A philosophical and statistical history of the inventions and customes of ancient and modern nations in the manufacture and use of inebriating liquors : with the present practice of distillation in all its varieties: together with an extensive illustration of the consumption and effects of opium, and other stimulants used in the East, as substitutes for wine and spirits / By Samuel Morewood.

  • Morewood, Samuel.
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A philosophical and statistical history of the inventions and customes of ancient and modern nations in the manufacture and use of inebriating liquors : with the present practice of distillation in all its varieties: together with an extensive illustration of the consumption and effects of opium, and other stimulants used in the East, as substitutes for wine and spirits / By Samuel Morewood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    Spain, but of Saracen origin, and place him in the 8th century ; while some state, that he was a Sabeean, of Harran, in Mesopotamia. Blan- canus maintains, that he wrote in the 9th century, and that his real name was Aboii-Moussak-Ds-Chafar-AZ-Solt\—It is to be regretted, that the history of this patriarch of chemistry is so obscure. In a copy of his works, printed at Dantzic, in 1682, he is styledRex Arabum, and Indies Rex; but for what reason seems difficult to account: that he was either a prince or a king, there is no written testimony. If Geber lived in the 7th century, which is generally supposed to be the true period of Ms existence, we may the more readily give credit to the curious means employed by the Veiled Prophet to elude the vigilance of his enemies. The following is a translation of the twelfth chapter of the second book of Geber's Liber Investigationis Magisterii. The perusal of it will afford the reader an idea of the correct views entertained by that author concerning the nature of distillation. His observations run thus:— Distillation is the raising of aqueous vapour in any vessel in which it is placed. There are various modes of distillation. Some- times it is performed by means of fire, sometimes without it, By means of fire, the vapour either ascends into a vessel, or descends; such as when oil is extracted from vegetables. The object of dis- tillation is to free liquors from dregs and to preserve them fresh ; since every tiling distilled, possesses greater purity and is less liable to putrescency. The object of distillation by a still is to get water free from earthy substances, by which both medicines and spirits are injured. The motive for conducting distillation by descent is to obtain pure oil, as it cannot be raised by heat into a still. The motive for distilling by a filtre is to obtain pure water. There are two modes of distilling by fire; the one is performed in an earthen vessel full of coals or embers; the other with water in a vessel, with herbs on wood, arranged in order, lest the cucurbit, or still, be burst before it is completed. The first is conducted by a strong, the latter by a gentle and equal fire. Thus it happens, that the heavy and grosser parts are raised by the first means, whilst by the latter, we obtain a more subtile spirit, approaching nearly to the nature of com- mon water. It is well known, that when we distil oil by embers, we obtain oil without any alteration: but when we distil oil by means of water, we obtain fair and clean oil from what appeared excessively red at first. By means of water, then, we must proceed with every vegetable, and things of the same nature, to ascertain their elementary parts. By the descensive mode must we proceed with