The oldest method of producing chemically pure substances, distillation,
is the most ancient of the techniques used in applied chemistry.
Methods of distillation developed from those used four hundred years
ago are used widely today. From the purification of acids to the
production of perfumes, this chemical separation process is an integral
part of procedures in chemistry and chemical engineering. This exhibition
traces the development of the distillation process and apparatus.
The word "distillation" is used to describe the physical
separation of a mixture, containing at least two compounds, into
two or more parts. The compounds involved must have different vapor
pressures at a given temperature, and therefore different boiling
points. The application of heat causes the compound with the lower
boiling point (higher vapor pressure) to begin evaporating first,
leaving the compound with the higher boiling temperature behind.
This evaporated fraction is recovered by cooling the vapors in order
to condense the compound boiled out of the original mixture.
This principle has been applied to separation processes since antiquity,
when perfumes, alcohols, and water were distilled. An example of
a modern application of distillation is petroleum refining, where
compounds such as gasoline, kerosene, and home heating oil are separated
through the use of distillation. The pharmaceutical industry stimulated
the greatest experimentation and variety of apparatuses, as chemists
attempted to isolate and concentrate complex compounds as cures
for illnesses. Distillation devices, or stills, were used by alchemists
in their quest to transform base metals into gold. Alchemists pioneered
the manufacture of acids, which bacame another important application
of the distillation process. Later industrial production of acids
involved the use of alembics often as large as an adult, such as
the one depicted in William Y-Worth's The complete distiller,
1705.
Desalination is another use of distillation. Stephen Hale's treatise
Instructions pour les mariniers, published in 1740 for sailors,
demonstrates the importance of this process in areas without a sufficient
supply of fresh water.
Over the centuries, apparatus used in this purification process
has remained remarkably unchanged. A modern distillation column
comsists of a space for contacting vapor and liquid streams, a source of heat to drive the separation process, and a cooler/condenser
to recover the evaporated fraction. The main portion of the ancient
apparatus was the alembic, which held the mixture to be heated and
separated, while a retort was located in a cooler place to collect
the evaporated products of the distillation process. The heating
unit is an essential part of the chemical apparatus. In the Middle
Ages, it consisted of a brick furnace or water bath, and this too
has shown little change. Illustrations of furnaces in their earliest
forms may be seen in the writings of Pietri Andrea Mattioli and
Hieronymous Brunschwig. Later set-ups used cooling coils and vessels
designed to capture fractions possessing different properties and
compositions. Materials used in the construction of early stills
were often rather crude, consisting of stone and rough metallic
ores. Dramatic improvements came during the Renaissance as the glass
industry in Italy flourished.
Distillation under reduced pressure was first described by Robert
Boyle in The sceptical chemist, 1680, although the discovery
of the vacuum pump dates from 1654. Otto von Guericke published
his Experimenta nova, 1672, to document his discovery. Vacuum
distillation permists the separation of compounds with very high
boiling points to be carried our at much lower temperatures, thereby
reducing the amount of heat needed to achieve separation.
Printing stimulated the exchange of knowledge at an increased rate.
Andreas Libavius, credited with having written the first chemical
textbook, Opera e dispersis passim optimum autorum, 1597,
experimented in iatrochemistry (medical chemistry) and acids. The
appearance of chemical textbooks and dictionaries in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries attracted interest to applied chemistry.
Nicholas Lémery, whose Cours de chymie, first published
in 1675, went through many editions in various languages, was one
of the leaders in early chemical education.
Technical illustrations help us to understand the procedures and
equipment in use at a particular time. When viewing images of early
apparatus, however, one must always keep in mind the possibility
of inaccuracies or anachronisms. Several images depict apparatus
which were never able to function as described in their accompanying
text. In addition, illustrations were usually adapted to conform
to modern procedures and formulae. For example, images appearing
in editions of Raymond Llull and Joannes de Rupescissa, both Spaniards
who lived in the Middle Ages, were in all likelihood modernized
to correspond with procedures of their later publishers' time and
country. Also, Summa perfectionis), the work of Jabir ibn
Hayyan, or Geber as he was commonly known by Europeans, a twelfth-or
thirteenth-century chemist, provides insight into medieval chemical
knowledge, but the illustrations depict a seventeenth-century interpretation.
