ON ALCHEMICAL EQUIPMENT IN THE ELEVENTH CENTURY, A.D. 55 



The strongest, and most resistant body towards fire is Ma gh nisiya. If it becomes 

 clear water, — which is Mercury, 1 — and if there be combined with it a pure Soul, you will 

 accomplish by means of it the great operations. You will thus rise to the height of your 

 ambition, attain your object, and become a Chief of Men. 



~ . . . 4 lines of doggerel verse omitted. . . . ] 



The essence of the Art is to separate the Spirit from the Soul ; next to kill the Soul ; 

 then to return the Spirit to it, so that it may revive and become spiritualised and capable 

 of entering into any body.'- He who deviates from this path will be able to accomplish 

 nothing." 



The chapter ends with a quotation of twelve lines of alchemical verse by an 

 anonymous writer — possibly Khalid ibn Yazid. 



Chapter II. 



The Second Chapter deals with the ' Qualities ' of substances used in the Art, and 

 what characterises each substance in the various operations to which they are subjected. 



Thus Iron is said to be : " Cold, Dry, and of great potency in making 'the White,' 

 ' the Red,' and other tinctures of the metals. It is used in sublimations and in solutions, 

 and from it is prepared the Tincture of the Elixir. It is of two kinds, Male and Female, 

 Fulad (Steel) being the male. The latter is that used for the preparation of Gold ; while 

 Soft Iron is the female and is used in the making of Silver. The essence of Iron is red, the 

 crust that forms over it is red, 3 and its filings when killed are red also." 4 



The following is a complete list of the substances mentioned. Quotations have only 

 been added whenever anything of special interest occurs. 



Gold 



Silver .... 



Copper .... Of two kinds, called respectively ' Sard ' and ' Garni 



(Cold and Hot). The former, which is a grey variety, 



1 In the Greek Dictionary of alchemical terms that is to be found in the contemporary Venice MS. (Berthelot, Collection, 

 Trans., I, p. n) one meaning of Magnesia is said to be Female Stimmi (cf. Pliny, Hist. Nat., XXXIII, 33 and 34). This on 

 reduction would yield antimony or lead, both readily fusible to a liquid resembling mercury, and both capable of easy interaction 

 with sulphur or arsenic sulphide. The passage, in fact, seems to carry us back to the Egyptian theory of lead being the mother- 

 metal fcf. Zosimos, apud Berthelot, trans, cit., II, p. 167). 



It should be observed, however, that the Arabic of the original is faulty, and hence the translation cannot altogether be relied 

 upon. Cf. also postea p. 57, text, and note (1). 



2 The passage is only a variation of a well-known alchemical shibboleth ; cf. Jabir, Book of Pity, apud Berthelot, La Ghimie, 

 III, p. 169. 



8 Lit. ' its skin is red.' 



# s\j+s* c*>^ oJUi lit aSajjj) j+*J ty^i j*±>-\ *L«t) 

 Mem. A.S.B. 2^11=05. 



