3g MR. H. E. STAPLETON ON SAL-AMMONIAC 



sanguine, et de 4. humoribus, et fumus capillorum reddit cuprum de colore auri. Vali- 

 tudines eorum multae sunt : quia faciunt de eis [per] botum barbatum, 1 mixti tamen cum 

 terra magisterii. ~ Intellige." 3 



" Postquam scis lapidem, dicam tibi tempus colligendi et de quibus debes colligere. 

 Tempus est illud in quo colligis sanguinem et ova, scilicet Martius, Aprilis, September et 

 October : 4 quia in illo tempore sunt humores aequales, et de quibus colligas sunt pueri 

 6. annorum usque ad 15. annorum [usque ad 30. ut dicit Adimuerat], et non habeant in 

 seipsis humorem majorem ; et capilli qui non sint nee albi, nee nigri, nee rubei, nee 

 citrini, nee grossi, nee tenues, nee crispi, nee plani, nee de fcemina ; sed sint sequales in 

 totis suis proprietatibus. 



" Ablutio. Et postquam collegeris, debes lavare illos in aqua salsa, et agita ibi eos, 

 donee sint albi." 5 



Nothing could be plainer from these quotations than that the virtue of the hair lay 

 in its supposed magical qualities ; while at the same time they afford some indications of 

 the ways in which the more strictly alchemical properties of hair were utilised. 



The two that the writer specially signals out for notice (beyond the curious statement 

 that the fumes of hair turn copper yellow 6 ) are (a) its employment in the manufacture of 

 lutes and crucibles ; and (6) the utilisation of the fact that the aqueous distillate of hair 

 possesses the property of attacking or ' killing ' mercury. Of those included under the 

 phrase ' multse valitudines,' and referred to elsewhere in the De Anima, there may also 

 be mentioned (c) the use of hair in the manufacture of brass ; and (d) its value as a 

 ' cerating ' agent. 



In the first of these cases, the admixture of hair with the clay, though primarily 

 made, no doubt, on account of its binding qualities, probably affords another indication 

 of a belief in its magical virtues, since any sort of vegetable fibre would have served as 

 well. The Egyptians of the time of Ramses II used straw in the manufacture of bricks, 

 while at the present day, a bearer in a chemical laboratory in India, if told to lute on a 

 crucible lid, will mix jute with the moist clay that he intends to use for the purpose. 



The employment of hair in the preparation of brass will be best understood by a 

 quotation of the receipt given on p. 307 of the De Anima. 



olive-trees at Anazarbus in Cilicia, was attributed to their being tended by young and innocent children " ( Frazer, Golden Bough, 

 II, p. 211 J : cf. also antea, p. 27, note (9); p. 35, note (1) ; and next paragraph of text. 



1 The but-bar-but, ( *>f j* *yj 'crucible on a crucible') mentioned by the author of the Mafdtihu-l-'Ulum and other 

 authorities of the same time as a common piece of alchemical apparatus. The description given in the Mafatlhu-l-'Ulutn 

 (ed. cit., p. 256) is as follows: " It consists of two crucibles, one placed on the other, the upper having a perforated bottom, and 

 the joint between the two being well luted with clay. The body to be purified is melted in the upper crucible, and drops through 

 into the lower one; while the dross and impurity remains behind." A description of the apparatus is also given on p. 339 of 

 the De Anima. 



2 The Tinu-l-Hikmah {' Clay of Wisdom') of the Arabs. This was generally a mixture of stone-free clay with chopped 

 hair and dung (cf. Berthelot, La Chimie au Moyen Age, II, pp. 152 and 166). 



■ De Anima, Dictio V, Cap. XX (Artis Chemicae Principes, ed. cit., p. 151). 



4 Spring and Harvest, when the Spirits of Nature are strongest and most active (cf. Frazer, op, cit., Ill, § 8, passim). 



& De Anima, Dictio VII, Cap. Ill {op. cit., p. 414). 



8 Cf. also antea, p. 35. The copper is actually blackened. 



