Author(s): AL-IRAQI, ABU L

Alchemy

2018 Reprint of 1923 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition software. Text in English and Arabic. Reprint of the first edition of this medieval Arabic work on alchemy, prepared by noted British historian of Islamic science Eric Holmyard (1891-1959) using the three manuscript copies of the work known to be extant, together with a manuscript of the Persian commentary by al-Jildaki. Almost nothing is known of al-'Iraqi other than that he was probably active in Mamluk Egypt or Syria during the reign of Sultan Baybars in the late 13th century, though his "'Cultivation of Gold' is valuable because it contains a clear account of the Muslim theory of transmutation, written by a man who realized the importance of experimental work. Its main argument is that all metals differ from one another only by certain unessential properties which can be removed by suitable treatment. The metallic substance free from all such accidental and unessential properties is represented by gold. A Very Scarce Book on Arabic alchemy.