APPENDIX 1
| Description | Sirr page no. | De secretis folio no. | Hudry page no | Notes |
| Generation of the seven metals | 227 | 10v | 65 | |
| lead | 328 | 10v | 65 | *Lead is heavy because its parts entered into each other |
| tin | 229 | 11r | 66 | |
| iron | 231 | 11r | 66 | |
| gold | 233 | 11r | 66 | |
| copper | 234 | 11r | 67 | |
| mercury | 236 | 11r | 67 | |
| silver | 238 | 11v | 68 | |
| prologue | 243 | 11v | 69 | |
| Cause of mercury | 243 | 11v | 69 | * Mercury is the origin of all metals. * Two exhalations theory |
| prologue | 245 | 12r | 70 | |
| How each metal was formed from mercury and sulphur | 246 | 12r | 71 | * how sulphur was embedded inside mercury * Some metals became defective. * |
| How lead was formed | 249 | 12r | 71 | |
| How tin was formed | 251 | 12r | 72 | |
| How iron was formed | 253 | 12v | 72 | |
| How gold was formed | 257 | 12v | 73 | * Gold is heavy because its parts entered into each other |
| How copper was formed | 260 | 12v | 74 | |
| How mercury was formed | 263 | 13r | 75 | * Mercury is the origin of all metals. * Two exhalations theory |
| How silver was formed | 264 | 13r | 75 | |
| Summary | 266 | 13r | 75 | |
| Cause of sulphur | 269 | 13v | 76 | |
APPENDIX 2
The Exhalation Theory in Arabic and in the Summa
Exhalation Theory in Arabic Alchemy
“Know that fusible metallic bodies originate from sulphur and mercury before mercury was yet fully coagulated as mercury and before sulphur was fully coagulated as sulphur. Because if they were fully coagulated when they are used as constituents then malleable bodies (that are extendable under the hammer) would not have been formed from them; especially that sulphur is originated in an earth different from that in which mercury is originated. Fusible bodies do not, in fact, originate from these coagulated sulphurs, nor from that quivering mercury. Mineral bodies originate only from the vapour and the smoke, and from un-coagulated mercury and un-coagulated sulphur, or, to tell the truth, metallic bodies originate from nothing but the water (mā’) and the oil (duhn). In the hollows of the earth the gentle heat causes the water to ascend to the top, carrying the oil (duhn) inside it. There, because of proximity to coldness, it cools down and descends (again), tumbling and breaking on each other till it reaches its bottom place. Here again the natural heat cooks it; and it constantly moves up and down, part of it tumbling over the other until it gradually becomes more and more sticky (like the gum of a tree), more hard and thick, and it continuous thus until it is completed as a fusible malleable body. Thus it had progressed from the vapour and smoky state to the gummy state and the vapour and smoke continue to contact it and descend upon it acting as if it is nourishment, with the heat of the mine cooking it. The slightly coagulated body acts in the beginning as a ferment. It gradually grows and hardens little by little from the viscous gummy state to a doughy state then to the state of a body molten in fire, then it coagulates into an actual mineral body, which would become gold if the earth from which vapour and smoke emanated has been pure and if there has been a moderate heat. And with pure earth and deficient heat, silver is produced. We have thus given a great proof for all those philosophers who have preceded us.”
“But others say otherwise, that argentvive in its nature was not the principle, but altered, and converted into its earth, and sulphur likewise altered and changed into earth. Whence they say, that in the intention of nature, the principle was other, than a foetent spirit, and fugitive spirit. And the reason, that moved them hereunto, was this, viz. because, in the silver mines, or in the mines of other metals, they found not any thing that is argentvive in its nature, or any thing that is sulphur likewise; but they found each of them separated in its proper mine, in its own nature. And they also affirm this for another reason, viz because there is no transition (as they say) from contrary to contrary, unless by a middle disposition. Therefore, seeing it so is, they are compelled to confess and believe that there is no transition (or passing) from the softness of argentvive, to the hardness of any metal, unless by a disposition, which is between the hardness and softness of them. but in the mines they find not any thing, in which this middle disposition may be salved; therefore they are compelled hence to believe, that argentvive and sulphur, in their nature, are not the principles according to the intention of nature: but another thing, which follows from the alteration of their essences, in the root of nature, into an earthy substance. And this is the way, by which each of them is turned into an earthy nature; and from these two earthy natures, a most thin fume is resolved, by heat multiplied in the bowels of the earth; and this duplicate fume is the immediate matter of metals.
This fume, when it shall be decocted by the temperate heat of the mine, is converted into the nature of a certain earth; therefore it receives a certain fixation, which afterward the water (flowing through the bowels of the minera, and spongiosity of the earth) dissolves, and is uniformly united to it, with a natural and firm union. Therefore, so opining, they thus said, that the water flowing through the passages of the earth, finds a substance dissolvible from the substance of the earth in the bowels thereof, and dissolves the same, and is uniformly with it united, until the substance also of the earth in the mines is dissolved, and the flowing dissolving water and it become one with natural union. And to such a mixtion come all the elements, according to a due natural proportion, and are mixed through their least parts, until they make an uniform mixtion. And this mixtion, by successive decoction in the mine, is thickened, hardened, and made a metal. And indeed, these men, although they be nigh the truth, yet they do not conjecture the very truth”.
