Studies in al-Kimya': Critical Issues in Latin and Arabic Alchemy and Chemistry

169 Pages·2009·2.52 MB·English

by  Ahmad Y. al-Hassan

ZUR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE
AHMAD Y. AL-HASSAN
and
Critical Issues in Latin Arabic Alchemy
and Chern istry
Ahmad Y. al-Hassan
Studies in al-Kimya'
Texte und Studien
Ahlnad Y. aI-Hassan
zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte
Studies in al-Kimya'
Band 4
Critical Issues in Latin and Arabic Alchemy and Chemistry
Ahmad Y. aI-Has san
Studies in al-Kimya'
A- 40
2009 2009
Georg Olms Verlag eorg 1111 erlag
Hildesheim . Zurich · New York Hilde heim . Zurich ' ew ork
o o
• •
ATALO
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Contents
.
Preface and Acknowledgements
IX
In trodu cti on
1
1 Arabic Alchemy: 'Ilm ai-San 'a (Science of the Art) 7
2 The Arabic Original of Liber de compositione alchimiae
u-Wyy
~.il iY..ll~~)IJ ~\ ~\)\ 4J~.J
The Epistle of Maryanus, the Hermit and Philosopher,
to Prince Khalid ibn Yazid 29
3 The Arabic Origin of the Summa and Geber Latin Works:
A Refutation of Berthelot, Ruska and Newman Based
on Arabic Sources 53
4 Arabic Industrial Chemistry 105
5 Industrial Chemistry in Kitab al-Khawass aI-Kabir
(The Great Book of Properties) of Jabir ibn Hayyan 145
6 An Eighth-Century Arabic Book of Recipes
on the Colouring of Glass, the Manufacturing of Pearls
and Other Industrial Products: Kitab AI-Durra AI-Maknuna
(The Book of the Hidden Pearl) of Jabir ibn Hayyan
(c. 721- c. 815) 191
7 Potassium Nitrate and Nitric Acid in Arabic and Latin Sources 235
8 Gunpowder Composition for Rockets and Cannon
in Arabic Military Treatises in the 13th and 14th Centurie 257
9 Alcohol and the Distillation of Wine in Arabic Source
283
from the 8th Century
299
10 Danlascus Steel in Medieval Arabic Source
311
Index
Preface and Acknowledgements
I review in the Introduction the contents of this book and the conclusion attained
in discussing each critical issue in the history of alchemy and industrial chem.
istry. My interest in doing research into these critical issues was triggered by a
question about the origin of Damascus steel. I was then a graduate student at
University College London. I was visiting an exhibition and while contemp
lating one of the exhibits, a stranger asked me, 'Do you know what this is? It is a
sword made from Damascus steel. You young people should revive you're herit
age.' He knew from where 1 came.
1 shall not tell a long story here, but that incident resulted in a series of
concrete actions in Syria in response to the challenge posed by that stranger in
London. One of the last actions was to create the Institute for the History of
Arabic Science at the University of Aleppo.
I have chosen to do my research on the critical issues in the history of
science and technology in general. I call a 'critical issue' any case in the history
of science and technology where the historical facts are written without concrete
evidence, and are based mainly on conjecture and on nationalistic feelings. To
correct these historical elTors it was mandatory that we should go back to the
original sources. I decided to study the original Arabic manuscripts and to com
pare the Arabic texts with the Latin works whether they are in Latin or in their
vernacular h·anslations.
For this purpose 1 amassed a great number of copies of manuscript from the
international manuscript libraries, such as the B.N. de France in Pari , the BL of
London, the Wellcome Institute of London, the Chester Beatty Library in
Dublin, the Leiden University, the Staatsbibliothek of Berlin, Gotha Manuscript
Library, the various Turkish libraries such as the Silleymaniye Library in
Istanbul, Dar aI-Kutub of Cairo, the Alexandria Library, the ationaI Library of
Medicine (NLM) in Bethesda, USA, and the Institute of Oriental Manu cript at
St Petersburgh. I express my gratitude to the staff in the e librarie for the
invaluable service that I have received.
