pseudo-Geber

The following set of books is called the "pseudo-Geber Corpus" (or the "Latin Geber Corpus").

The works were first edited in the 16th century,Alchemy and Early Modern Chemistry, Allen G. Debus, Jeremy Mills Publishing, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-9546484-1-1}}. but had been in circulation in manuscript form for roughly 200 years beforehand.

The stated author is Geber or Geber Arabs (Geber the Arab), and it is stated in some copies that the translator is Rodogerus Hispalensis (Roger of Hispania).

The works attributed to Geber include:

• {{lang|la|Summa perfectionis magisterii}} ("The Height of the Perfection of Mastery").
• {{lang|la|Liber fornacum}} ("Book of Furnaces"),
• {{lang|la|De investigatione perfectionis}} ("On the Investigation of Perfection"), and
• {{lang|la|De inventione veritatis}} ("On the Discovery of Truth").

Being the clearest expression of alchemical theory and laboratory directions available until then—in a field where mysticism, secrecy, and obscurity were the usual rule—pseudo-Geber's books were widely read and influential among European alchemists.{{cite book|last1=Holmyard|first1=E. J.|last2=Jabir|last3=Russell|first3=Richard|title=The Works of Geber|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=siLPmQew3AoC&pg=PR10|access-date=8 June 2010|date=September 1997|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=978-0-7661-0015-2}}

The {{lang|la|Summa Perfectionis}} in particular was one of the most widely read alchemy books in western Europe in the late medieval period.{{harvnb|Newman|1991}}.

Its author assumed that all metals are composed of unified sulfur and mercury corpuscles{{harvnb|Norris|2006}}. and gave detailed descriptions of metallic properties in those terms.

The use of an elixir for transmuting base metals into gold is explained (see philosopher's stone) and a lengthy defense is given defending alchemy against the charge that transmutation of metals was impossible.

The practical directions for laboratory procedures were so clear that it is obvious the author was familiar with many chemical operations. It contains early recipes for producing mineral acids.{{harvnb|Karpenko|Norris|2002|p=1002}}. It was not equaled in chemistry until the 16th century writings of chemist Vannoccio Biringuccio, mineralogist Georgius Agricola and assayer Lazarus Ercker.See German article :de:Lazarus Ercker.

The next three books on the list above are shorter and are, to a substantial degree, condensations of the material in the {{lang|la|Summa Perfectionis}}.

Two further works, {{lang|la|Testamentum Geberi}} and {{lang|la|Alchemia Geberi}}, are "absolutely spurious, being of a later date [than the other four]", as Marcellin Berthelot put it, and they are usually not included as part of the pseudo-Geber corpus.

Their author is not the same as the others, but it is not certain that the first four have the same author either.{{cite book|last=Long|first=Pamela O.|title=Openness, secrecy, authorship: technical arts and the culture of knowledge from antiquity to the Renaissance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_k91r2u6NgC|access-date=14 June 2010|year=2001|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-0-8018-6606-7|pages=146 147}}

{{lang|la|De inventione veritatis}} has the earliest known recipe for the preparation of nitric acid.

Manuscripts:

• {{lang|la|Geber Liber Fornacum translatum [...] per Rodericum Yspanensem}}, Biblioteca Marciana, Venice, MS. Latin VI.215 [3519].
• {{lang|la|Geberi Arabis Philosophi sollertissimi rerum naturalium pertissimi, liber fornacum ad exterienda [...] pertimentum interprete Rodogero Hisaplensi interprete}}, Glasgow University Library, Ferguson MS. 232.
• {{lang|la|Eejisdem 'liber fornacum', ad exercendam chemiam pertinentium, interprete Rodogero Hispalensi}}, British Library, MS Slane 1068

Early editions:

