ALEMBIC (Arab. al, definite article, anbiq, a still; cognate to the Gr. agOtE, a cup)

This article appears in Volume V01, Page 540 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: AJA-ALL

ALEMBIC (Arab. al, definite article, anbiq, a still; cognate to the Gr. agOtE, a cup) , an apparatus for

distillation

DISTILLATION (from the Lat. distillare, more correctly destillare, to drop or trickle down)

, used chiefly by the alchemists, and now superseded by the

retort

RETORT (Lat. retorquere, to twist or turn back)

and the worm-still. It varied considerably in form and construction, but consisted essentially of three partsa

vessel

VESSEL (O. Fr. vaissel, from a rare Lat. vascellum, dim. of vas,
vase
- VASE
- VASE (through Fr. from Lat. vas, a vessel, pl.
  vasa
  - VASA, or NIKOLAISTAD
  , of which the singular vasum is rarely found; the ultimate
  root
  - ROOT (late O.E. rot, adopted from Scand., cf. Norw. and Swed. rot, Dan. rod; the true O.E. word was wyrt, plant, represented in Ger. Wurz or Wurzel; the ultimate root is the same in both words, and is seen in Lat. radix)
  - ROOT, ELIHU (1845– )
  is probably was-, to cover, seen in Lat: vestis, clothing, Eng. " vest," Gr. to-th c, and also in " wear," of garments)
, urn)

containing the material to be distilled and called, from its

gourd

GOURD

-like shape, the cucurbit or mattrass; a

vessel

VESSEL (O. Fr. vaissel, from a rare Lat. vascellum, dim. of vas,
vase
- VASE
- VASE (through Fr. from Lat. vas, a vessel, pl.
  vasa
  - VASA, or NIKOLAISTAD
  , of which the singular vasum is rarely found; the ultimate
  root
  - ROOT (late O.E. rot, adopted from Scand., cf. Norw. and Swed. rot, Dan. rod; the true O.E. word was wyrt, plant, represented in Ger. Wurz or Wurzel; the ultimate root is the same in both words, and is seen in Lat. radix)
  - ROOT, ELIHU (1845– )
  is probably was-, to cover, seen in Lat: vestis, clothing, Eng. " vest," Gr. to-th c, and also in " wear," of garments)
, urn)

to receive and condense the vapour, called the head or

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

; and a receiver for the spirit, connected by a

pipe

PIPE

with the

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

. The entire apparatus was sometimes constructed of

glass

, but it was more usual to make the cucurbit of copper or earthenware; and the capital alone of

glass

.

End of Article: ALEMBIC (Arab. al, definite article, anbiq, a still; cognate to the Gr. agOtE, a cup)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/AJA_ALL/ALEMBIC_Arab_al_definite_artic.html">
ALEMBIC (Arab. al, definite article, anbiq, a s...
</a>

(Previous)
ALEMBERT, JEAN LE ROND

(Next)
ALEMTEJO (i.e. " Beyond the Tagus ")

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email