64 



MESSRS. H. E. STAPLETCN AND R. F. AZO 



it. Over this you sprinkle a little salt water, and then gently polish the surface with 

 a polisher made of glass, in such a way that nothing is broken. After these 

 preliminaries, two ratls of the medicines that you wish to sublime — and no more — are 



placed inside, for if you Introduce a large amount, it will refuse to 

 volatilise. You next take the cup of gkadhdr, and having pierced 

 a hole in its side, large enough for a stick of the size of a bodkin 

 to enter, at three fingers' distance from its rim, measuring 

 towards the top, you invert the cup on the mark that is on the 

 lip of the uthaX, according to the annexed figure. Then you 

 take a little of the moistened isfidaj, and pour it into the 

 joint" .... 



[At this point the MS. comes to an end.] 



Fig. 8. 



" Sublimation by means of the Mustauqad. Sublimation is carried on in a pot of earthenware, a pot of glass, or a pot of 

 yhadhar. 



These are the points to be observed : — 



(a) The pot should be luted with ' clay of wisdom * besides being encircled with a collar of clay of the width of two fingers, 

 so that it may stand firm on the mustauqad. 



(b) The mustauqad should be round, with a door on 2 span long by one span broad, and two apertures, one on each side, for 

 smoke, and for air to enter. 



(c) Between the bottom of the pot and the Mustauqad there should bs a span's breadth, the collar of the pot being affixed at 

 one-third of the distance from the top. 



(d) If the pot is of glass, it should have a wide projecting lip of the breadth of four fingers. Its cover, which will close it com- 

 pletely (?), should also be of glass." 



As there is little doubt that the Syrio- Arabic MS. is a volume of selections and not a single homogeneous treatise, the 

 marked differences between the references to the uthal contained in this extract and those given in the note on the prev ous page, is 

 very probably due to their being drawn from different sources . 



' ., ' .(5E-7-3S 



