A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c14.s1.5

v1.c14.s1.5

It it evident rasaka is the cadmia of Dioscorides and Pliny and tutia of the alchemists of the middle ages. The pseudo-Basil Valentine writing about 1600 A. D. uses the word zinc but "he does not appear to have classed it with the metals proper." Paracelsus mentions zinc sometimes as a metal and sometimes as a bastard or semi-metal, but it is doubtful whether he had any distinct notion of its true character specially as he says, "it has no malleability" (keine malleabilität hat er) or of the ore which yielded it.³ "Libavius was the first to investigate the properties of zinc more exactly, although he was not aware that the metal was derived from the ore known as calamine. He states that a peculiar kind of tin is found in the East Indies called Calaëm. Some of this was brought to Holland and came into his hands." (Roscoe and Schorlemmer).