Antiquity of the Chemical Art (Large Print)

The study of the History of Chemistry as an art, or as a science, is one which possesses peculiar fascination for its votaries. It has been the subject of deep research and much discussion, much has been written upon the subject, and many theories have been broached to account for its origin.

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Excerpt:

"It is said that Egyptian Hercules and Bacchus (Dionysius), when they overran India, invaded this people also, and having prepared warlike engines, attempted to conquer them. They made no show of resistance, but upon the enemy's near approach to their cities they were repulsed with storms of lightning and thunder hurled upon them from above."

May we not here have the original of the Greek fire, that was in its day so celebrated and so destructive?

Beginning then at the period of Geber, about 776 A.D., let us try to work backwards and trace, if we can, the progress of chemical knowledge down the stream of time.

While the Western Roman Empire had fallen, the Eastern still held its sway as far as the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, and continued the contest with the Persian power for the supremacy in Asia. At this time the various creeds and beliefs of the Arabian tribes-which had been much influenced by the settlement amongst them of Jews who had been dispersed at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and many of the sects of Christians who had been driven from the Roman empire by the more orthodox-were deeply stirred by the new doctrine of Islam, preached by Mahomet, A.D. 622, proclaiming the Koran as the rule of life, and the destruction of the ancient Arabian worship of the stars and sun and moon.

The religion of "the one God and Mahomet his prophet" took deep root, and the injunction to pursue the unbelieving with fire and sword was followed out with such unrelenting vigour that, within less than a century from the death of Mahomet, the Arabian power had extended its sway amongst nearly every tribe and nation that had owned the rule of the Roman or Persian empires, and had reached from Spain to India, from Samarcand to the Indian Ocean.