APPENDIX 3
Some Further Technical Terms of Arabic Origin in The DIP
| DIP | Arabic | English or Latin |
| al-kuḥl | Stibnite | |
| al-inbīq | Alembic | |
| aḥmar | (red) | |
| plant which contains gummy matter; used in Arabic medicine and in alchemy; it grows in | anzarūt or ‘anzarūt | Sarcocolla |
| | Bauraq | Borax |
| Billawr | (crystal glass) | |
| Alkali | ||
| Qannīna | (glass bottle) | |
| al-daus or el-daus | (one of the components of iron and steel) | |
| Elixir | ||
| fūlādh | (steel) | |
| salt of old walls (saltpeter) | This description is not known to Latin alchemists | |
| | Andarānī | Crystal clear salt |
| Jazīrat al-Andalus, i.e. the | | |
| | Murdasanj, martac | (litharge, lead oxide) |
| Ibrīz - The best quality of gold is dhahab ibrīz | Gold. This designation is peculiar to Arabic alchemy | |
| | bāb, means also a chapter in a book or a division of a text or formulation | (door) |
| | sharāb | (syrup) |
| Tannūr | Athanor |
Emeritus Professor, Institute for the History of Arabic Science, Aleppo University
This short treatise is not the Liber Geberis De Investigatione Perfectionis Magisterii of the Riccardiana manuscript that is the subject of our discussion in Part II.
The exact dates of the appearance of the Geber Latin works are a matter of speculation. The first assumptions regarding the Summa and the four treatises which accompany it were made by Marcelin Berthelot, La Chimie au Moyen Âge, (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1893), vol. 1, 343-44; Ernst Darmstaedter speculated about the Liber Claritatis, “Liber claritatis totius alkimicae artis, Bologna Cod. lat. 164 (153) ” (later: dem arabischen Alchemisten Geber zugeschrieben, or: als deren Autor "Geber" genannt wird), (Roma: Archeion, 1925-1928), reprinted by Fuat Sezgin, Natural Sciences in Islam, (Frankfurt : 2001), vol. 71, pp. 325-482. Robert Multhauf, gave a review with a discussion of the available information, The Origins of Chemistry (London: Oldbourne, 1966), 167-175. William R. Newman, in his Ph. D. thesis (Harvard University, 1986), vol. 1, 118-121, discussed both Berthelot’s assumptions and Multhauf’s analysis and gave his own interpretation.
George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science (Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins for the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1931), 2, 1043.
Ferdinand Hoefer, Histoire de la Chimie (Paris: Didot, 1866), vol. 1, 327; 329; 340 ; Eric John Holmyard, “An Essay on Jābir ibn Ḥayyān,“ in Studien zur Geschichte der Chemie, Festgabe Edmund O. v. Lippmann, ed. Julius Ruska, (Berlin: Springer, 1927), 28-37.
Berthelot was Minister of Public Instruction, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, (The Nation, March 21, 1907), He was also a member for life of the Senate, (The Nation, December 23, 1901).
Berthelot, op. cit., vol III, p. 6. See also p. 16.
Henry E. Stapleton & Rizkallah F. Azo, “Alchemical Equipment in the Eleventh c. A.D”, Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, (Calcutta Frankfurt : 2001), vol. 61, Chemistry and Alchemy, Texts and Studies, VII, 1- 25.
Most of Holmyard’s papers are reprinted in Fuat Sezgin’s series, Natural Sciences in Islam, in the three volumes on Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, (Frankfurt: 2002), 69, 70 and 71 and in volume 55, Chemistry, Texts and Studies (Frankfurt: 2001) 1, 131.
James R. Partington, “The Identity of Geber”, Nature, 111, (1923) , 219-20.
Lynn Thorndike, History of Magic and Experimental Science (New York: Columbia University Press, 1923), vol. 2. 471 – 72; (1934), vol. 3, 40-41, 46, 64, 179, 355.
Henceforward to be mentioned as DIP. This treatise is a long one and it is not the short treatise of the same name that is usually printed with the Summa.
Julius Ruska, “Übersetzung und Bearbeitungen von al- Rāzī's Buch Geheimnis der Geheimnisse“ (1935), reprinted by Fuat Sezgin, Natural Sciences inIslam , vol. 74, Al- Rāzī, II, 261-347.
William R. Newman, The Summa Perfectionis of Pseudo-Geber: A Critical Edition, Translation and Study , (Leiden: Brill, 1991).
Ahmad Y. Al-Hassan, “The Arabic Originals of Jābir’s Latin Works”, Journal for the History of Arabic Science, 10, 1/2,(1994): 5-11.
The assumptions of Berthelot are dispersed in the various chapters of his three volumes, especially in volumes 1 and 3, but Chapter X of volume1, (pages 336-50), embody his main hypotheses
Eric J. Holmyard, Makers of Chemistry (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931), 86. See also: Ahmad Y. Al-Hassan, “The Arabic Original of Liber De Compositione Alchemiae, The Epistle of Maryānus, the Hermit and Philosopher, to Prince Khālid ibn Yazīd” , Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 14 (2004): 213-231; see also Lee Stavenhagen, Liber de Compositione Alchimiae, ‘A Testament of Alchemy’. (Hanover, New Hampshire: The University Press of New England,1974), 51 -52.
Multhauf, Origins of Chemistry, 167. See also: Robert Halleux, “The reception of Arabic alchemy in the West” in Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, ed. Roshdi Rashed (London: Routledge, 1996), vol. 3, 886-902.
Multhauf, Origins, 160-161
Gerard of Cremona, “A List of Translations Made from Arabic into Latin in the Twelfth C”, translated from Latin and annotated by Michael McVaugh, in A Source Book in Medieval Science, ed. Edward Grant (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974), 38, item 65.
It is important to remark that the existing Latin manuscripts of Liber de LXX do not carry the name of Geber. MS. BN Latin 7156 at the Bibliothéque Nationale of Paris Palermo Cambridge University Trinity College Florence Modena
On Michael Scot, see Multhauf, Origins of Chemistry,168 -170, and also, Charles H. Haskins, “The ‘Alchemy’ Ascribed to Michael Scot”, Isis, 10 (1928): 350-359. On Vincent de Beauvais, see Multhauf, Origins of Chemistry 168.
