66 
MESSRS. H. E. STAPLETON AND R. F. AZO ON 
Antakia (Antioch), an island (!) of Rumia (Asia Minor) in the country of Qlta'un, 1 or 
the Kuhl of Isfahan. 
3. Section on the whitening of Martak (litharge). 1 The writer quotes Demo- 
critos and Maria. 
4. “ Section on the copper that has no shadow, and this is the copper of phy- 
sicians, that is, Burnt Copper. It is the Sulphur that enters into Tinctures.” 3 
5. On Mercury. 
6. On purified Iron. 
7. On Buritis f< which I think is Marqashitha ” (Pyrites). 
8. On the Athall (iOa\ia } vapours) of sulphur. + 
9. On the Athall of Arnuk (lead). 
10. On Qalqand (\aA»cov0ov). B 
11. On Yellow Arsenic Sulphide. 
12. On the preparation of the f Mercury ’ of Arsenic Sulphide. 
This is a preparation of metallic Arsenic, made by subliming an intimate mixture 
of Arsenic Sulphide and Asim, which latter the copyist notes to be Tin (Rasas ). 6 
13. On the whitening of Arsenic Sulphide. 1 
14. On Kils (Calx). 
15. On the explanation of the term Qinbarun ( «iwa^dpi<s, Mercuric Sulphide). 3 
The author mentions a method of his predecessors, “ from India to Greece.” 
16. On the Shahirah ( ? ). 
“ I have now fully described for you the processes of Whitening, without how- 
ever giving the relative weights, for these are written in the Fourth and Fifth books. 
Study therefore these books, and commit the Fifth to memory. Be obedient to your 
God and do what pleases Him, if you desire that the work should be successful. Now 
1 Cataonia, a district of the ancient province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor, the chief town of which was Tyana. The 
district lay immediately to the north-west of the Anti-Taurus Mountains and was drained by the Sams River. 
4 Cf. B., Coll., tr. , p. 239, where the method given is apparently to dissolve the litharage in vinegar. 
3 J.a^j J| liyo-Ji 4-4= <JJ=> <*J 
Cj. Zosimus (quoting Democritos) : ' ' Work therefore until the copper having become yellow and without shadow (aaKtos) 
tinctures everybody and becomes like the colour of gold ” (idem, text, p. 126) ; also the Book of Sophe the Egyptian : 
“ So that if you have made the copper without shadow, you whiten it with the drugs that whiten, and make it yellow with 
the drugs that produce yellowness, and tincture it with cadinia and cinnabar. (Thus) gold is made in the temples of 
Hephaistos (i.e., the Egyptian god Phtha) ” (idem, p. 214). For Democritos’ preparation of Burnt Copper, cf. B ..La 
Chimie II, trans., p. 31. 
+ Cf. Zosimus’ chapter on the subject, B., Coll., trails., pp. 240-242; and Democritos B., La Chimie, II, 
trans., p. 28. 
6 Cf. Mem. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, I, 4, p. 56, note (6). 
6 Cf. the receipt found in the treatise ascribed to Democritos (Berthelot, Coll., Trans., p 53): “ Fabrication dc 
I’Asem. 20. Fixez suivant l’usage le mercure tire de l’arsenic ou de la sandaraque ou prepare comme vous l’entendrez ; 
projetez-le sur le cuivre et le fer traite par le soufre et le metal deviendra blanc. ’ ’ Fuller discussions of this Mercury of th e 
alchemists will be found in the Syriac treatises (La Chimie, II, Democritos, pp. 82-84, and Zosimns, pp. 244-250). Also 
vide B , Introd. , p. 257 : “ De mot asein designait un alliage metallique particulier imitant 1’ or etl’ argent et specialement 
ce dernier metal. 11 a ete traduit en grec par les mots SrTj.uor, aarjaov, anritir), lesquels signifiaient d’abord 1 ’argent 
sans titre, et ont pris en grec moderne, le sens complet de 1’ argent. Da confusion entre ces mots est l’une des origines des 
idees de transmutation.” Berthelot also earlier in his Introduction (pp. 62-92) gives an essay on Asim, and the method 
of preparing it in the early centuries of the Christian era. 
1 i.c., its conversion into Arsenious oxide (cf. Zosimus apud B., Coll., trans., p. 140). 
For methods ascribed to Democritos for making cinnabar, cf . B., La Chimie, II, trans., pp. 31 and 94. 