• [https://books.google.com/books?id=8fUqcQ20c34C 1525]: Faustus Sabaeus, {{lang|la|Geberis philosophi perspicacissimi Summa perfectionis magisterii in sua natura ex exemplari undecumque emendatissimi nuper edita}}, Marcellus Silber, Rome.
• 1528, [https://archive.org/details/BIUSante_06656x01 1529]: {{lang|la|Geberi philosophi de Alchimia libri tres}}, Strasbourg
• 1531: Johann Grüninger, {{lang|la|Geberi philosophi ac alchimistae maximi de alchimia libri tres}}, Strasbourg.
• [https://archive.org/details/geberisphilosoph00gebe 1541]: Peter Schoeffer the Younger, {{lang|la|Geberis philosophi perspicacissimi, summa perfectionis magisterii in sua natur ex bibliothecae Vaticanae exemplari}} ([https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009291678 hathitrust.org])
• 1545: {{lang|la|Alchemiae Gebri Arabis libri}}, Nuremberg
• 1572: {{lang|la|Artis Chemicae Principes, Avicenna atque Geber}}, Basel
• 1598: {{lang|la|Geberi Arabis de alchimia traditio}}, Strasbourg.
• 1668: Georgius Hornius, {{lang|la|Gebri Arabis Chemia sive traditio summae perfectionis et investigation magisterii}}, Leiden
• 1682: {{lang|la|Gebri, regis Arabum, summa perfectionis magisterii, cum libri invastigationis magisterii et testamenti ejusdem Gebri - et Avicennae minearlium additione}}, Gdansk

Early translations:

• 1530 Das Buch Geberi von der Verborgenheyt der Alchymia, Strasbourg
• 1551: Giovanni Bracesco, Esposizione di Geber filosofo, Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari e fratelli, Venice
• 1678: The Works Of Geber, Latin-to-English translation by Richard Russell. Book delivers most of the Pseudo-Geber corpus in English. [https://archive.org/details/WorksOfGeber It was reprinted in 1686].
• 1692: William Salmon, The Sum of GEBER ARABS, Collected and Digested: At EEBO in two parts: [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A60662.0001.001/1:10.4?rgn=div2;view=fulltext Part 1] and [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A60662.0001.001/1:10.5?rgn=div2;view=fulltext Part 2]
• 1710: Geberi curieuse vollständige Chymische Schriften, Frankfurt

Arabic alchemy was held in high esteem by 13th century European alchemists, and the author adopted the name of an illustrious predecessor, as was usual practice at the time.

The authorship of Geber (Jabir ibn Hayyan) was first questioned in the late 19th century by the studies of Kopp,Hermann Kopp, Beitraege zur Geschichte der Chemie Drittes Stueck (Braunschweig: Vieweg, 1875), 28-33n. Hoefer, Berthelot, and Lippmann. The corpus is clearly influenced by medieval Islamic writers (especially by Abu Bakr al-Razi, and to a lesser extent, the eponymous Jabir).

The identity of the author remains uncertain.

He may have lived in Italy or Spain, or both. Some books in the Geber corpus may have been written by authors that post-date the author of the {{lang|la|Summa Perfectionis}}, as most of the other books in the corpus are largely recapitulations of the {{lang|la|Summa Perfectionis}}. Crosland (1962) refers to Geber as "a Latin author" while still emphasizing the identity of the author being "still in dispute".

P. Crosland, Maurice, Historical Studies in the Language of Chemistry, Harvard University Press, 1962; republished by Dover Publications, 2004 {{ISBN|0-486-43802-3}}, {{ISBN|978-0-486-43802-3}}, p. 15 and p. 36.

William R. Newman has argued that the author of the {{lang|la|Summa perfectionis}} may have been Paul of Taranto,{{harvnb|Newman|1985a}}; {{harvnb|Newman|1985b}}; {{harvnb|Newman|1991|pp=57–103}}. a tentative identification which is often accepted as likely.E.g., by {{harvnb|Karpenko|Norris|2002|p=1002}}; {{harvnb|Norris|2006|p=52, note 48}}; {{harvnb|Principe|2013|pp=55, 223 (note 10)}}; {{harvnb|Delva|2017|p=38}}. It is opposed by {{harvnb|Al-Hassan|2009}} (also [http://www.history-science-technology.com/geber/geber%2004.html online]).

