The earlier
translations, such as the Turba Philosophorum and other
Works printed in collections like the Artis auriferae quam
chemiam vocant (1572), Theatrum chemicum (1602), and
J. J. Manget's Bibliotheca chemica curiosa (1702), are
confused productions, written in an allegorical style, but
full of phrases and even pages taken literally from the Greek
alchemists, and citing by name various authorities of Greek
alchemy. They were followed by treatises of a different
character, clearer in matter, more systematic in arrangement,
and reflecting the methods of the scholastic logic; these are
farther from the Greek tradition, for although they contain
sufficient traces of their ultimate Greek ancestry, their
authors do not know the Greeks as masters and cite no Greek
names. So far as they are Latin versions of Arabico-Greek
treatises, they must have been much remodelled in the course
of translation; but there is reason to suppose that many of
them, even when pretending to be translations, are really
original compositions. It is curious that although we possess
a certain number of works on alchemy written in Arabic, and
also many Latin treatises that profess to be translated from
Arabic, yet in no case is the existence known of both the
Arabic and the Latin version. The Arabic works of Jaber, as
contained in MSS. at Paris and Leiden, are quite Aissimiiar
from the Latin works attributed to Geber, and show few if any
traces of the positive chemical knowledge, as of nitric acid
(aqua dissolutiva or fortis) or of the mixture of nitric
and hydrochloric acids known as aqua regis or regia, that
appears in the latter. The treatises attributed to Geber, in
fact, appear to be original works composed not earlier than the
13th century and fathered on Jaber in order to enhance their
authority. If this view be accepted, an entirely new light
is thrown on the achievements of the Arabs in the history of
chemistry. Gibbon asserts that the Greeks were inattentive
either to the use or to the abuse of chemistry (Decline and
Fall, chap. xiii.), and gives the Arabs the credit of the
origin and improvement of the science (chap. lii.).
2 But
the chemical knowledge attributed to the Arabs has been so
attributed largely on the basis of the contents of the Latin
Geber, regarded as a translation from the Arabic Jaber. If,
then, those contents do not represent the knowledge of Jaber,
and if the contents of other Latin translations which there
is reason to believe are really made from the Arabic, show
little, if any, advance on the knowledge of the Alexandrian
Greeks, evidently the part played by the Arabs must be less, and
that of the Westerns greater, than Gibbon is prepared to admit.
The descent of alchemistical doctrine can thus be traced
with fair continuity for a thousand years, from the Greeks
of Alexandria down to the time when Latin alchemy was
firmly established in the West, and began to be written
of by historical authors like Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon
and Arnoldus Villanovanus in the 13th century. But side
by side with this literary transmission Berthelot insists
that there was another mode of transmission, by means of the
knowledge of practical receipts and processes traditional
among jewellers, painters, workers in glass and pottery, and
other handicraftsmen. The chemical knowledge of Egyptian
metallurgists and jewellers, he holds, was early transmitted
to the artisans of Rome, and was preserved throughout the
dark ages in the workshops of Italy and France until about
the 13th century, when it was mingled with the theories of
the Greek alchemists which reached the West by way of the
Arabs.
Note
2 "Some traditionary knowledge might be secreted in the
temples and monasteries of Egypt: much useful experience might
have been acquired in the practice of arts and manufactures,
but the science of chemistry owes its origin and improvement
to the industry of the Saracens. They first invented
and named the alembic for the purposes of distillation,
analyzed the substances of the three kingdoms of nature,
tried the distinction and affinities of alkalis and acids,
and converted the poisonous minerals into soft and salutary
remedies. But the most eager search of Arabian chemistry
was the transmutation of metals, and the elixir of immortal
health: the reason and the fortunes of thousands were
evaporated in the crucibles of alchemy, and the consummation
of the great work was promoted by the worthy aid of mystery,
fable and superstition." It may be noted that the word
"alembic" is derived from the Greek ambix, "cup,"
with the Arabic article prefixed, and that the instrument
is figured in the MSS. of some of the Greek alchemists.
Continued on page five.
