Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- Illustrations
- Introduction
- Part I Ancient texts
- Part II Islamic and medieval texts
- 10 KHALID IBN YAZID (635-c. 704): From Secreta Alchymiœ
- 11 JABIR IBN HAYYAN (eighth century)/PSEUDO-GEBER (thirteenth century): From Of the Investigation or Search of Perfection; Of the Sum of Perfection; and His Book of Furnaces
- 12 AVICENNA (c. 980-1037) De Congelatione et Conglutinatione Lapidum
- 13 ALBERTUS MAGNUS (1193? or 1206?–1280): From the Libellus de Alchimia
- 14 ROGER BACON (c. 1219–c. 1292): From the Radix Mundi
- 15 NICOLAS FLAMEL (1330?–1417?): From His Exposition of the Hieroglyphical Figures
- 16 BERNARD, EARL OF TREVISAN (fl. late fourteenth century): A Treatise of the Philosopher's Stone
- 17 GEORGE RIPLEY (1415–1490): The Epistle of George Ripley written to King Edward IV
- Part III Renaissance and seventeenth-century texts
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
12 - AVICENNA (c. 980-1037) De Congelatione et Conglutinatione Lapidum
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- Illustrations
- Introduction
- Part I Ancient texts
- Part II Islamic and medieval texts
- 10 KHALID IBN YAZID (635-c. 704): From Secreta Alchymiœ
- 11 JABIR IBN HAYYAN (eighth century)/PSEUDO-GEBER (thirteenth century): From Of the Investigation or Search of Perfection; Of the Sum of Perfection; and His Book of Furnaces
- 12 AVICENNA (c. 980-1037) De Congelatione et Conglutinatione Lapidum
- 13 ALBERTUS MAGNUS (1193? or 1206?–1280): From the Libellus de Alchimia
- 14 ROGER BACON (c. 1219–c. 1292): From the Radix Mundi
- 15 NICOLAS FLAMEL (1330?–1417?): From His Exposition of the Hieroglyphical Figures
- 16 BERNARD, EARL OF TREVISAN (fl. late fourteenth century): A Treatise of the Philosopher's Stone
- 17 GEORGE RIPLEY (1415–1490): The Epistle of George Ripley written to King Edward IV
- Part III Renaissance and seventeenth-century texts
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In addition to his achievements in medicine and philosophy, the Persian-born Avicenna (“Prince of Physicians,” “Aristotle of the Arabians”) is well known for his studies in mathematics, physics, music, and alchemy. Like Jabir, Avicenna accepted the sulphurmercury theory of the origin of metals in the earth, yet expressed total disbelief in the possibility that the essences of metals could be changed through alchemical transmutation. As we have seen, skepticism about transmutation was not widely shared by other Moslem authorities; nonetheless, Avicenna's position came to be extremely influential, largely as the result of a bibliographical accident. About 1200 the Englishman William of Sareshel translated into Latin a meteorological passage from Avicenna's work, the Kitâb al-Shifâ’ (the Book of the Remedy) and placed it at the end of an earlier translation of Aristotle's Meteorology, where it came to be regarded as the “missing” conclusion to the fourth book. Entitled De Congelatione et Conglutinatione Lapidum or De Mineralibus, this short section was quickly accepted as a genuine Aristotelian work: thus, Avicenna's skeptical attack was launched albeit under the cover of Aristotle's name. The work's authorship remained in question until 1927, when E. J. Holmyard and D. C. Mandeville demonstrated conclusively that De Congelatione was, in fact, “partly a direct translation and partly résumé” (8) of Avicenna's book.
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- Information
- The Alchemy ReaderFrom Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton, pp. 95 - 98Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003