I should single out those who presented me with ome "aluable
manuscripts and express my thanks to them. Profe or Fuat ezgin from
Frankfurt, provided me with a CD copy of the two rabic manu cript about the
dialogue between Prince Khalid ibn Yazid and the Hernlit Maryanu . Profe or
A.T. Grigorian £i·om Moscow pre ented me with the Arabic military manu cript
of St. Petersburgh. Or Yusuf Zaidan fTom lexandria pre ented m with a 0
copy of Kitab al-khawass al-kabir, and Mr Mahmud min al-' lim from alro
sent me a copy of Kitab sunduq a-hikma.
x
Some of the chapters this book were published in learned journals. I ex Introduction
press my thanks to Cambridge University Press the publisher of Arabic Sciences
and Philosophy and to Professor Roshdi Rashed the editor of the journal for
their consent to publish 'The Arabic Original of Libel' de compositione
alchimiae' that was published in Volume 14(02): pp. 213-31, (2004); and the
This volume is not a traditional history of alchemy, nor is it another book on
article 'An Eighth Century Arabic Treatise on The Colouring of Glass', pub
the history of industrial chemistry. Moreover, unlike usual histories, it is
lished in Vol. 19(01): pp. 121-56 (2009).
devoted to the discussion of some important critical issues in the history of
My thanks also are due to Professor Mustafa Mawaldi, Dean of the Institute
Arabic and Latin alchemy and industrial chemistry.
for the History of Arabic Science and editor of the Journal for the History of
History of science and technology is not an exact science; and it is
Arabic Science for his permission to publish the atiic1e 'Iron and Steel Tech
marred every so often by nationalistic feelings and by the political encounter
nology in Medieval Arabic Sources', published in Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 31-43
between cultures. Western historians wrote this science largely and
(1978), and also the article on 'The Arabic Origin of the Summa and other
overwhelmingly, and due to the absence of research in developing countries,
Geber Works', due to be published in Vol. 15 (2009).
there was no role in the past for scholars of those countries. In addition,
I thank also Professor Alexander Keller the editor if ICON, the journal of
whenever a scholar from a developing country voices a valid criticism,
ICOHTEC (International Committee for the History of Technology), for his
Western scholars consider it as apologetic or defensive.
permission to publish the article: "Gunpowder Composition for Rockets and
The history of Arabic and Islamic science and technology was on the
Cannon in Arabic Military Treatises in the 13th and 14th Centuries" that was
whole lucky because there were some trustworthy Western historians who
published in ICON, Vol. 9, pp. 1-30, (2003).
rendered a great service in writing this history during the 19th and 20th
Several scholars gave me valuable help while I was working on this re
centuries.
search, and I would I ike to thank two in particular. The fOlmder of the Alchemy
In addition, in the last few decades scholars of Arabic or Islamic origin
Website Adam McLean of Glasgow was of great help in explaining and
gained prominence in Western universities and excelled in their research into
elucidating some Latin texts. Professor Ana Maria Alfonso-Goldfarb of Brazil
the history of Arabic-Islamic science. Recently also the study of the history
and her team read and gave valuable advice on the essay about the Arabic Origin
of Arabic and Islamic science in Arabic and Islamic univer ities had started
of the Summa.
and special institutes were established. Moreover, with the constant
Special thanks are due to Georg Olms Verlag and to Dr Peter Guyot,
discovery of new Arabic manuscripts and with editing and publi hing them,
Lektorat, in particular. Dr Guyot gave a positive response when I first wrote to
the history of Arabic and Islamic science i being corrected and rewritten
him, and he conducted the initial contacts with promptness and with courtesy. I
again; albeit at a slow pace.
had always held Georg Olms in high esteem for the high quality of their Research into the Arabic-Islan1ic exact sciences, in particular, i
academic publications, and I therefore chose to put this book in their hands. I
currently quite active, and the results of research cannot u ually be
cannot thank in this limited space all those who were of help to me, but I should contested. Numerous scholars, some of whom are imminent, are dev06ng
thank Mr Martin Noble of Oxford, UK (www.copyedit.co.uk) who copy-edited their research activities to this branch of science more than to an other
the manuscript and who was patient in meeting my demands.
domain.
