Taslimi, M; (1954) An examination of the Nihayat Al-Talab and the determination of its place and value in the history of Islamic chemistry. Doctoral thesis , University of London.

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Abstract

In 1923 there was published the Arabic text of K. al-Muktasab an alchemical work of the thirteenth century written by al-'Iraqi, with a translation and introduction by Dr. E. J. Holmyard. Jildaki, an alchemist of the fourteenth. century, wrote his great work, Nihayat al-Talab as a voluminous commentary on K. al-Muktasab. The present thesis is an attempt to examine the contents of the Nihayat and determine its place and value in the history of Islamic chemistry. The importance of the Nihayat lies in the main in its lengthy quotations from earlier authors whose works are not now extant. It is valuable also because it gives a clear account of the more important alchemical theories and tenets prevalent among the Muslim writers of the Middle Ages. The copy of the Nihayat which I have used consists of three quarto volumes amounting altogether to 1067 pages. The account given of each volume in the present thesis is not in proportion to its size, which is almost the same for all the three volumes; an attempt has been made to exclude, as far as possible, any unnecessary repetitions, and thus the account given of the third volume is only half the size of that of the first. In the course of the Introduction a summary has been given of the theoretical and philosophical views of Jildaki; and an extensive Index has been prepared to facilitate detailed reference to the very large number of subjects mentioned in the thesis.

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