Abū Bakr al-Rāzī c. 864 - 930 AD is a Persian alchemist, philosopher and physician during the Islamic Golden Age. One of the most important figures in the history of medicine, he also documents the processes and equipment of alchemy.
Pioneering experimental medicine, he excels as a physician and holds prestigious positions as chief physician at two hospitals. He's famous for critiques of religion, especially ideas of prophethood and revelation.
Al-Razi has a lasting impact on various fields with over 200 manuscripts documenting his contributions. He's especially renowned for his advancements in medicine, meticulous record keeping and experiments in alchemy.
Renowned as a compassionate teacher, he attracts a diverse range of students and is dedicated to providing care to all patients regardless of wealth. Al-Razi is the first to differentiate between smallpox and measles, and propose effective treatments.
Al-Razi's interest in alchemy and his strong belief in the possibility of transmutation of lesser metals to silver and gold is attested after his death by Ibn an-Nadim's book, The Philosopher's Stone (Lapis Philosophorum in Latin).
The term "Philosopher's Stone" is used in Islamic alchemy but the concept is largely rejected by c. 9th century AD. In the West, it's still in use today.
Nadim attributes a series of twelve books to al-Razi, plus an additional seven, including his refutation to al-Kindi's denial of the validity of alchemy. Al-Kindi is a philosopher and opponent of alchemy in Baghdad.
Al-Razi's two best-known alchemical texts are al-Asrar (The Secrets), and Sirr al-Asrar (the Secret of Secrets), which incorporates much of the previous work. "Secrets" in alchemical terms often means "experiments".
In Secret of Secrets, al-Razi writes about:
...knowledge and identification of medical components within substances derived from plants, animals, and minerals, and descriptions of the best types for medical treatments.
Knowledge of equipment and tools of interest to and used by either alchemists or apothecaries.
Knowledge of seven alchemical procedures and techniques: sublimation and condensation of mercury, precipitation of sulfur, and arsenic calcination of minerals (gold, silver, copper, lead, and iron), salts, glass, talc, shells, and waxing.
The last category contains additional descriptions of other methods and applications used in transmutation:
The added mixture and use of solvent vehicles.
The amount of heat (fire) used, 'bodies and stones', (al-ajsad and al-ahjar) that can or cannot be transmuted into corporal substances such of metals and salts (al-amlah).
The use of a liquid mordant which quickly and permanently colors lesser metals for more lucrative sale and profit
Coloring metals is among the early arts of alchemy, and is well documented in works of other alchemists and teachers. It appears in the original alchemical works attributed to Greek philosopher Democritus (the "laughing philosopher"), known as the Four Books.
Al-Rāzī mentions the following chemical processes:
distillation
solution
evaporation
crystallization
sublimation
filtration
amalgamation
ceration
Several of these operations are also been practiced by the Alexandrian alchemists of the early centuries AD. The Golden Age of Alexandria is a merger of Greek, Egyptian, theological and pagan thought. With the Islamic conquest of Egypt c. 642 AD, many ideas go East.
In his Secretum secretorum, Al-Rāzī mentions the following alchemical equipment:
Tools for melting substances (li-tadhwīb):
hearth (kūr)
bellows (minfākh or ziqq)
crucible (bawtaqa),
ladle (mighrafa or milʿaqa)
tongs (māsik or kalbatān)
scissors (miqṭaʿ)
hammer (mukassir)
file (mibrad)
macerator
stirring rod
cutter
grinder (pestle)
semi-cylindrical iron mold
Tools & utensils to carry out the process of transmutation and parts of the distilling apparatus:
the retort
shallow iron pan
potter's kiln and blowers
large oven
cylindrical stove
glass cups, phials, beakers
glass funnel
crucible
aludel
heat lamps
mortar
cauldron
hair-cloth
sand- and water-bath
sieve
flat stone mortar
chafing-dish
Tools for the preparation of drugs (li-tadbīr al-ʿaqāqīr)
cucurbit and still with evacuation tube (qarʿ or anbīq dhū khatm)
receiving matras (qābila)
blind still (without evacuation tube) (al-anbīq al-aʿmā)
aludel (al-uthāl)
goblets (qadaḥ)
flasks (qārūra, plural quwārīr)
rosewater flasks (mā’ wardiyya)
cauldron (marjal or tanjīr)
earthenware pots varnished on the inside with their lids (qudūr and makabbāt)
water bath or sand bath (qidr)
oven (al-tannūr)
small cylindirical oven for heating aludel (mustawqid)
funnels, sieves, filters
Non-Fiction Books:
Fiction Books:
READ: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure
READ: Lora Ley Adventures - Germanic Mythology Fiction Series
READ: Reiker For Hire - Victorian Detective Murder Mysteries
Comments