Mr Ayman Gabarin, who established the website www.history-science The story is different when we look at the hi tory of rabic a1chem
technology.com and who maintains it and keeps it running, deserves my thanks and chemistry. There is at pre ent a carcity in scholar with a ma tery of
and gratitude. I publish on this site the results of my research; and it is now one Arabic, who are qualified to do re earch in this field. MoreO\ er, for the la t
of the main sources online for academic research into Arabic-Islamic science seven decades no serious work 011 Arabic a1chem and hemi try has
and technology and the critical issues in Latin and Arabic alchemy and appeared, with the exception of a few edited lext .
chemistry.
On the other hand, in the la t decade of the 19th centur and the fir t
r
Ahmad Y. al-Hassan hal of the 20th, some historian, took a t:riou intere t in rabic alchemy
Saint Laurent du Var and chemi try. ome of the c like Henr E. tapleton and Eric J. Holmyard
June 2009 were largely tru tworthy and reliable; but other, like l\lar din Benldot and
2 Stt/dies in AI-Kimyd'
Introduction
3
Julius Ruska, were generally biased. Berthelot and Ruska had own
th~ir
Thus, one main conjecture of Ruska was demolished and his honest
motives, and they based their preconceived judgements on mere conjecture.
scholarship became questionable.
Unfortunately, those speculations were accepted uncritically in the West.
The second critical issue is that of the Geber problem. Western alchemy
First, these two historians were of immense authority, and they presented
started with the translation of Arabic works in the 12th and 13th centuries. In
their conjectures in the garb of scholarship. Their ideas were accepted since
the 13th century, several treatises appeared in the West carrying the Latin
they played on the Eurocentric sentiments of the educated. estern
~
name of Jabir ibn Hayyan (Geber). The most important among them was the
individual. In addition, and more importantly, there was no posslbIhty for
Summa peliectionis. In 1893 Berthelot came out with the conjecture that the
any academic to check the trustworthiness of those conjectures. It was not
Geber works were not written by Jabir but by Latin authors.
feasible for any scholar who usually lacked knowledge of Arabic, and even
In 1935, Ruska came out with another conjecture when he claimed that
Latin , to waste his time and efforts in an endeavour that lacked any kind of
a treatise called De investigatione perfectionis of Geber was not written by
incentive or support.
Jabir, and a Latin who was also the author of the Summa wrote that part of it.
The motive behind those conjectures was to divorce Latin alchemy from
In 1986, William R. Newman adopted Ruska's conjecture and built his
its Arabic roots, and since they remained unchallenged, the present history of
whole work on it. Newman made up a complicated hypothetical assumption
alchemy and chemistry in the West in the early period is built mostly on
that an unknown Paul of Taranto was the author of the Summa; and further,
feeble and defective foundations.
he attributed to this unheard of character the conception of the corpuscular
Our purpose in this work is to discuss some critical issues in this
theory that was much publicised by Newman, and the mercury the0T?"
alo~e
history. We shall not disprove conjectures by counter conjectures; otherwise,
However, these two so-called theories are in fact old concepts ArabIC
111
our work will be worthless and doomed. On the contrary, our presentation in
alchemy as is conclusively shown in Chapter 3.
this whole volume is based on our research into original sources, mainly
Arabic manuscripts. These conjectures of Berthelot, Ruska and Newman are marring. the
early history of Latin alchemy. We were able to refute these
We present here the results of three decades of research into Arabic ~ll spe~ulatlOns
by evidence based on extensive research into ArabIC manuscnpts. We
manuscripts. And although some of the results of this research were
proved that the entire Summa is based on Arabic alchemy, and that the
presented at international conferences and were published in learned journals
conjectures of Berthelot, Ruska and Newman about pseudo Latin authors for
and on the internet, it has now become necessary to put them together and
Geber works are unfounded.
make them accessible to the academic community in a convenient form.
The remaining six critical issues relate to Arabic.
This book has ten chapters; one of these is a review of Arabic alchemy indu~trial chemi~~.
Two of them are on books of recipes, one on potasslwn mtrate and mtrIc
and another a review of Arabic industrial chemistry; the remaining chapters
deal with eight important critical issues. acid, one on explosive gunpowder and cannon, one on alcohol and one on
Damascus steel.