Checklist: EARLY
WORKS
Jabir ibn Hayyan.
[Geber] Gebri, regis arabum philosophi perspicacissmi, summa
perfectionis magisterii in sua natura.... Gedani: Apud Brunonem
Laurentium Tancken, 1682. Bound with: Giovanni Braccesco. La espositione
di Geber philosopho di misser Giouanni Bracescho.... In Vinetia:
Appresso Gabriel Giolito di Ferrarii, 1544.
Dioscorides Pedanius, of Anazarbos.
Kräuterbuch des uralten unnd in aller Welt berühmtesten
griechischen Scribenten Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei....
Issued with: H. Brunschwig Kunst zu destillieren, und dann
dem heylsamen und vielfaltigen Gebrauch... Gedruckt zu Franckfurt
am Mayn: Durch Erasinum Kempffern, verlegung Conrad Corthoys,
1614.
Llull, Ramón (d. 1315).
Sacri Doctoris Raymundi Lulii De secretis nature siue De quinta
essentia libellus. [s.l.]: Excusum Auguste Vindelicoru[m],
1518.
------. Raimvndi Lvlii Maiorici, philosophi acutissimi,
medici[que] celeberrimi.... Venetiis: Apud Petrum Schœffer,
1542.
"Liber de famulata philosophiæ de consideratione
quintæ essentiæ." Manuscript, 14th century (Italy?).
Attributed to Joannes de Rupescissa (fl. 1328-1365).
Joannes de Rupescissa (fl. 1328-1365).
De consideratione quintæ essentiæ rerum omnium.
Basileæ: [s.n., 1561].
Hieronymus Brunschwig (ca. 1450-ca. 1512).
Liber de arte distulandi [sic] simplicia et composita....
Gedruckt zu Strassburg: Vo[n] Johan Grüniger, 1509.
-----. New vollkomen Distillierbuch.... Gedruckt
zu Franckfurt am Mayn: Bey Christian Egenolffs Erben, 1597.
Philippus Ulstadius (fl. 1500-1550?).
Coelvm philosophorvm, sev, De secretis natvræ liber.
Argentoragi: Arte & imprensa Iohannis Grienynger, 1526.
-----. Coelvm philosophorvm, sev, Secreta natvræ.
Parisiis: Væneunt apud Viuantium Gaultnerot, 1543.
Vannuccio Biringucci (1480-1539?).
De la pirotechnia. [Veneto]: [s.n.], 1540.
Paracelsus (1493-1541).
Avreoli Theophrasti Paracelsi, summi philosophi ac medici....
Basileæ: Per Petrvm Pernam, 1573.
Georg Agricola (1494-1555).
Georgii Agricolæ De re metallica libri XII.... Basileæ:
[Apvd Hieron Frobenivm et Nicolavm Episcopivm], 1556.
Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1500-1577).
Petri Andreæ Matthioli senensis medici.... Venetiis:
Ex Officina Valgrisiana, 1565.
-----. L'arte distillatoria overo.... In
Venetia: Presso Leonardo Pittoni, 1681.
Konrad Gesner (1516-1565).
Thesavrvs euonymi philiatri de remediis secretis. Tigvri:
per Andream Gessnerum f., 1554.
-----. The newe iewell of health.... [London]:
Printed at London by Henrie Denham, 1576.
-----. Qvatre livres des secrets de medecine....
A Roven: Chez Pierre Calles, 1616.
Jean Liébault (ca. 1535-1596).
Trois livres de l'embellissement et ornement dv corps humain.
