The case of Zinjafr in the medical and mineralogical texts of medieval Persia: a puzzle created in the absence of the concept of chemical elements

An examination of some of the writings in the medical and mineralogical texts of Persia in the Middle Ages, written in the Arabic language during the caliphate period, revealed an inconsistency concerning the modern chemical identity of the substance called zinjafr, which was recognized as a medication for wounds, burns, mange, and cavities. Although some of the literature identified it as the important ore cinnabar (red mercury(II) sulfide), some questioned that identification or even ambiguously described it as a substance produced from lead. A modern chemical study was conducted and identified the latter substance as minium (trilead tetraoxide). The reason for the medieval authors not distinguishing between those two compounds is discussed and the fact that the dictionaries of modern written Arabic commonly have the words zinjafr and cinnabar listed as equivalents is also explored. Further, the ability of Arabic alchemy to distinguish between cinnabar and minium is assessed in light of modern chemistry.

Graphical abstract

A 1973 Soviet postage stamp celebrating the 1000th anniversary of al-Biruni’s birth (https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slika:Biruni-russian.jpg).