The first critical issue is that of the dialogue between Prince Khalid ibn
Yazid and Maryanus the hermit. This dialogue was the first Arabic There appeared in the West before the introduction of Arabic. alche~y
in the 12th century, four books of practical recipe related to mdu tnal
alchemical treatise to be translated into Latin by Robert of Chester in 1144
under the title of Libel' de compositione alchimiae. Lt heralded the start of chemistry. The earliest two go back to the 9th cel~tury and h 0 are from. the
Arabic alchemy in the West. Yet Julius Ruska had the unabashed spirit to eleventh. One is the Mappae Clavicula and one I th book of TheophI~u .
Western historians considered them to be the onl ource on the chemIcal
cast doubts on Khalid, Maryanus, and Robert of Chester. He conjectured that
technology of medieval Europe and without parallel in rabic literature. .
this whole dialogue is an imaginative story and that a Latin monk had
O!
written the Latin treatise in the 13th to 14th century. Ruska wrote for this These judgments are cau ed by lack of knowledge the rabl.c
purpose his book Arabische Alchemisten, of which volume one is devoted to treatises on alchemy and chemi tr and by the erroneou notIOn that Jablr
his conjecture about Khalid and Maryanus. This work is considered by many ibn Hayyan was an allegoric alchemi t. ..
to be one of Rusk a's masterpieces.
contrary to the e a umption, there are numerou .Iabman
1-1
owever, . . K' b I
We have discovered the Arabic original of the dialogue and have found treatises on practical alchemy and chemi tr . One book f recIpe' I, 1:~.0
that the Arabic text corresponds to an amazing degree with the Latin treatise. durra al-l71aknul1o on the colouring of gla and Ih making t artltIcIaI
4 Studies in A I-Kimyti'
Introduction
5
pearls, and it contains a large number of recipes. There is also Kitab al
the second half of the 14th century, and the first cannon were used in the
khawass aL-kabir which contains dozens of recipes on industrial chemistry.
battle of Crecy in 1346.
In comparing the contents of Kitab al-durra and Kitab al-khawass with The discovery of alcohol is another disputed area. It is assumed in
the four Latin books of recipes, we found that none of them matches Jabir's Western literature that the earliest reference to the distillation of wine
recipes in their novelty and detail. These two works of Jabir, which are occurred in a text from Salerno around 1100 CE, although the technology of
discussed in this volume, confinn that Arabic literature has more mature distillation was transferred to Salerno with the translation of Arabic works.
books of recipes than the four early Latin treatises and they dissipate the
Islamic chemists knew the distillation of wine and the properties of
false notion that was painted by Berthelot and reinforced by his followers,
alcohol from the 8th century. The prohibition of wine in Islam did not
about Jabir as a vague allegoric alchemist. mean that wine was not produced and consumed.
Another critical issue is that of the first knowledge of saltpetre and The flammable property of alcohol from wine bottles was known from
nitric acid. Berthelot, followed by others, assumed that Arabic works did not Jabir's time, and Al-Kindi, al-Zahrawi and al-Farabi mentioned the
know these two chemicals, and that they were first known in Europe at the disti llation of wine.
end of the 13th century. Alcohol was called khamr musa 'ad (distilled wine), and the current
word for distilled wine is 'araq which means sweat, an indication of a
This wrong assumption is also caused by ignorance of Arabic works.
distilled liquid. In early Arabic poetry of the early Abbasid Caliphate,
Potassium nitrate was known in Arabic alchemy since its earliest stages, and
distilled wine or strong alcoholic drinks were served. They were not denoted
was identified under different names. Indeed, saltpetre was even recognised
by a special name and were just another variety of wines.
since the ancient civilisations of Mesopotamia.
Wine was distilled in Sharish (Jerez) in al-Andalus. It is believed that
Recipes for nitric acid and aqua regia before the 13th century are also
distilled spirits were produced there and that sherry (from Sharish) was
given in different works of Jabir, al-Razi and in Ta'widh al-Hakim.
known since the Arab days.
Another critical historical issue is that of the first formulation of
The final critical issue in this work is that of Damascus steel, which was
explosive gunpowder. It is known that the first recipes of gunpowder were
renowned in the West for its superior qualities, and European steel-makers
formulated in China. However, the powder was weak and non-explosive,
sought to find its secret. Britain in the 19th century imported 'wootz' steel
suitable only for fireworks.
from India. Therefore, historians thought that Damascus wa only a trading
Claims were made that Berthold Schwartz, a legendary German monk,
centre and steel was not produced there.
or Friar Roger Bacon, the famous medieval English scientist, were the
Research into Arabic literature has revealed that Dama cu teel was
inventors of explosive gunpowder. A century ago Colonel H.W.L. Hirne
made from local iron ores near Damascus. There were al other Islamic
0
published his own assumptions about this matter, and later in 1956, David
areas producing iron and steel from local ores.
