Sulfur-mercury theory of metals (Jabir)
Teoría azufre-mercurio de los metales y química experimental de Yabir
- Date
- c. 850-950 · confidence low
- Place
- Kufa, Iraq
- Credited to
- Jabirian corpus (attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan; mostly compiled in the late 9th and early 10th centuries)
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
The Jabirian corpus systematises laboratory techniques (distillation, crystallisation, sublimation, calcination) and proposes that metals form from sulphur and mercury in different proportions. It introduces quantitative experimentation as a method.
Jabir's historical authorship is doubtful; much of the corpus was written in the 9th-10th centuries.
What it led to
- Islamic and Latin alchemy
- Discovery of mineral acids
- Experimental method in chemistry
Built on
- Alexandrian alchemy
- Greek-to-Arabic translations
Made possible
- Iatrochemistry and dose-response principlec. 1530
- purified sal ammoniac
- vitriols
- caustic alkalis