Quicksilver or mercury is also called zawuq, whence the verbal noun, are washed over with quicksilver so as to pass as legal tender are designated as muzabbaqat. It was not a long while ago that thick
dirhams whose edges were smooth and black like the pans of weighing instruments were current; they were called muzabbaqah.
It is said that these coins were made from the mercury separated from sand. The coins are current in Makka. Transactions through them were discontinued during Hajj so that all the gold and silver that was with the pilgrims could be acquired. They again came into use with the departure of the pilgrims or the ringed dinars were employed as tender.
When heated upon fire in conjunction with sulphur, it yields cinnabar. Sulphur removes its liquidness and produces redness in it. Lead, in much the same way, on being calcined is converted into red lead. Both are designated sometimes as sanjfiryyah which is made from quicksilver.
The prefix, Rumi (Greek), is added to such a compound, as it was fetched from Rome (Greece and Byzantine) in the early times. But now only red lead is produced in that part.
Quicksilver is averse to fire except if it is kept in a hot spatula when it stays there for quite some time. The reason for this is that like water, quicksilver is a liquid, and fire sublimes it into vapours. When it has assumed its original form like water vapours which have condensed into water after the temperature has come down, the quicksilver collects into tight and narrow crevices. It can easily force its entry into objects that can melt facilely, but not so facilely into iron. It tears gold into pieces, both through its material form and its odour. Its odour, if it reaches a gold piece that lies at a considerable distance from it, is carried by the ambient air, and it tears that gold piece apart. In fact, its odour is deleterious to artisans and goldsmiths. It generates wastage of the body, inflammation and paralysis.
Since it carries a poor association with iron, helmets and shields are washed with it in conjunction with gold. At first an alloy of gold and later that of silver is plated over it. Galen could not determine its origin— as to whether it is a mineral object or is made like ceruse and litharge.
Ibn Mandaway quotes the authority of Masarjawayh to say that it is not natural but man-made. Other authors write that it is made from lead, which is erroneous since it is taken out of red stones (cinnabar). These stones are heated upon fire till they burst, and the quicksilver begins to pour forth out of the perforations. Some people bruise these stones, and distil them. Quicksilver settles down, with all the stones floating over it but for gold which settles down because of its heavy weight. This is not because quicksilver, clinging to it, draws it towards itself as some would have us believe. When we experimented upon this phenomenon through certain methods, we found this to be due to its gravity.
As we have regarded 100 of the ghubari ruby as the standard measure of weight for precious stones, we shall have pure gold as the standard measure for this metal. An equivalent weight of the quicksilver in relation to the weight of gold is 71.
It is God Who prospers and assists.
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dirhams whose edges were smooth and black like the pans of weighing instruments were current; they were called muzabbaqah.
It is said that these coins were made from the mercury separated from sand. The coins are current in Makka. Transactions through them were discontinued during Hajj so that all the gold and silver that was with the pilgrims could be acquired. They again came into use with the departure of the pilgrims or the ringed dinars were employed as tender.
When heated upon fire in conjunction with sulphur, it yields cinnabar. Sulphur removes its liquidness and produces redness in it. Lead, in much the same way, on being calcined is converted into red lead. Both are designated sometimes as sanjfiryyah which is made from quicksilver.
The prefix, Rumi (Greek), is added to such a compound, as it was fetched from Rome (Greece and Byzantine) in the early times. But now only red lead is produced in that part.
Quicksilver is averse to fire except if it is kept in a hot spatula when it stays there for quite some time. The reason for this is that like water, quicksilver is a liquid, and fire sublimes it into vapours. When it has assumed its original form like water vapours which have condensed into water after the temperature has come down, the quicksilver collects into tight and narrow crevices. It can easily force its entry into objects that can melt facilely, but not so facilely into iron. It tears gold into pieces, both through its material form and its odour. Its odour, if it reaches a gold piece that lies at a considerable distance from it, is carried by the ambient air, and it tears that gold piece apart. In fact, its odour is deleterious to artisans and goldsmiths. It generates wastage of the body, inflammation and paralysis.
Since it carries a poor association with iron, helmets and shields are washed with it in conjunction with gold. At first an alloy of gold and later that of silver is plated over it. Galen could not determine its origin— as to whether it is a mineral object or is made like ceruse and litharge.
Ibn Mandaway quotes the authority of Masarjawayh to say that it is not natural but man-made. Other authors write that it is made from lead, which is erroneous since it is taken out of red stones (cinnabar). These stones are heated upon fire till they burst, and the quicksilver begins to pour forth out of the perforations. Some people bruise these stones, and distil them. Quicksilver settles down, with all the stones floating over it but for gold which settles down because of its heavy weight. This is not because quicksilver, clinging to it, draws it towards itself as some would have us believe. When we experimented upon this phenomenon through certain methods, we found this to be due to its gravity.
As we have regarded 100 of the ghubari ruby as the standard measure of weight for precious stones, we shall have pure gold as the standard measure for this metal. An equivalent weight of the quicksilver in relation to the weight of gold is 71.
It is God Who prospers and assists.
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