40 
on this subject has yet been translated, I am unable at 
present to prove directly, how much he was indebted to 
Hindoo authorities. Of these, the subject is the same, and 
treated of in .the works which, as we have seen, were 
known to Arab authors ; the style, also, as I am informed 
by Professor Wilson, is exactly the same, and enigmatical, 
like that of the old alchemists; thus similar to the well- 
known passage of " Bring me the six lepers that I may 
cleanse them ;" there occurs in these ancient works of the 
Hindoos, " Bring me the cow that I may take off its skin. 1 ' 
From other sources, however, we know, that the Hindoos 
have long been acquainted with many chemical substances, 
as well as that they have practised many chemical arts. 
Looking to the different substances which were known to 
the Arabs, and some of which they are supposed first to 
have made known, and taking chiefly as our guide, Dr. 
Thomson's History of Chemistry, and the chapter entitled 
Chemistry of the Arabians, we shall find reason, I think, 
to conclude, that many of these substances must have been 
previously well known to the Hindoos : as common and 
rock salt ; the former evaporated, as now, from sea-water, 
in the Bay of Bengal ; the latter abundant in the salt 
rocks of the Punjab. Borax was probably obtained in 
former times, as at the present day from Tibet. Saltpetre 
must long before the time of the Arabs have been washed 
out of the soil, as it is in the present day, and was 
required for making the fire-works, for which the Indians 
have long been famous. Sulphate of Soda (Jc,haree muttee), 
they are in the present day well acquainted with, and 
obtain by similar means. Alum is made in Cutch, from 
an alum earth ; it is in constant use by the Hindoos in 
a variety of arts as well as in medicine ; and its Sanscrit 
name, Phitkara, begins with a letter which is wanting in 
the Arabic alphabet. Sal Ammoniac must have been 
