Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. A Persian Translation of the Eleventh Century Arabic Alchemical Treatise “Ain As-San’ah Wa Aun As-As-Sana’ah

From the mention of a ' second furnace ' and of making gold ' as well as the correspondence of the first two items of the extant Arabic with those of the Persian text it seems probable that the list is actually that of the instruments for the preparation of the Red' which is almost missing in the Arabic. [...] The distance between the bottom of the pot and the earth should be one span and the sides of the pot should be at a distance of 4 fingers from the [sides of the] hearth. [...] Place the medicine in the sieve the sieve in the mouth of the funnel the funnel in the mouth of the bottle and the bottle in a ditch. [...] The figure is this.' Make a hole in the bottom of the upper cup and place them on a stove and insert a long iron rod in the hole of the upper cup in such a way that it does not reach the bottom of the lower cup though it can stir the contents. [...] The first is the Water of Sulphur.' [The second—the Water of artak '—is omitted here from the text.] The 'third is the Water of At argaslais10 ' and the fourth is the `Water of Mercury.' (/) The test (`abort) of the ' Water of Sulphur' is that if the sulphur be heated it will become a stone like al-qiti and light ashes and when it is melted and rubbed on rings the (colour of the) latter will