Multhauf says: "The two eminent Latins did not know Geber". Multhauf, Origins of Chemistry, 175; see also p. 171.
Roger Bacon, Opus Tertium, [1266-1268], chapter 12. citation given in English translation by John M. Stillman,
The Story of Alchemy and Early Chemistry, (New York: Dover, 1960), 262 – 65; quoted also in A. C. Crombie,
Augustine to Galileo , The History of Science, A.D. 400-1650, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts,
1953, pp. 36-37.
Ernst Darmstaedter, “Geber Handschriften“ (1924), reprinted in Sezgin, Natural Sciences, vol. 71, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, III, 299-300. See also: Ahmad Y. Al-Hassan, “The Translator of Liber fornacum: Additional Significant Information”
Ahmad Y. Al – Hassan, “Jābir’s Surviving Works”
Beside Geber’s Latin works, there are many other Arabic works that exist only in Latin or Hebrew. Some examples in alchemy are: Nine works of al- Rāzī on alchemy in Latin, see Fuat Sezgin, Geschichte des Arabischen Schrifftums (Leiden: Brill, 1971), vol. 4, 282; De anima in arte alchimiae attributed to Avicenna, see Robert Multhauf, Origins., 160-161; The Secret Book of Artephius, see Halleux,” The Recepton”, 892. There are also many important Latin works in other disciplines whose Arabic originals were lost such as in mathematics, astronomy, philosophy astrology and medicine, such as works for Al-Khwārizmī; Ibn Rushd; Isḥāq al–Isrā’īlī,; Mashā'allāh; Abū ‘Alī al-Khayyāṭ and many others.
Eric J. Holmyard, “Α Critical Examination of Berthelot's Work upon Arabic Chemistry”, Isis , 6. (1924), 479-499.
The Fihrist of al-Nadim, edited and translated by Bayard Dodge, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1970), 2, 862.
Kraus, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān , 1, 161-166.
Kitāb al Khawāṣṣ al-Kabīr (The Great Book of Properties) contains several chapters of this kind. MS Or 4041, British Library, chapters (maqālāt) 2; 5; 15; 17; 25; 63-70.
In the 12th and 13th centuries, the works of Arab philosophers, notably Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), al-Fārābī and Ibn Rushd (Averroes) were translated into Latin. These works included commentaries on Aristotle. Medieval scholars, known as Schoolmen, used the logical procedures of Aristotle available to them to defend the dogmas of Christianity. Five centuries before the Schoolmen in the West, Muslim thinkers used logic to defend Muslim dogma and the Mutakallimūn of Islam were the predecessors of the Christian Schoolmen. See Harry A. Wolfson, “The Twice-Revealed Averroes”, Speculum, 36, (3, 1961): 373-392; see also T. J. De Boer, History of Philosophy in Islam, translated by Edward R. Jones (London: Luzac , 1903) 43.
Eric J. Holmyard, “The Identity of Geber”, reprinted in Sezgin, Natural Sciences, vol. 69, Jābir, Texts and Studies, 1, 66-67.
Al-Hassan, Arabic Expressions in the Summa and the Investigation,
The Alchemical Works of Geber, translated in 1678 by Richard Russell, introduction by E. J. Holmyard, Reproduced by Samuel Weiser, (Maine: Weiser,1994), 4, 17.
References to those who denied the Art are found in the dialogue between Maryānus and Khālid ibn Yazīd, Al-Hassan “The Arabic Original Of Liber De Compositione Alchemiae”, 213-231
See, e.g. NLM MS A33, Kitāb al-malāghim al-awwal (The First Book of Amalgams), folio 9b; Kitāb al-tadābīr al- ṣaghīr (The Small Book of Processes) folio 92a; and Kitāb al-uṣūl (The Book of Fundamentals), folios 64a – 70 b.
Kraus, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, I, item No. 85. Al-Fihrist, ed. G. Flugel, (Leipzig: Rodiger and Muller, 1872), item No. 70. Kraus’ numbers of the Fihrist items follow Flugel’s edition.
Kraus, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, I , item No. 236, Fihrist, Flugel, No 229. Stapleton et al. mentioned a third work by Jābir, Kitāb naqḍ ‘alā al-falāsifa (Book of Refutation of the Philosophers). H.E. Stapleton, R.F. Azo & M.H. Husain, “Chemistry in Iraq Persia
Al– Jāḥiẓ, K. al- Ḥayawān, ed. A. Harun (Cairo: Al-Babi al-Halabi, 1950), 3, 374 ff.
Al-Fihrist, ed. Bayard Dodge (New York: Columbia University Press, 1970), vol. II, 626.
Al- Jildakī, Nihāyat al- ṭalab, Sifr I, Berlin manuscript no.4184 (Landberg 350a); folio 16a.
Stapleton et al, “Chemistry in Iraq”, 54; 112.
