ready for conveyance to market.

“Large quantities of this salt are used by the nomad population, and a
good deal is taken to Kandahar. The quantity turned out here must
annually be very great. The salt pits extend over at least ten miles of
the country we traversed, and we certainly saw some thousands of pits.”


From what I have laid before you, it will be seen that I am strongly of
opinion that we must go far beyond the time of Geber or the Arabian
school for the origin of our science. The study of the question of its
antiquity leads up to such remote times that there is little probability
of any date being assigned to its beginning, and to some it may appear
but a waste of time to indulge in researches upon the subject; but it
has a fascination peculiar to itself, and, in addition, brings before
our minds so many phases in the philosophical thought of the world, that
it will no doubt long continue to exercise the minds and attract the
attention of chemists.

In the course of my own study of the subject, I have felt much
dissatisfied with the derivation of the name chemistry or alchemy, as it
is given in all works to which I have had access. It is said to be
derived from a word meaning dark, hidden, black, and from the ancient
name for Egypt, but to my own mind this is an unsatisfactory
explanation, and seeking for another more consonant with the character
of the science, I think I have found it in quite a different direction.

It is well known that in the old Hindoo philosophy there were recognized
five elementary bodies or rather types. These were Water, Fire, Ether,
Earth, and Air, and the system of Menu, of which the antiquity is