The estimated date for the first four books is 1310, and they could not date from much before that because no reference to the {{lang|la|Summa Perfectionis}} is found anywhere in the world before or during the 13th century. For example, there is no mention in the 13th century writings of Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon.[https://books.google.com/books?id=53APqy0KDaQC&q=geber History of Analytical Chemistry], by Ferenc Szabadváry (1960).

The degree of dependence of the corpus from actual Islamic sources is somewhat disputed:

Brown (1920) asserted that the pseudo-Geber Corpus contained "new and original facts" not known from Islamic alchemy, specifically mention of

nitric acid, {{lang|la|aqua regia}}, oil of vitriol and silver nitrate.Chapter VI: "The Pseudo-Geber" in [https://archive.org/details/historyofchemist00browuoft A History of Chemistry from the Earliest Times (2nd ed., 1920)], by J.C. Brown. Already in the 1920s, Eric John Holmyard criticized the claim of pseudo-Geber being "new and original" compared to medieval Islamic alchemy, arguing for direct derivation from Islamic authors."[Berthelot] deliberately wanted to underrate Jābir […], the choice of Jābir’s works made by Berthelot is entirely misleading."

"It is here that Berthelot’s ignorance of Arabic led him astray. As a matter of fact, the Summa is full of Arabic phrases and turns of speech, and so are the other Latin works", cited after Hassan (2005)

Holmyard later argued that the then-recent discovery of Jabir's The Book of Seventy diminished the weight of the argument of there being "no Arabic originals" corresponding to pseudo-Geber,[https://archive.org/details/makersofchemistr029725mbp Makers of Chemistry], by Eric John Holmyard (1931).

By 1957, Holmyard was willing to admit that "the general style of the works is too clear and systematic to find a close parallel in any of the known writings of the Jabirian corpus" and that they seemed to be "the product of an occidental rather than an oriental mind" while still asserting that the author must have been able to read Arabic and most likely worked in Moorish Spain.Eric John Holmyard, Alchemy, 1957, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7Bt-kwKRUzUC&pg=PA134 page 134]: "The question at once arises whether the Latin works are genuine translations from the Arabic, or written by a Latin author and, according to common practice, ascribed to Jabir in order to heighten their authority. That they are based on Muslim alchemical theory and practice is not questioned, but the same may be said of most Latin treatises on alchemy of that period; and from various turns of phrase it seems likely that their author could read Arabic. But the general style of the works is too clear and systematic to find a close parallel in any of the known writings of the Jabirian corpus, and we look in vain in them for any references to the characteristically Jabirian ideas of "balance" and the alphabetic numerology. Indeed for their age they have a remarkably matter of fact air about them, theory being stated with a minimum of prolixity and much precise practical detail being given. The general impression they convey is that they are the product of an occidental rather than an oriental mind, and a likely guess would be that they were written by a European scholar, possibly in Moorish Spain. Whatever their origin, they became the principal authorities in early Western alchemy and held that position for two or three centuries."

With Brown (1920), Karpenko and Norris (2002) still assert that the first documented occurrence of {{lang|la|aqua regia}} is in pseudo-Geber's {{lang|la|De inventione veritatis}}. By contrast, Ahmad Y. Al-Hassan (2005) claimed that Islamic texts dated to before the 13th century, including the works of Jabir and Abu Bakr al-Razi, did in fact contain detailed descriptions of substances such as nitric acid, {{lang|la|aqua regia}}, vitriol, and various nitrates,Ahmad Y. Al-Hassan, Cultural contacts in building a universal civilisation: Islamic contributions, published by [https://books.google.com/books?id=3iQXAQAAIAAJ O.I.C. Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture in 2005] and available [http://www.history-science-technology.com/articles/articles%2072.html online at History of Science and Technology in Islam]

and Al-Hassan in 2009 argued that the pseudo-Gerber Corpus was a direct translation of a work originally written in Arabic, pointing to a number of Arabic Jabirian manuscripts which already contain much of the theories and practices that Berthelot previously attributed to the Latin corpus.{{harvnb|Al-Hassan|2009}} (also [http://www.history-science-technology.com/geber/geber%2004.html online]).