On the defendants side, among others: Al- Fārābī (d. 950), E. Wiedemann, “Zur Alchemie bei den Araben,”, Journal für praktische Chemie, N.F. 76 (1907), 65-87, 105-123, on 82 and on 115-122; see also “Farabi’nin Simyanin luzumu hakkindaki risalesi” ed, Ayadin Sayili, (1951), reproduced in Sezgin, Natural Sciences, 60, Chemistry and Alchemy, VI, 45-59; Al-Hamdānī (d. 945), Kitāb al-Jawharatayn, ed. C.Toll (Uppsala: Studia Semitica Upsaliensia, 1968), ch. 36; Al- Ṭughrā’ī (d. 1211), Kitāb Haqā’iq al-istishhād, ed. Faraj Razzuq (Baghdad: 1982); al- Jildakī (d. 1342), Nihāyat al- ṭalab, Sifr I, Berlin MS No 4184 (Landberg 350a), f. 16a ff. On the opponents side: Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdī (ca. 930-1023), see M. Ullmann, Article “Al-kīmiyā”, Encyclopedia of Islam (EI), New Edition; Ibn Sīnā (ca. 980-1037), E.J. Holmyard. and D.C. Mandeville, Avicennae de congelatione et coagulatione lapidum (Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1927), reproduced in Sezgin, Natural Sciences, vol. 60, Chemistry and Alchemy, VI, 147-240, on 194-195 (English) and on 239 (Arabic) ; Ibn Ḥazm al-Andalusī (994-1064), Ibn Taymiyya (1263-1328) and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawaziyya (d. 1349), see Ullmann, “Al- kīmiyā”, EI.; see also J.W. Livingstone, “Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah: A Fourteenth-Century Defence against Astrological Divination and Alchemical Transmutation”, Journal of the American Oriental Society (JAOS) 91(1971): 96-103; Ibn Khaldūn (1332-1406), see G.C. Anawati, “La Refutation de l’Alchimie par Ibn Khaldun”, in Mélanges d’Islamologie dédiés à la mémoire du A. Abel par ses collègues, ses élèves et ses amis, Leiden 1974, 6-17.
These 59 MSS are listed in the appendix to our article “The Extant Arabic Works of Jābir on Theoretical and Practical Alchemy and Chemistry”.
Ahmad Y. al-Hassan, ‘The Colouring of Glass, Lustre Glass and Gemstones, Kitāb al-durra al-maknūna (The Book of the Hidden Pearl) of Jābir ibn Hayyan’, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, vol. 19, number 1, March 2009, CUP. See also an article on the internet that reviews the whole book: www.history-science-technology.com
Ahmad Y. al-Hassan, ‘Industrial Chemisty in Kitāb al- Khawāṣṣ al-kabīr of Jābir ibn Hayyan’, Journal for the History of Arabic Science, vol. 14, Aleppo
Ahmad Y. Al-Hassan, “Potassium Nitrate in Arabic and Latin Sources”, Proceedings of the XXI International Congress for the History of Science , Mexico
While this paper was being written, there appeared a paper on the exhalations theory by John A. Norris, “The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science”. Ambix, 53 (1, 2006): 43-65. Our paper here concentrates on the exhalation theory in Arabic literature, and in the Summa. It takes into consideration only the exact text of the Summa, without any interpretations not stated in the text itself. It may be added that the text of Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’ says the following about sulphur: “Those airy oily parts, with the earthy parts that were picked up by them, will become combustible sulphur through the cooking by heat and with passage of a long time.”
وتصير تلك الاجزاء الهوائية الدهنية وما يتعلق بها من الاجزاء الترابية بطبخ الحرارة لها بطول الزمان كبريتا محترقا.
Rasā'il Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’ wa khillān al-wafā (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity and Loyal Friends), (Beirut
Aristotle, Meteorologica, trans. E. W. Webster (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968), III 6, 378a 15 fols. For the text of Aristotle’s exhalations concept, see also F. Sherwood Taylor, The Alchemists (London: Heinemann, 1951) reproduced by Kessinger Publishing Company, Montana, U.S.A. , n.d. , 12-13.
Bālīnās, K. Sirr al-Khalīqa, ed. Ursula Weiser, (Aleppo: Institute for the History of Arabic Science, 1979), 243-279. The complete theory is developed in Bālīnās’ Kitāb sirr al-khalīqa; Rasā'il Ikhwān al-Ṣafā; al- Majrīṭī’s Rutabat al- ḥakīm; al- Ṭughrā’ī’ s Mafātīḥ al- ḥikma; al-'Irāqī’s Kitāb al-muktasab ; al- Jildakī’s Nihāyat al- ṭalab and several other later works. See: Bālīnās; Ikhwān al-Ṣafā; Al- Majrīṭī, MS BN arabe 2612, folios 39a-40a; Al- Ṭughrā’ī, Kitāb mafātīḥ al-raḥma wa maṣābīḥ al- ḥikma, Wellcome MS OR 21, folios 36a -36b and 44b-46a; J. E . Holmyard: Kitâb al-'ilm al-muktasab fî zirā'at adh-dhahab . by Abū 'l-Qāsim Muh. b. Aḥmad al-'Irāqī. (1923), reproduced in Sezgin, Natural Sciences, vol. 61, Chemistry and Alchemy, VII, 125-126; Al-Jildakī, K. nihāyat al-ṭalab, MS Berlin 4184, folios. 29a-29b. Although there are small variations among these accounts in the details, they are all quite similar. For this reason, in this section we will follow al- Jildakī’s account.
The paper of F. Nau “Une Ancienne Traduction Latine du Bélinous Arabe (Apollonius de Tyane) Faite par Hugo Sanctelliensis…” (1907); reproduced in Sezgin, Natural Sciences in Islam, 60, vol. II, 289-296; was useful in our study since it gave a list of all the folios of Hugo of Santalla’s ms. dealing with the generation of metals. Pinella Travaglia’s study (Una cosmologia ermetica, Il Kitab sirr al-Haliqa/De secretis naturae, Naples,2001) on the other hand gave selections only from both Kitāb sirr al- khalīqah and from Hugo of Santalla’s Latin translation and his selections from the Arabic and Latin texts and it did not enable us to compare the generation of metals in both languages. We had therefore to study the original Arabic work and the original Latin translation and do the comparison. We used Ursula Weisser’s Arabic edition of Kitāb Sirr al- khalīqah (Aleppo, 1979) and Françoise’s Hudry’s Latin edition of Hugh of Santalls’s translation ; « Le De secretis nature du Ps. Apollonius de Tyane , traduction latine par Hughes de Santalla du Kitāb sirr al-khalīqa. », Chrysopoeia, 6, 1-154 (Paris, 1997-1999).
