The complete distilling apparatus consists of three parts: the "cucurbit" (Arabic: ḳarʿa; Greek: βῖκος, bîkos), the still pot containing the liquid to be distilled, which is heated by a flame; the "head" or "cap" (إِنْبِيق, ʾinbīq; Greek ἄμβιξ, ambix) which fits over the mouth of the cucurbit to receive the vapors, with an attached downward-sloping "tube" (σωλήν, sōlēn); and the "receiver" (قَابِلَة, qābila; ἄγγος, angos or φιάλη, phialē) container. In the case of another distilling vessel, the retort, the "cap" and the "cucurbit" have been combined to form a single vessel. The anbik is also called the raʾs (head) of the cucurbit. The liquid in the cucurbit is heated or boiled; the vapour rises into the anbik, where it cools by contact with the walls and condenses, running down the spout into the receiver. A modern descendant of the alembic is the pot still, used to produce distilled beverages.
History
Alembics from a 1606 alchemy book
Dioscorides's ambix, described in his De materia medica (c. 50 C.E.), is a helmet-shaped lid for gathering condensed mercury. For Athenaeus (c. 225 C.E.) it is a bottle or flask. For later chemists it denoted various parts of crude distillation devices.
Alembic drawings appear in works of Cleopatra the Alchemist (3rd century B.C.E.), Zosimos of Panopolis (c. 300 C.E.), and Synesius (c. 373 – c. 414 C.E.). There were alembics with two (dibikos) and three (tribikos) receivers.[4] According to Zosimos of Panopolis, the alembic was invented by Mary the Jewess.[5]
The anbik is described by Ibn al-Awwam in his Kitab al-Filaha (Book of Agriculture), where he explains how rose-water is distilled. Amongst others, it is mentioned in the Mafatih al-Ulum (Key of Sciences) of Khwarizmi and the Kitab al-Asrar (Book of Secrets) of al-Razi. Some illustrations occur in the Latin translations of works which are attributed to Geber.[2]
The Unicode character set specifies three symbols for alembics. The pictograms ⚗, ⚗️, and the ancient alchemical symbol 🝪. The latter is part of the newer UCS-4 addition that includes other ideographs like emojis and thus may not appear correctly on older browsers.
^Marcellin Berthelot (1889), Introduction à l'étude de la chimie des anciens et du moyen âge, Steinheil, pp. 132, 135–142, 161–16
^Edmund Lippmann (1919), Entstehung und Ausbreitung der Alchemie, Springer, pp. 48–49
External links
The dictionary definition of alembic at Wiktionary
February 25, 2023
alembic, this, article, about, alchemical, stills, other, uses, disambiguation, alembic, from, arabic, الإنبيق, romanized, inbīq, originating, from, ancient, greek, ἄμβιξ, romanized, ambix, beaker, alchemical, still, consisting, vessels, connected, tube, used,. This article is about alchemical stills For other uses see Alembic disambiguation An alembic from Arabic الإنبيق romanized al inbiq originating from Ancient Greek ἄmbi3 romanized ambix cup beaker 1 2 3 is an alchemical still consisting of two vessels connected by a tube used for distillation of liquids Picture of an alembic from a medieval manuscript Contents 1 Description 2 History 3 Unicode 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksDescription EditThe complete distilling apparatus consists of three parts the cucurbit Arabic ḳarʿa Greek bῖkos bikos the still pot containing the liquid to be distilled which is heated by a flame the head or cap إ ن ب يق ʾinbiq Greek ἄmbi3 ambix which fits over the mouth of the cucurbit to receive the vapors with an attached downward sloping tube swlhn sōlen and the receiver ق اب ل ة qabila ἄggos angos or fialh phiale container In the case of another distilling vessel the retort the cap and the cucurbit have been combined to form a single vessel The anbik is also called the raʾs head of the cucurbit The liquid in the cucurbit is heated or boiled the vapour rises into the anbik where it cools by contact with the walls and condenses running down the spout into the receiver A modern descendant of the alembic is the pot still used to produce distilled beverages History Edit Alembics from a 1606 alchemy book Dioscorides s ambix described in his De materia medica c 50 C E is a helmet shaped lid for gathering condensed mercury For Athenaeus c 225 C E it is a bottle or flask For later chemists it denoted various parts of crude distillation devices Alembic drawings appear in works of Cleopatra the Alchemist 3rd century B C E Zosimos of Panopolis c 300 C E and Synesius c 373 c 414 C E There were alembics with two dibikos and three tribikos receivers 4 According to Zosimos of Panopolis the alembic was invented by Mary the Jewess 5 The anbik is described by Ibn al Awwam in his Kitab al Filaha Book of Agriculture where he explains how rose water is distilled Amongst others it is mentioned in the Mafatih al Ulum Key of Sciences of Khwarizmi and the Kitab al Asrar Book of Secrets of al Razi Some illustrations occur in the Latin translations of works which are attributed to Geber 2 Alembic of Zosimos of Panopolis Modern alembic Large charentais type alembic for distilling spirits Copper retort Glass alembic Alembic metalwork in the staircase at the Chemical Faculty of Gdansk University of Technology 1904Unicode EditThe Unicode character set specifies three symbols for alembics The pictograms and the ancient alchemical symbol The latter is part of the newer UCS 4 addition that includes other ideographs like emojis and thus may not appear correctly on older browsers See also EditAludelReferences Edit M Ullmann 1986 AL KiMIYA The Encyclopaedia of Islam vol 5 2nd ed Brill p 111b ISBN 90 04 07819 3 a b E Wiedemann M Plessner 1986 AL ANBiḲ The Encyclopaedia of Islam vol 1 2nd ed Brill p 486a ISBN 90 04 08114 3 Henry Liddell Robert Scott eds 1897 ἄmbi3 A Greek English Lexicon 8th ed Harper amp Brothers p 73 Marcellin Berthelot 1889 Introduction a l etude de la chimie des anciens et du moyen age Steinheil pp 132 135 142 161 16 Edmund Lippmann 1919 Entstehung und Ausbreitung der Alchemie Springer pp 48 49External links Edit The dictionary definition of alembic at Wiktionary Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Alembic amp oldid 1129066082, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
