Studies in al-Kimya'

"This book discusses eight critical issues in the history of Latin and Arabic alchemy and chemistry, which are currently accepted without concrete evidence, and are based mainly on conjecture.The essays in the book are based on extensive research into Arabic manuscripts and Latin literature. The results of this research are challenging. They prove the Arabic origin of the Summa Perfectionis and the other Geber Latin works. Thus the prevailing conjectures about assumed Latin authors are refuted on the basis of ample evidence. The book discusses the Arabic original of Liber de compositione alchimiae that was the first treatise on alchemy to appear in the West. It brings into light for the first time Jabir's book of recipes on the colouring of glass and his other chemical industrial recipes. An essay discusses potassium nitrate and nitric acid in Arabic and Latin sources. Both were known before the 13th century. Explosive gunpowder with the ideal formula and portable cannon were known in Arabic military treatises in the 13th century. The book gives an essay on the distillation of wine and alcohol since the eighth century. The final essay is on the composition of Damascus steel."--Publisher's description.