The source for Beauvais Beauvais
An example is Christopher Lüthy, John E. Murdoch and William R. Newman, editors, Late Medieval and Early Modern Corpuscular Matter Theories. (Leiden
Quoted by al- Ṭughrā’ī, K. Mafātīḥ al- raḥma, from Kitāb al-dhahab (Book of Gold) of Jābir, fol. 65a.
“Quicksilver alone is the perfection of metals, and it contains its sulphur inherent in itself.”, Lynn Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science, 3, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1953), 58.
Jābir, sharḥ Kitāb al- raḥma, Jarullah MS 1641 f. 10a. Indeed, Jābir devoted the three treatises of Kitāb al- malāghim (Book of Amalgams) mainly to the preparation of the elixir from mercury, which had to be purified before it could be used. NLM MS A33, Kitāb al- malāghim, al-awwal (the first) f. 2a-10b, al-thānī (the second) f. 11b-27a, and al-thālith (the third), f. 28a-36b.
Thorndike, History of Magic, 3, 97. It is significant to mention that in one work by Dustin, Desiderbile Desiderium, the name “Jeber” in contrast to the more familiar “Geber” is mentioned three times, and according to Thorndike, “An interesting feature of the two [main] works [of Dustin] is their frequent citation of Geber or Jeber, “whose influence upon Dustin’s doctrine in these issues seems great and openly acknowledged.” (Thorndke, History of Magic , 3 , 70) Thus, it seems possible that Dustin was consulting a work of Jābir other than the Summa.
One of the best explanations for the defects of the four metals, iron, copper, tin and lead is to be found in al-'Irāqī’s treatise; see E.J. Holmyard: Kitâb al-'ilm al-muktasab, 124-130. It elaborates on the differences among the metals.
E.J. Holmyard, K. al-īḍāḥ, in The Arabic Works of Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, edited with translations into English and critical notes, (1928), reproduced in Sezgin, Natural Sciences, 69, Jābir Ibn Ḥayyān, Texts and Studies, I, 54
Among Jābir’s numerous works that discuss spirits (mercury, sulphur and arsenic) are: Kitāb al- riyāḍ, Bodleian, MS Marsh 70, folios 5a, 6a, 6b and 8a; Kitāb al-uṣūl, BL MS Add 23418 folio 145a; Kitāb al- Khawāṣṣ al- Kabīr, maqāla 66, Alexandria Municipality,MS 5204, folio 143b; Kitāb ustuquss al-uss al-awwal, in E.J. Holmyard, The Arabic Works of Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (1928), reproduced by Sezgin, 229.
Kitāb tadbīr al-arkān, in L’élaboration de l’élixir suprème , Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, ed. Pierre Lory, (Damas Institut Français de Damas 1988) ,142.
See www.history-science-technology.com where we gave the English texts from Russell’s translation and compared them with our English translation of the corresponding Arabic texts.
Kitāb al-manfa`a or the Book of Benefit in L’élaboration de l’élixir suprème , ed Lory,153; Kitāb ustuquss al-uss al-thalith, in E.J. Holmyard, The Arabic Works of Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, reproduced by Sezgin, 101; Kitāb al-muntakhab min Kitāb al-Ittiḥād, NLM MS A 33, folios 121a, 145b; Kitāb al-sirr al-maknūn, NLM MS A 33, folio 175a; Kitāb al- Khawāṣṣ al- Kabīr, British Library MS Or 4041, folios 33a, 47a, 87b, 88a.
Russell, The Alchemical Works, De investigatione 18, 19; Summa, 23, 24; De inventione, 201, 214, 221; Liber fornacum, 227, 229, 240, 253, 254.
Julius Ruska, „Übersetzung”, (we shall use in this paper the page numbers of Ruska’s original paper), 78.
Ernst Darmstaedter, „Liber Misericordiae Geber. Eine lateinische Übersetzung des grösseren Kitâb al raḥma“. (1925), Republished by Fuat Sezgin in Natural Sciences in Islam,71, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, Texts and Studies, III, 181
Ruska, „Übersetzung“ , 1-26. See also: Dorothea Waley Singer (DWS), Catalogue of Latin and vernacular alchemical manuscripts in Great Britain and Ireland,: Dating from before the XVI century, Brussels England
Bubacar is a corruption of Abu Bakr which is part of al-Razi’s name. This work remained unknown to historians of chemistry, like K. C. Schmieder in Die Geschichte der Alchimie, (Halle: 1832); Hermann Kopp in Geschicte der Chemie, (Branschweig: 1843-1847); Ferdinand Hoefer took notice of the Bubacaris MSS at the B.N. but did not realize that “Bubacar” was al- Rāzī. (Ferdinand Hoefer, Histoire de la chimie, 357). According to Julius Ruska, in his paper, “Übersetzung”, 4, Moritz Steinschneider realized that “Bubacar” was al- Rāzī. Berthelot gave a brief description of the Bubacaris B.N. MSS. (Berthelot, La Chimie au Moyen Age ,I, 306.)
