62 
MESSRS. H. E. STAPLETON AND R. F. AZO ON 
The concluding portion of the first part and the couplet at the commencement of 
the second read as follows : — 
“ Finished. The beginning of the work is like its end, and the commence- 
ment is like the finishing. 1 What spoils it is the very thing that mends it. Its 
work is two-fold. Eet them begin by the second before the first. Everyone of 
them has referred to the way of entering into the work by mystical words. The 
finishing of the work in its most perfect degree comprises four operations in four 
years. 
“ And among his writings on the Art is the following : — 
‘ It is the stone of little value that is found in every country and is common in 
the market place.' 2 
f Yet were a generous man to learn its real value, he would not part with it even 
to his own brother.’ ” 
The treatise ends: “Then coagulate it in the Qar c ah and Blind [Ambiq] 3 * * by 
means of a gentle fire, if it please God, etc.” (the usual benedictions). 
IV. “ A Treatise ascribed to Shah Razin/ transcribed from the autograph copy 
of the Master Mu’ayyidu-d-Din Abu Isma/il Al-Munsbi. May God sanctify his 
noble spirit!” (Folio 17, r., the whole). A secret of the Art is described in enig- 
matical language. 
V. A Treatise ascribed to Ja‘far ibn Muhammad As-Sadiq. 6 * * * * (Folio 17 v., top, 
to f. 21 v., 1 . 14). An incoherent compilation of receipts and quotations. 
Begins: “ Take of talq as much as you wish and add to it a like quantity of 
qasdir (tin) that has been purified by melting.” 
Ends: “ Then it is taken out and the process repeated, until the mercury 
becomes as red as blood.” 
Incidentally the names of Heraclius, 11 JaTar An-Nassab (the conjurer) of 
Baghdad “ the master of the Art in our age, ” and finally a contemporary of the 
copyist called the Imam Jamalu-d-Din Ahmad ( cf . No. IX later) are found. The 
mention of the second name suggests that the treatise, though ascribed to JaTar 
l This phrase is ascribed by Olympiodorus, the 5th Cent, alchemist, to Agathodemon. (Berthelot, Coll, des Alchi- 
mistes Grecs., trans., I, p. 87). 
4 A similar phrase is ascribed to Astus in Ar-Razl’s Shawahid, vide infra. 
3 Cf. the Mafatihu-l-' TJlum (Van Vloten’s ed., p.257). “And among their experimental apparatus is the Qar‘ 
(gourd) and Ambiq cup). These are the two instruments used by the makers of rose water. The lower 
is the Qar‘ and the upper, which is shaped like a cupping glass, is the Ambiq. The Blind Ambiq is that which possesses 
no delivery tube.” 
* No other reference can be found to this Persian alchemist, whose short treatise has been preserved by the care 
of At Tughra’i. 
6 The sixth Shl'ite Imam, who is also said to have been an alchemist. Ibn Khallikan (trans. cit., I, p. 300) gives the 
following account of his relation to J abir : ‘ 1 He composed a discourse on alchemy, augury and omens, and the Sufi Abu 
Musa J abir i-Haiyan .... compiled a work of 2000 pages in which he inserted the problems of his master, Jaat'ar 
as-Sadik, which formed 500 treatises. Jaafar was born in A. IT. 80 A.D. 699) . . . or A. PI. 83. He died . . . A.H. 148 
(A.D. 765) and was buried in the Cemetery of al-Baki at Medina. ’ ’ From the absence of any reference in Brockel- 
mann, it appears that no trace of Ja'far’s alchemical work has hitherto been recorded. 
The F.mperor of that name, cf. Note (2), preceding page. 
