explains that silver is also corrupt, but that it differs from the other 

 four metals in containing a ' theriac,' which enables it to purify itself and become gold in the presence of 'the Stone.' 



* The four humours were Black Bile, Yellow Bile, Phlegm, and Blood. 



