No. 26, apparently the most modern of the Middle Recipes, will presently be shown to belong to the early part of the thirteenth century, and, as it does not contain saltpetre, its approximate date is 1200-1225. There is no evidence, so far as I am aware, which would enable us to fix the beginning of the Middle or the end of the Early Recipes. The matter, happily, is immaterial; it is sufficient for us to know that the former series is undoubtedly subsequent to the latter, and (as will be shown) quite independent of it.
For a reason which will appear presently, the date of the oldest of the Early Recipes depends upon the period at which Moslems began to write upon alchemy. According to Arab authorities,[139] the first Moslem who wrote on the subject was Prince Khalid ibn Yazeed ibn Moawyah, who died in 708. After him came the real Jabir, of the eighth or ninth century; but Masudi, in the tenth century, tells us that there were many other writers on alchemy whose names are now lost.[140] The very earliest date, then, that can be assigned to the oldest of the Early Recipes is the eighth century, say 750.
The three series are as follows:—
| Early Recipes, 750- ? | Middle Recipes, ? -1225. | Late Recipes, 1225-1300. |
| 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 34 | 4, 5, 11, 22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 35 | 12, 13, 14, 32, 33 |
Looking from the chemical point of view, M. Berthelot divides the recipes into six groups.[141] Those who are interested in the matter will find on examination that, chronologically, his groups harmonise perfectly with the three series given here.
The reader will observe on a cursory examination of the Latin text that most of the recipes contain foreign, i.e. non-Latin words; and this fact suggests the question, Is the Liber Ignium an original work or a translation?
The number of foreign words and allusions is so considerable as to leave little doubt that a large part of the tract was translated from some foreign language, and no one, I believe, seriously maintains that the work, as a whole, is original. From what language, then, has it been translated?
We meet with the Greek proper names Hermes, Ptolemy, Alexander and Aristotle, and with a number of Greek words which look like survivals of a Greek original. Among the most prominent are alba ceraunia (?), asphaltum,[142] bombax, cynoglossum (?), orichalcum and sarcocolla, all of which are latinised Greek words. But on looking closely into this evidence we find that it has very little weight. The Greek proper names prove nothing. Hermes and Ptolemy became common property to alchemists of all nationalities in the infancy of alchemy. Alexander the Great’s extraordinary career excited universal wonder, and the many and marvellous legends which grew round his name in the West were only surpassed by those of the East. He and his Wazir, Aristu (Aristotle), were common property long before the Liber Ignium saw the light. The Greek words give no support to the hypothesis of a Greek original unless it can be shown either that they had not previously been adopted by the Latins, or that the tract was written before they were borrowed. A particular instance will make the matter clearer. We took the word harquebus from the French at some period, say p. If harquebus occurs in an English book written after p, its presence raises no presumption that the book was in any way connected with France, or even that its author understood French. If the book was written before p, its author must have had recourse, directly or indirectly, to French sources. Now all the Greek words given above had been latinised long before the Liber Ignium was written, and might have been used by a Latin when translating from any language. Alba ceraunia, asphaltum, bombax, cynoglossum and sarcocolla are found in Pliny’s “Natural History,” first century A.D., and orichalcum occurs in the “Bragging Soldier” of Plautus about the end of the third century B.C. But it is unnecessary to continue the examination of the Greek words contained in the tract for the following reason. A hypothesis must cover all the facts of a case, and some facts in the present case are inexplicable on the theory of a Greek original.
The Greeks had three words for the asphalt family, pissa, asphaltos, and naphtha; and the translator had at least three Latin words (which he has actually used) wherewith to translate them, pix (or picula), asphaltum, and petroleum. How, then, came he to use the barbarism, alkitran Græcum, in recipe 1? The original of this phrase came from no Greek source.
We could not expect the author of the tract to reveal the secret of the sea-fire, which was only known to a few officials; but the mediæval Greeks were not an exceptionally modest people, and we naturally look for some slight allusion to this triumphant incendiary and the siphons in which it was employed. They are never referred to, although ballistæ, bows, and rockets are mentioned in recipes 10, 12, 13, 32, 33.