A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v2.c34.221

v2.c34.221

Chemical compositions and decompositions—metallurgic processes.—In these writings, we frequently come across instances of chemical composition and decomposition, by processes, more or less crude, of calcination, distillation, sublimation, steaming, fixation, etc. ( भस्मीकरण, अध:पातन, ऊर्ध्वपातन, स्वेदन, स्तम्भन etc. ) e. g. the preparation of perchloride of mercury by taking common salt and mercury ( र सकपूर—पारदस्य श्वेत-भस्मीकरणे चन्द्रकाकार: ); of sulphide of mercury ( हिङ्गुल ) by taking sulphur and mercury; of Sindúra from lead ( सिन्दूरं नागसम्भवम् — Amara-kosha ) ;—of the medicinal compounds, Svarna-sindúra and Rasasindúra, with mercury, sulphur and gold, where gold may have been fancied to influence the resulting compound in some mysterious way, either as a ‘dynamic’ or as a catalytic ;—also the extraction by chemical decomposition of mercury from sulphide of mercury ( हिङ्गुल, —vide रसरत्नसमुच्चय ); of copper from sulphate of copper ( तुत्थ, सस्यक ) by heating this substance with one-fourth of its weight of borax ( Rasaratna-samuchchaya,—cf. Bhávaprakása, तुत्थ