A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c14.s1.8

v1.c14.s1.8

and tuttha are all applied to calamine, while tuttha sometimes stands for blue vitriol as well. Some writers have, however, mistaken kharpara for blue vitriol, but R. R. S. is very explicit on this point. The name tutenague by which Chinese zinc was known in commerce is evidently derived from the Tamil tatanagam. "In Persian, sulphate of zinc is called suffed (white) tutia; sulphate of copper, neela (blue) tutia; and sulphate of iron, hura (green) tutia; so, in Avicenna, different kinds are described under this name, which occurs also in Geber" (Royle). Both the Tamil tatanagam and the Persian tutia are probably corruptions of the Sanskrit word tuttham. At the beginning of the last century the Baron de Sacy was at considerable pains in tracing the history of tutia. In a note appended to certain extracts from Kazwini, the "oriental Pliny," the learned Frenchman gives the following description of tutia. The account necessarily involves some digressions on the Aristotelian theory of the formation of dew, hailstone, metals, &c., and the reader may with advantage compare it with that of the Vaiseshika Philosophy. (Chap. I, pp. 1-12).