41 
familiar to the Hindoos, ever since they have burnt bricks, 
as they now do, with the manure of animals ; as some 
may usually be found crystallized at the unburnt extre- 
mity of the kiln. The Egyptians obtained it from the 
soot of the same kind of fuel : the Sanscrit name Nuosadur 
is that, moreover, under which it is described by Arabian 
authors. Lime they have long known how to obtain, 
by burning not only limestone, but also shells and corals. 
Charcoal and Sulphur they were early acquainted with : 
the former they obtain from a variety of plants, and value 
that of each, according to the purposes for which it is 
required. Hence the Hindoos must have had the chief 
means for preparing many chemical products. 
The alkalies even must have been known to the Hindoos: 
as salts from the ashes of several vegetables, and caustics 
made from them, are mentioned in the works to which the 
Arabs had access. The ashes of Musa sapientum and of 
Butea frondosa, most frequently mentioned for medicinal 
purposes, must have afforded them a carbonate of Potash ; 
while the incineration of the Salsolas and Salicornias on the 
coasts of the Peninsula, and the shores of the salt lakes of 
North-western India, must in former, as in the present days, 
have afforded them a Carbonate of Soda; which is also 
found effloresced on the soil in some parts of their country. 
The Sanscrit name of this substance being sajika, and 
the common Hindee ones sajji rnuttee and sajji loon, that 
is, sajji-earth and sajji-salt, it is remarkable that it should 
be described in Geber by the name of sagimen vitri. The 
latter evidently refers to its use in glass-making, an art long 
known to the Hindoos ; and sagimen is a corrupted form 
of sajjiloon or sajjinoon; salt of sajji, which may be the 
original of soza and soda, as k,har and k,hari may be of 
kali. Geber having been acquainted with the method 
of rendering these carbonates caustic by means of quick- 
G 