We have mentioned above that we have collected for the present research a large number of the works of Jābir on practical alchemy and chemistry. This is in addition to other works for other Arabic alchemists and chemists. In Latin translations the works available to compilers include Liber sacerdotum of Arabic recipes by an anonymous compiler (Berthelot, La Chimie au Moyen Age, 1, 179-228; See also Dorothea Waley Singer (DWS), Catalogue, item 499.) ; Darmstaedter, Liber claritatis; and Artis chemicae principes Avicenne, atque Geber, Bale (Basel
Julius Ruska: Al- Rāzī 's Buch Geheimnis der Geheimnisse. Mit Einleitung und Erläuterungen in deutscher Übersetzung. (1937), re-printed by Fuat Sezgin, Natural Sciences in Islam, 74, Al- Rāzī, II, 2002, 1-260 (Sezgin page numbers).
Al- Rāzī’s Kitāb sirr al- asrār is a smaller treatise of recipes, without neither classification of materials, nor description of equipment and was not translated into Latin. It was published, along with a Russian translation, by U.I. Karimov, Tashkent Tehran
The introduction to this Latin version of al-Rāzī follows the Islamic way of invoking God’s mercy on the translator.
The Riccardiana DIP was edited and published by Newman in vol. 3, Part 2, of his Ph. D. thesis. Ruska published also extensive parts of the MS in his paper. Wherever there were differences, we used Ruska’s version because we are discussing his paper. The folio numbers cited correspond to Newman’s edition.
There are obvious differences between the first few folios of the DIP and the first folios of Bubacaris which indicate that these first folios of the DIP are not based and are not re-working from the Bubacaris. We give two examples only of the differences between the DIP and the Bubacaris: The DIP says that boraces are six including ‘borax arabie’. In the Arabic text this is bauraq al gharb or al-gharab. الغرب . The translator read this word as the ‘Arab العرب’ with the letter ‘ayn ع ‘ instead of ghayn غ (a common error); so the word became ‘arabie’. In the Bubacaris the word is carde and in another version it is carbe.
Another example is the Arabic word kharṣīnī. Al-Rāzī listed seven metals. One of them is khārṣīnī. The DIP says:that bodies are seven including ‘karesin’. The word ‘karesin’ stands for khārṣīnī. It is nearer to the Arabic original than the word ‘catesim’ of Bubacaris.
Ruska, „Übersetzung“. 26-33. Word count was based on Ruska’s detailed analysis of the DIP contents under the heading ‘Allgemeine Übersicht’.
Charles S.F. Burnett, “Literal translation and intelligent adaptation amongst the Arabic-Latin translators of the first half of the twelfth C”, in La diffusione delle scienze islamiche nel Medio Evo Europeo, ed. Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti, (Rome
Ernst Darmstaedter: „Liber claritatis totius alkimicae artis, Bologna Cod. lat. 164 (153)“, (1925-1928).
Ruska,“Übersetzung” ,78; Newman, Thesis, 3, part 2, 247-248. I express my gratitude to Adam McLean and Lou Gilberto for their assistance in the translation of this Latin paragraph.
Some of these expressions are also familiar ones in Latin, but their recurrent use in the same text is characteristic
of Islamic writings. Cum Deo means with God or under command of God; volente Deo, God willing, if God wills; Dei dono,
by the grace of God. All are equivalent to the Muslim Qur’anic expression ‘inshā’a Allāh or inshāllah. Glorioso et
sublimi Deo, the Glorious and High God is also a Qur’anic expression.
See, e.g. Thomas Vaughan, Aula Lucis, or The House of Light. Adam McLean, The Alchemical Web Site
Arabic treatises start with the Qur’anic verse “In the name of God , most Gracious, most Compassionate.”. This is sometimes followed by various forms of the prayer: “Blessings and Peace upon our Master Muḥammad, his Family, and his Companions.“ The Latin translators were usually monks and it was natural for them to delete such Islamic expressions. . One example is that Hugh of Santalla removed the Qur’anic verse “In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate” in his translation of Kitāb sirr al- khalīqah of Bālīnās, (Nau p. 102). Another typical case is that Kitāb al-raḥma of Jābir was translated into Latin probably in the 13th century. It was translated into French at the end of the 19th century by Berthelot - Houdas. The Latin translation has the starting Qur’anic verse removed while the French translation of Berthelot-Houdas had kept it. Also, the Latin translation had the concluding prayer for Muḥammad the Prophet removed, while the French translation had kept it. Darmstaedter who published the Latin translation says in his very last footnote that the final sentence with the name of Muḥammad is missing here. ‘The Latin translation was surely intended for Christian readers’. „Der Schlußsatz mit der Nennung MOHAMMEDS fehlt hier. Die lateinische Übersetzung war sicher für christliche Leser bestimmt.“ (Berthelot, La Chimie au Moyen Age, 3, 163-190; Darmstaedter, „Liber Misericordiae Geber“, original pp.183, 197, ‘Sezgin pp., 309,323’). Besides this voluntary censorship, there was official church censorship during the Middle Ages which culminated in the establishment of the Inquisition, (There is a vast literature on the subject, See for example the article: ‘Censorship of Books’ in the Catholic Encyclopedia, online)
See, e.g, Lee Stavenhagen, Liber de Compositione Alchimiae, ‘A Testament of Alchemy’. (Hanover, New Hampsire: The University Press of New England,1974); The Secret Book of Artephius, published by Adam McLean, The Alchemy Web Site
There are few Qur’anic verses that resemble this text. One occurs in a verse describing men who contemplate the wonders of creation in the heavens and the earth. These men will praise God saying: “Our Lord, Glory be to Thee, you have not created all this as lacking order.” ربنا ما خلقت هذا باطلا سبحانك. In contemplating the wonders of Heavens and Earth the word باطلا means the opposite of order.(The Qur’ān, Al ‘Imran, Sura 3, verse 191).