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{cite book|last1=Al-Hassan|first1=Ahmad Y.|author1-link=Ahmad Y. al-Hassan|year=2009|chapter=The Arabic Origin of the Summa and Geber Latin Works: A Refutation of Berthelot, Ruska and Newman Based on Arabic Sources|title=Studies in al-Kimya': Critical Issues in Latin and Arabic Alchemy and Chemistry|location=Hildesheim|publisher=Georg Olms Verlag|isbn=9783487142739|pages=53–104}} (the same content and more is also available [http://www.history-science-technology.com/geber/geber.html online]; a paper with a slightly different title, "The Arabic origin of the Summa and Geber Latin works. A refutation of Berthelot, Ruska and Newman on the basis of Arabic sources", was published in 2011 in the Journal for the History of Arabic Science, 15, pp. 3–54; a paper with the same altered title appears on the [http://www.history-science-technology.com/geber/geber%2004.html author's website])
• {{cite journal|last1=Delva|first1=Thijs|date=2017|title=The Abbasid Activist Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār as the Father of Jābir b. Ḥayyān: An Influential Hypothesis Revisited|journal=Journal of Abbasid Studies|volume=4|issue=1|pages=35–61|doi=10.1163/22142371-12340030}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Karpenko|first1=Vladimír|last2=Norris|first2=John A.|year=2002|title=Vitriol in the History of Chemistry|journal=Chemické listy|volume=96|issue=12|pages=997–1005|url=http://www.chemicke-listy.cz/ojs3/index.php/chemicke-listy/article/view/2266}}
• {{cite book|last=Kraus|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Kraus (Arabist)|year=1942–1943|title=Jâbir ibn Hayyân: Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam. I. Le corpus des écrits jâbiriens. II. Jâbir et la science grecque|publisher=Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale|location=Cairo|oclc=468740510|isbn=9783487091150}}
• {{cite encyclopedia|last1=Lory|first1=Pierre|author-link=Pierre Lory|year=2008|title=Kimiā|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/kimia}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Newman|first1=William R.|author-link=William R. Newman|year=1985a|title=New Light on the Identity of Geber|journal=Sudhoffs Archiv|volume=69|issue=1|pages=76–90|jstor=20776956|pmid=2932819|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20776956}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Newman|first1=William R.|author-link=William R. Newman|year=1985b|title=The Genesis of the Summa Perfectionis|journal=Les archives internationales d'histoire des sciences|volume=35|pages=240–302}}
• {{cite book|last1=Newman|first1=William R.|author-link=William R. Newman|year=1991|title=The Summa perfectionis of Pseudo-Geber: A Critical Edition, Translation and Study|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-09464-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tZ-WXuo84ioC}}
• {{cite book|last1=Newman|first1=William R.|author-link=William R. Newman|year=2001|chapter=Experimental Corpuscular Theory in Aristotelian Alchemy: From Geber to Sennert|editor1-last=Lüthy|editor1-first=Christoph|title=Late Medieval and Early Modern Corpuscular Matter Theories|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|pages=291–329|isbn=978-90-04-11516-3}}
• {{cite book|last=Newman|first=William R.|author-link=William R. Newman|year=2006|title=Atoms and Alchemy: Chymistry and the Experimental Origins of the Scientific Revolution|location=Chicago|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0226576961}}
• {{cite journal|last=Norris|first=John|year=2006|title=The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science|journal=Ambix|volume=53|issue=1|pages=43–65|doi=10.1179/174582306X93183|s2cid=97109455}}
• {{cite book|last1=Principe|first1=Lawrence M.|author1-link=Lawrence M. Principe|year=2013|title=The Secrets of Alchemy|location=Chicago|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0226103792}}
• {{cite EB1911|last=Ross |first=Hugh Munro |wstitle=Alchemy#Literature of Alchemy|display=Alchemy § Literature of Alchemy |volume=1 |page=520}}

{{Alchemy|state=expanded}}

{{authority control}}

Category:13th-century alchemists

Category:14th-century alchemists

Category:Pseudepigraphy

Category:13th-century scientists