[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Science, technology and education](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science) › [A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902) › v1.c11.t33 # A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c11.t33: Colouring of Metals A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c11.t33 - **Language:** English ### Colouring of Metals ### [v1.c11.t33.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c11.t33.1) "Iron, lead, and copper are coloured by means of calamine—the whole turns into gold." (Cf. VII. 31-34.) XII. 50 ### [v1.c11.t33.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c11.t33.2) "Mercury is composed of the five elements and represents Siva himself." II. 78 ### [v1.c11.t33.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c11.t33.3) "Take one pala of the ash of mercury and rub it with the same weight of sulphur and roast the mixture in a covered crucible : thus we get vermilion of the colour of the rising sun." XVI. 81 ### [v1.c11.t33.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c11.t33.4) "Take the vitriol which is of the colour of the throat of the peacock, saffron, calamine, as also the excrement of a young calf, the poisons, powdered \*plumbago zeylanica\*, all in equal proportions, rub them with the acids and dry in the shade. Having added honey to the above mixture, smear it on a thin sheet of lead. When roasted in a covered crucible, the lead is coloured in no time; the lead which is now of beautiful colour is fit for bedecking the persons of the gods."'¹ XVIII. 70-74 ### [v1.c11.t33.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c11.t33.5) (1) Refers probably to the "gold-like alloy used by watch-makers" into the composition o which copper, zinc and lead enter. See Roscoe and Schor., II. p. 494, ed. 1897. ## Cites (1) - [Rasaratnasamuccaya](https://indike.org/pramana/in.med.rasa.samuccaya.pramukha.rasaratnasamuccaya.12.50) — Vāgbhaṭa (alchemist), Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c11.t33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c11.t33) · Pramāṇa