It may be objected that the expression “cum deo volente” is also known in Latin; however it could not be found in alchemical treatises by Latin authors.
Sūrat Al Kahf (18):24: “And never say of anything ‘I shall do such and such thing tomorrow’, except (with the saying): ‘If God wills’ And remember your lord when you forget.” This verse shows that it is mandatory for a Muslim to say ‘inshā’a Allāh.
See our reference below to Kitāb al- malāghim of Jābir where the expression ‘understand this’ is repeated throughout the text.
· Ruska, “Übersetzung“, 69.
· Al- Rāzī, Kitāb al- asrār.
· NLM MS A 33 (Majmū’ Nafīs), folios 2a-36a.
· The surveyed Arabic treatises and Latin works of Arabic origin and the Latin works written by Christian authors are given within the text of this article and in the footnotes.
· A Chymicall Treatise of the Ancient and Highly Illuminated Philosopher, Devine and Physitian Arnoldus de Nova Villa , published by Adam McLean, The Alchemy Web Site,
· John of Rupescissa, The Book of Quintessence, Glasgow
· Peter Bonus of Ferrara Pearl Montana U.S.A.
· E. Ashtor, Article ‘Mawāziīn’, in Encyclopedia of Islam, (EI), New Edition.
· “Libra”, in Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
· A Dictionary of Units of Measurement, published online by Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill . www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/
· Giorgio di Lorenzo Chiarini, Libro che tracta di mercatantie et usanze de paesi. (Florence: 1481).
· DIP MS f. 1v, 2v, 3r, 4v, 5r, 8r, 8v, 9r, 9v, 10r, 10v, 12r, 12v, 13r, 13v, 14r, 16r, 18r, 18v, 19r. It occurred up to 8 times in some folios.
· G.C. Miles, article ‘Dirham’, EI.
· DIP MS f. 2v, 3r, 3v, 4v, 5r, 8r, 8v, 9r, 9v, 10r, 10v, 12r, 12v, 13r, 13v, 14r, 16r, 18r, 18v, 19r. It occurred up to 6 times in some folios.
· Wikipedia, article ‘Apothecaries' system’ See also: ‘Units & Systems of Units’ at www.sizes.com/units/drachma.htm.
· DIP MS 5r, 8r, 9v, 10r, 11r, 11v, 12r, 12v, 13r, 13v, 14r, 14v, 15v, 16r, 16v, 18r. It occurred up to 20 times in some folios.
· Fuat Sezgin, Geschichte des Arabischen Schrifttums, vol 4, (Leiden: Brill, 1971), 279-282.
· Translated and edited by Eric J. Holmyard, Kitāb al-‘ilm al-muktasab.
· This statistics is based on the index made by M. Teslimi as a part of his 1954 Ph. D. thesis on Kitāb Nihāyat al- ṭalab, at London University
· Stapleton, Azo, & Husain, “Chemistry in Iraq
· Al- Majrīṭī, Kitāb rutbat al- ḥakīm, BN arabe 2612, fol. 27a.
· Al- Majrīṭī, Kitāb rutbat al- ḥakīm, fol. 27b.
· Al- Ṭughrā’ī, K. Mafātīḥ al- raḥma, fol. 7b.
· Ruska, Islam, vol. 22, 1935, He says on p. 292, „Ich muß mich mit der Feststellung begnügen, daß die `Zwölf Bücher' ar- Rāzī 's offenbar weit enger mit den Lehren Jābir’s zusammenhängen, als man nach dem Inhalt des K. sirr al- asrār anzunehmen geneigt wäre.“
· The Liber Quietis is also mentioned in a Spanish MS of the DIP. On f. 61r begins: “secunde partis de coniunctione corporum”, a marginal note in f. 61v states that the text contains a reference to Liber Quietis, José María Millás Vallicrosa, Las traducciones orientales en los manuscritos de la Biblioteca Catedral de Toledo (Madrid 1942), MS 96-35 (Zelada), No 10031 de la Biblioteca Nacional.
· Ruska, “Übersetzung”, 55.
· This book has two titles, the alternative one is Kitāb al-tartīb. See Stapleton, Azo, & Husain, “Chemistry in Iraq
· Al- Ṭughrā’ī quoted from it in two of his books, Kitāb Mafātīḥ al raḥma wa maṣābīḥ al- ḥikma, and Kitāb tarākīb al anwār; see Kraus, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, 1, 120-121. Al- Jildakī devoted a whole book, also missing, under the title Kitāb sharḥ Kitāb al- rāḥa, to explain it; see Teslimi, Thesis, 302; 494. He also quoted from it in two of his books, Kitāb al-wāḍih fī fakk al-ramz and Kitāb al-taqrīb.
· Quoted and translated by M. Teslimi, Ph.D. Thesis, 494.
· Al-Ṭughrā’ī, Kitāb Mafātīḥ al raḥma wa maṣābīḥ al- ḥikma,, MS Wellcome Or 21 f. 52a-52b.
· Al- Ṭughrā’ī, Kitāb Mafātīḥ al raḥma wa maṣābīḥ al- ḥikma,, f. 52b.
· Newman used MS BN 6514 for comparing the Bubacaris treatise with the Summa.
· Newman, Thesis, 1, 149.
· Newman, Thesis, 1,150 - 151
· The real reason why Bubacaris did not include mercury lies in the fact that the third part (the recipes part) , according to Ruska, is not an exact translation from Kitāb al- asrār but is a re-working, (Ruska, “Übersetzung”. 16-18). The Arabic KA gives the ceration reagents as spirits (mercury, sulphur and arsenic), salts and boraces, Bubacaris gives them as sulphur, arsenic, salts and boraces.
· Newman, Thesis, 1,150.
