A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c16.s3.8

v1.c16.s3.8

The term “drāvaka” (solvent) seems to have been expressly coined to do duty for the mineral acids. We have seen all along that in the older works drāvaka was used invariably in the sense of solvent or flux (see p. 130) but never in the sense of a mineral acid, the knowledge of which seems to have spread both in the East and the West almost simultaneously. The regular application of the mineral acids to technical operations dates from the time of the Emperor Akbar or perhaps a little earlier. Thus in the *A'in-i-A'kbari* under the “Method of Refining Silver” mention is made of the use of *rasi* (aqua fortis). It is not easy to make out how much of the processes of the assay of gold and silver as described in the *A'in* is of Hindu origin.