Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c26.s6.t1.3

v1.c26.s6.t1.3

Up above the perforated terracotta plate is the furnace chamber, in which 36 charged retorts (figs. 18.2-18.3) were arranged, inverted vertically; it may be presumed that 36 vessels were placed, one underneath each retort, to collect the condensed zinc vapour. This arrangement of downward distillation retort with the condensing unit underneath or distillation per descensum, is precisely what had been described in *Rasaratnasamuccaya* text (2.157-166; 9.48-50) to be discussed in chapter 9 of our Vol. II, and what was copied by William Champion in 1748 for his plant in Warmley, England. The brinjal-like retorts in Zawar are also similar to the *vṛntākamūṣā* described in *Rasaratnasamuccaya* (10.22-3).