ON ALCHEMICAL EQUIPMENT IN THE ELEVENTH CENTURY, A.D. 53 



The first chapter is is follows : — 



Chapter I. 



"The Chapter on the Names of Substances, their Classification, and their 



division into ' Spirits ' and ' Bodies.' l " 



" Abu-1- Hakim Muhammad ibn 'Abdi-1-Malik as-Salihi al-Khwarazmi saith : 

 They ask me, ' Whence didst thou acquire Wisdom, when thou art of a people 



who when spoken to are like cattle ? ' 

 I reply, ' I have served men of understanding, and he who serves Princes will 



himself not lack wealth.' 

 Although my race and birthplace is of Khwarazm 1 am a man of 'Iraq in my ways 



and disposition 

 And my spirit will not be satisfied at the imperfection with which the minds of 



other men of this age are content. 2 

 If any created being could have risen to eminence through natural abilities, 

 I of all men would have reached the highest place. 

 Know — May God strengthen you! — that among these substances are found the 

 Seven Metals {Jawdhir). They are : Gold, Silver, Copper, Iron, ' the two Leads ' {i.e. Lead 

 and Tin) 3 , and Mercury. 



A second class are the twelve 1 'Stones,' viz: Sulphur, Arsenic Sulphide, 'Qily,' 5 

 Lime, Sal- Ammoniac, Salt, 'Zaj,' 6 ' Marqashifeha,' 7 ' Maghnisiy a,' 8 [Alum, Borax], and 

 ' Martak.' 9 These are the roots of the Art, [and they are eighteen stones]. 10 



1 The classification is that adopted by the author of the Mafatlhu-l-' Uliim (ed. cit., p. 259). ' Spirits ' are those substances 

 that volatilise on being heated; ' Bodies,' those that refuse to volatilise. Jabir (apud Berthelot, La Chimie, III, p. 169) apparently 

 divided substances into ' Bodies' and ' Souls ' though, on the other hand, he does not seem to have drawn any strict line of demar- 

 cation between souls and spirits. This Muhammad ibn 'Abdi-1-Malik certainly does, as is evident from the contents of the ensuing 

 chapter, but the contradiction between title and contents seems to show that he was not very sure of his ground. 



2 Cf. the couplet of Abu Ahmad ibn Abu Bakr al-Katib (c. 925 A.D.) quoted by Browne, Literary History of Persia, p. 466, 



" Wonder not at a man of 'Iraq in whom thou seest an ocean of learning and a treasure of culture ; 

 Wonder rather at one whose home is in the lands of ignorance if he be able to distinguish head from tail." 

 Also postea p. 57, note (3). 



8 The Greek belief that tin was a modification of lead was still held, the latter being termed 'black lead,' whilst tin was 

 'white lead' (cf. Berthelot, La Chimie, II, p. 156). 



* Jabir (Book of Pity, apud Berthelot, op. cit., Ill, p. 168) explains this number as being due to the astrological association of 

 the twelve substances with the twelve signs of the Zodiac ; cf. also the list given in the contemporary Syriac treatise, Berthelot, 

 ib., II, p. 12. 



5 Sodium carbonate. Qily is the ashes of certain plants, e.g. Salsola and Salicornia (Ar- O*^ hurdh, or lijU-H ushnan), 

 which grow near the sea, or in salty places (Ibnu-1-Baitar, Jami'u-l-Mufradat, Leclerc's trans., I, p. 88 ; III, p. ). 



9 Zaj is the equivalent of ' vitriol,' i.e., the sulphates of Iron, Copper, etc., generally in a more or less impure state ; cf, 

 Ibnu-1-Baitar, trans, cit., II, p 193., and postea, p. 56, note (6). In the Mafdtlhu-l-' Uliim Alum is included among the Zajat. 



1 The Greek (and our) Pyrites, cf. Ibnu-1-Baitar, trans, cit., Ill, p. 312. The Qdnfm of Ibn Sina has the following note on 

 it: " Marqashltha is of several kinds, Golden, Silvery, Copper-coloured, and Marqashltha of Iron. Each kind resembles in colour 

 the metal after which it is called." 



8 Various black or reddish earths used by the Greeks, and following them, the Arabs, in the manufacture of glass, and for 

 collyria (Ibnu-1-Baitar, trans, cit., Ill, p. 329 ; Mafdtih., p. 261). In classical times in Europe, the ' magnes lapis ' was divided 

 into male and female varieties, the former being magnetic iron ore (the ' Maghnatis ' of the Arabs). Possibly, therefore, the 

 term ' Maghnisiya ' may here include Maghnatls, which is mentioned later in Chaps. Ill and IV as one of the ' Stones ' ; cf . also 

 postea p. 55, note (1); p. 53, text, and note (1). 



9 Litharge ; otherwise called ' Murdasanj ' (Mafdt/h., ed., cit. p. 263 ; Ibnu-I-Baitar, trans, cit., Ill, p. 31I; and the Oanun). 

 10 MS. corrupt. 



