[Footnote 69: Dr. Watson, (Elements of Chemistry, vol. i. p.
17, &c.) allows the original merit of the Arabians. Yet he
quotes the modest confession of the famous Geber of the ixth
century, (D'Herbelot, p. 387,) that he had drawn most of his
science, perhaps the transmutation of metals, from the
ancient sages. Whatever might be the origin or extent of
their knowledge, the arts of chemistry and alchemy appear to
have been known in Egypt at least three hundred years before
Mahomet, (Wotton's Reflections, p. 121 - 133. Pauw,
Recherches sur les Egyptiens et les Chinois, tom. i. p. 376
- 429.) Note: Mr. Whewell (Hist. of Inductive Sciences, vol.
i. p. 336) rejects the claim of the Arabians as inventors of
the science of chemistry. "The formation and realization of
the notions of analysis and affinity were important steps in
chemical science; which, as I shall hereafter endeavor to
show it remained for the chemists of Europe to make at a
much later period." - M.]