Ayalon published his assumptions about Firearms in the Mamluk Kingdom.
Jabir, al-Kindi and al-Biruni wrote about steel in detail. According to
These are only two of the many authors of various nationalities and of
them Damascus steel is composed of narmahan which is oft iron, and of
different motives who delved into this subject. Our research here proves that
daus which is cast iron, and this is the reason behind the firind (pattern) in
the legends and conjectures about this question are without foundation.
swords. This composition as reported by Arab cienti t i in confonnity
In Arab lands, recipes for explosive gunpowder suitable for cannon are
with modern interpretation. Al-Jildaki, in commenting on Jabir' Book of
given in al-Rammah's treatise of the 13th century, and in other
Iron , describes how cast iron and steel were produced on an indu trial cale.
contemporary military and alchemical treatises. We find in these military
The question of Dama cu steel a the tarting point in m intere t in
T
treatises also the description of the first cannon in history. This was a
the critical issues, and it wa an impetu for me to e tabli h the In titute for
portable one, which was used against the Mongols in the battle of ' Ayn Jalut
the History of Arabic Science at the Uni\'er ity of leppo in 1976. and th
in 1260 for frightening the horses of Mongol cavalry.
Journal for the HisfOf)' ofA rabic Science at the ame time.
. The ideal gunpowder composition contains 75 per cent saltpetre, In conclusion, this work i a manife t proof that hi tOf) of cience and
beSIdes sulphur and charcoal. Arabic recipes gave the same ideal technology in the Middle ge cannot be \\ rit1en in i olation from a
composition. In Europe and China, the explosive mixture started to appear in thorough search into Arabic ource . To ba e thi hi tor on Latin 'ource
6 Introduction
only will result in gross errors as we can see from reviewing the critical
issues in this work. 1 Arabic Alchemy: cIlm aI-San ca (Science of the Art)
The best reception for this work is to be reviewed by qualified and fair
scholars who can help in pointing out where I have erred; and if I have
sometimes used candid language in discussing some of the critical issues, I
hope that I may be excused.
INTRODUCTION
The Art of alchemy (Jlm ai-San a), as we shall discuss here, is a theoretical
and a practical science which is aimed at the transmutation of metallic
bodies such as iron, copper and lead into silver and gold by using chemical
preparations and with the help of the elixir. On the other hand, practical
industrial chemistry is concerned with the production of industrial products
by using chemical processes and this will be the subject of Chapter 4. Our
discussion here does not deal with the occult, mystical or spiritual aspects of
alchemy.
THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD ALCHEMY
The Arabic word al-kimya' is composed of the article al (the) and kimya '
(chemistry). This word reached the West with the translation movement,
which took place in the 12th century. The Arabic fonn al-kimya ' is the
origin of the word alchemy, which is used to denote the science of alchemy,
which preceded modern chemistry. Kimya ' without the article al is the origin
of the word chemistry. In Arabic the word al-kimya ' means both alchemy
and chemistry, Some contemporary Arab writers try to differentiate between
alchemy and chemistry by using the word al-khimya ' "I Jay' IIto denote
alchemy.
The word khemeia occurred for the first time in a decree issued by the
Roman Emperor Diocletian (c. 245- c. 312), to burn all Egyptian books of
khemeia that deal with alchemy and the manufacture of gold and sil er.
This word is most probably derived from the name of Egypt. Plutarch
(c. 46- 127) mentions in a treatise written about 100 CE that Egypt is called
Khemia because of the colour of its black soil. Some think that the word i
of Greek origin, and others think that it is of Chinese.
1
Although this branch of science \ as called al-kimya' in Arabic, et it
was also called also the Science of the Art 'ilm al- an'a ;j. '" oil ~ and the
practitioner of this Art was called sahib ai-san 'a, and alchemi t were called
hukama ' or philosophers.
I. For the origin of the word alchem) ee Leicester, 1956, p. 45.