Copper in Ancient India c10.s3.1

c10.s3.1

Zinc appears to have been prepared in India, as has been stated above, at a much earlier period than in Europe. In Europe "the word zinc is first found in the writings of Paracelsus (16th century) who has pointed out that zinc was a metal." According to W. Hommel, however, "the name zinc is erroneously attributed to Basil Valentine and the discovery of the metal to Paracelsus, for the identification of zinc as the metal from blende was only accomplished by Homberg in 1695."¹