Alembic
The Alembik or Alambik (also alembic, Alambique, Alembic; Latin Alembicus ) or distillation helmet , in short also helmet , or Brennhut , in Alchemy also Caput Mauri , capitellum or Galea called, is a vessel for the separation of substances by heating and then cooling ( Distillation ). Similar to the retort , the alembic has a long tube that runs downwards to the side, through which the distillate can drain into a collecting vessel. However, the bottom of the alembic is open so that he linked to the stills can be inserted.
history
The name of the alembic (Middle High German alembic ) is derived from the Latin alembicus (also alambicum ) from the Arabic al-Anbiq (الأنبيق), which in turn originates from the Arabic article al and the Greek word ambyx (ἄμβυξ) for vessel (later ambīk , cup , Pot, still).
The " distillatio " was one of the basic processes of medieval alchemy . In the Hermetic Scriptures , the alembic, which was used to distill the elixir , the ether or the essence of a substance, was seen as a miniature cosmos in which the distilled substances ascend from earth to heaven.
The process of distillation was already in use with the Egyptians and in ancient Greece for the production of essential oils . Originally, parts of plants were heated in an open kettle over which wool was spread out in several layers on a grid . The rising vapors condensed in the wool layers and the water-oil mixture could now be pressed out and separated. The Arabs refined this process - presumably in the 9th or 10th century - with the invention of the alembic by attaching a helmet-like lid with an inner gutter for the condensate over the kettle . The steam rising from the heated liquid condensed on the walls of the attachment, the condensate collected in its lower edge and flowed off through the beak-like spout into a collecting vessel.
Further development
Water cooling was used in the improved apparatus. Either the cooling pipe was lengthened and passed through a barrel of cold water, or there was a large bowl of water around the still. This device was called the Mauren head (Latin: caput mauri , French: tête de maure ), because the cooling bowl looked like a turban.
materials
The alembic was mostly made of copper because of the cooling effect , but sometimes also of ceramic or glass . The devices were used in chemical processes until the 19th century . Similar devices, for example the still pot in whiskey production, are still used today for the distillation of brandy or essential oils .
- photos
Alembic; Illustration in a medieval manuscript
Alembic from Tabriz , 13th century
Alembic. Small distilling book 1500
Ranbiki from Japan of the Edo period with a water-cooled head
Alembic in East Timor
Namesake
The name of an apple brandy is derived from the term alembic , Lambig - the Breton variant of Calvados .
See also
Web links
(Polish)
- www.alembik.de
- Alembic of Zosimos (Greek alchemist who died in the 4th century)
literature
- Eduard Gildemeister & Friedrich Hoffmann: The essential oils . Volume 1. Schimmel & Co. AG, Leipzig 1929, pp. 222-262 ( abstract ).
- Gerhard Pfeiffer: Technological development of stills from the late Middle Ages to modern times . Dissertation, Regensburg 1986.
- Hermann Schelenz: On the history of the pharmaceutical-chemical stills . Springer Verlag, Miltitz near Berlin 1911 (Reprint: Georg Olms, Hildesheim 1964)
Individual evidence
- ^ Robert James Forbes: A Short History of the Art of Distillation: from the beginnings up to the death of Cellier Blumenthal . EJ Brill, Leyden 1948 (Reprint 1970), p. 23.
- ↑ Hjalmar Frisk : Greek etymological dictionary. 3 volumes. Heidelberg 1960–1972; Reprint ibid 1973 (= Indo-European Library, 2nd series. ), Volume 1, p. 89 f. ( ambix , ambon ).
- ^ Karl Lokotsch : Etymological dictionary of European (Germanic, Romanic and Slavic) words of oriental origin (= Indo-European library. Department 1: Collection of Indo-European text and handbooks. Series 2: Dictionaries. Volume 3, ZDB -ID 843768-3 ). Winter, Heidelberg 1927, pp. 7 f., No. 79.
- ↑ Distilling article by T. Seilnacht on the history of stills.
- ↑ Lambig - Calvados from Brittany