· Newman, Thesis, 1,150
· Russell, The Alchemical Works,119
· Bubacaris, BN. MS 6514, folio 107vb; Newman, Thesis, 1, 150
· Newman, Thesis, 1,150
· Kitāb al- raḥma al- Kabīr, BN MS arabe 2606, fol. 148b – 149a.
· Kitāb sharḥ Kitāb al- raḥma , Jarullah MS No 1641, f.23a.
· Kitāb muṣaḥḥaḥat iflātūn, BN MS arabe 6915 f. 89 b.
· Kitāb al- uṣūl , NLM MS A 33, f. 48b, 49a.
· Kitāb tadbīr al-arkān wa al- uṣūl, in L’élaboration de l’élixir suprème , 144.
· Kitāb al-tajrīd,. in E. J.Holmyard, The Arabic Works of Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, 138-139
· Kitāb al- riyāḍ, Bodleian MS Marsh 70 f. 40a.
· The DIP contains about 45108 words, while the recipes total 1490 words.
· The differences between the TP and the Summa occupied 50 pages of Newman’s Thesis, 1, pp. 121-170.
· Newman’s translation, Thesis, 4, Part 2, 175.
· See for example: Kitāb ṣundūq al- ḥikma, attributed to Jābir, Cairo, MS Ṭabī’yyāt 303, folios 25a – 29a; The Karshūnī manuscript, items 46 until 66 , Berthelot, La Chimie au Moyen Âge, 2, 157-161; Kitāb al-aqālīm al–sab’a (Book of the Seven Regions) by Abū al- Qāsim al-'Irāqī, Gotha MS 1261, fol. 16b, 17b-19a; Kitāb al-kanz fi fakk al-ramz (The Treasure Book in Revealing Decknamen), anonymous author, Berlin MS 4191, fol. 49b-59b. A good survey of Arabic works on decknamen is that of Alfred Siggel, Decknamen in der arabischen alchemistischen Literatur, (Berlin: Akademie–Verlag, 1951).
· Newman, Thesis, 4, Part 2, 13-14.
· Newman, Thesis, 4, Part 2, 14-15.
· Newman, Thesis, 4, Part 2,114-134.
· These are: Bubacaris, MS BN 6514, fol. 102ra-rb; De aluminibus et salibus of pseudo-Rhazes, ed. Steele, pp.15, 16, 18, 18; De Perfecto Magisterio, of pseudo-Aristotle, BCC 1, . 646A and 642B; Lumen Luminum attributed to Michael Scot, ed. J. Wood Brown, in The Life and Legend of Michael Scot, (Edinburgh
· The Arabic sources that we have examined and which contain most of these recipes are: Kitāb al- asrār of al- Rāzī,. 2-7; Kitāb ṣundūq al- ḥikma, (Book of the Chest of Wisdom) attributed to Jābir but is also is a collection derived from other sources, folios 57b, 66b, and the last two folios without numbers; Kitāb al-muntakhab min Kitāb al-ittihād (Book of Selections from the Book of Union) of Jābir, NLM MS A33, folio 128b; The Karshūnī MS, Berthelot, La Chimie au Moyen Âge, 2, items 30 and 31, 149.
· Newman, Thesis, 4, Part 2, 124.
· Youssef Barkoudah and Julian Henderson, “Plant Ashes from Syria
· Aziz S Atiya, Crusade, Commerce and Culture. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1962), 238-239.
· Turner, Guy, “Allume Catina and the Aesthetics of Venetian Cristallo”, 115.
· , J.W. Allan, “Abū’l- Qāsim’s Treatise on Ceramics”, Iran
· KA, 6-7; Kitāb ṣundūq al-ḥikmah, f. 66b-67a.
· Ursula Weisser, Kitāb sirr al- khalīqah, Aleppo
· Françoise Hudry, De secretis nature, Paris and Milan, 1997-1999. This is an édition of MS BNF lat. 13951.
· K. nihāyat al-ṭalab, MS Berlin, 4184, fols. 29a-29b.
· We are still preserving the English of Russell.
· Russell, The Alchemical Works, 57-58.
· DIP MS, fol. 21r.
· Julius Ruska, „Übersetzung“, 47-48; 70-71.
· Julius Ruska, „Übersetzung“, 65.
· DIP MS, fols. 5v, 6r,11v.
· DIP MS, fols. 12r, 12v, 13r.
· Julius Ruska, „Übersetzung“ , 68.
· DIP MS, fols. 10r, 12v, 13r, 13v, 14r, 14v, 17r.
· It should be noted that the article al is not a part of the word qalī. The DIP translation is the correct form, while the current Latin alkali considered ‘al’ as being a part of the word.
· Julius Ruska, „Übersetzung“ , 48; 49; 83.
· DIP MS, fols. 1r, 9v, 13r.
· DIP MS, fols. 5r, 11v, 12r, 14r, 16r, 18r, 18v, 23r.
· See the note above on al- qalī. Here also the root word is iksir, and al is the article. The DIP translation is the correct form, while the current Latin elixir considered ‘el’ as part of the word.
· DIP MS, fols. 18r, 19v, 20r; Julius Ruska, „Übersetzung“ , 66.
· Julius Ruska, „Übersetzung“ , 73-74. On the name of this compound see our article, “Potassium Nitrate in Arabic and Latin Sources”, (2001).
· Julius Ruska, „Übersetzung“ ,73; DIP MS, fol. 22v.
· Julius Ruska, „Übersetzung“ , 70.
· DIP MS, fol. 5v, 8v.
· DIP MS, fols. 3v, 12v, 13v, 18r, 18v, 19r.
· Frequently used in DIP MS.
· Julius Ruska, „Übersetzung“ , 67.
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