L’alchimie arabe dans le fihrist

In the l0th book of his Fihrist, Ibn An-Nadîm presents us with a good idea of the scale of knowledge possessed by Arab alchemy in the l0th. century. He lays the foundations of a certain number of specific inquiries, and also of some commonplaces, that were to survive until late in both East and West. He lists Greek sources, and in this respect he is often well informed. He then presents a catalogue of the most important Arab alchemists that contemporary Western researchers have endeavoured to rediscover and analyse, particularly with reference to Djabîr and his Mizân theory. Some quotations from these texts demonstrate the tone of the kutûb and, at the same time, provide the essential foundations for his theories based on the primary elements, the four properties, the mizân of weights and the value of letters. There are a number of interpretations in existence concerning the life and work of Djabîr. Medieval science knew one "Geber", but he may well have had his ancestry among a number of individuals, either real or fictitious. In the middle of the 16th century it was still possible to produce translations into German of books attributed to him. A rapid overview of the techniques and equipment used by Arab alchemists in their laboratories will underline the high technological level which they had attained. However, most of their interest remained focussed on the mystic-religious (and sometimes magic) interpretation of their quest.