Cairo Genizah : Alchemy

Cairo Genizah

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Alchemical recipes, with titles. Recto: description of the whitening of copper with lead, prescribing the pounding of yellow arsenic, mercury and yellow sulphur together, their cooking and purification. The preparation obtained must be projected on copper that has been purified with fire. Line 14: description of the ‘Great Work’ (i.e. metallic transmutation), including operations on mercury, sulphur and arsenic. Authoritative opinions are reported under the name ‘the Gentleman’ - al-ustādh (recto, line 13) and al-shaikh (verso, lines 1 and 6).</p>