A Paris: Chez Iacques du Puys, 1582.
Lazarus Ercker (d. 1594).
Beschreibung allerfürnemisten mineralischen Ertzt vnnd
Berckwercks Arten.... [Prague]: Gedruckt zu Prag inn der Alten
Stadt durch Georgen Schwartz, 1574.
Camillo Ferrara (fl. 1596).
Nvova selva di cirvgia: divisa in tre parti.... In Roma:
Appresso Sulpitio Mancini, 1598.
Giambattista della Porta (1535?-1615).
Magiæ natvralis, sive, de miraculis rervm natvralium:
libri IIII. Lugduni: apud Gul. Rovillium, 1569.
-----. Io. Bapt. Portæ Neapolitani Magiæ
natvralis: libri XX. Neapoli: Apud Horatium Saluianum, 1589.
-----. Io. Bap. Portæ Neapolitani De distillatione
lib. IX. Romæ: ex typographia Reu. Cameræ Apostolicæ,
1608. Bound with: Ioan. Baptistæ Portæ Neapolitani
De mvnitione libri III. Neapoli: Apud Io. Iacobum Carlinum,
& Co[n]stantinum Vitalem, 1608.
Girolamo Rossi (1539-1607).
Hieronymi Rubei Ravenn. De destillatione liber.... Ravennæ:
Ex typographia Francisci Thebaldini, 1582.
Andreas Libavius (d. 1616).
Alchymistische Practic, das ist, von künstlicher Zubereytung
der vornembsten chymischen Medicinen.... Getruckt zu Franckfort
am Mayn: Bey Johann Saurn in Verlegung Petri Kopffen, 1603.
-----. Alchymia Andreæ Libavii, recognita,
emendata, et aucta, tum dogmatibus & experimentis nonnullis....
Francofvrti: Excudebat Joannes Saurius, impensis Petri Kopffii,
1606.
----. Syntagmatis selectorvm vndiqvaqve et perspicve
traditorvm alchymiæ ar canorum. Francofvrti: Excudebat
Nicolaus Hoffmannus, impensis Petri Kopffii, 1613-1615.
Otto von Guericke (1602-1686).
Ottonis de Guericke experimenta nova (ut vocantur) magdeburgica
de vacuo spatio primùm à R.P. Gaspare Schotto....
Amstelodami: Apud Joannem Janssonium à Waesberge, 1672.
Johann Rudolf Glauber (1604-1670).
Furni novi philosophici, sive, Descriptio artis destillatoriæ
novæ.... Amsterodami: prostant apud Joannem Janssonium,
1651. Six volumes bound in one.
-----. La description des novveavx fovrneavx philosophiqves....
A Paris: Chez Thomas Iolly, 1659.
Johann Sigismund Elsholtz (1623-1688).
Jo. Sig. Elsholtii Destillatoria curiosa, sive, Ratio ducendi
liquores coloratos per alembicum.... Berolini: Typis Rungianis,
impensis Ruperti Volcheri, 1674. Bound with: Jacobi Gaffarelli
Curiositez inovyes, hoc est: Curiositates inauditæ de
figvris persarum talismannicis.... Hamburgi: Apud Gothofredum
Schultzen, et Janosnio Waesbergios, 1676.
Robert Boyle (1627-1691).
The sceptical chymist. Oxford: Printed by Henry Hall for
Ric. Davis, and B. Took, 1680.
Donato d'Eremita (fl. 1624).
Dell 'elixir vitæ: libri qvattro. In Napoli: Per
Secondino Roncagliolo, 1624.
John French (1616?-1657).
The Art of distillation. London: Printed by R. Cotes, and
are to be sold by T. Williams, 1651.
TEXTBOOKS AND DICTIONARIES
Andreas Libavius (d. 1616).
Alchemia Andreæ Libavii...Operâ e dispersis passim
optimorum autorum, veterum & recentium exemplis potissimum.
Francofurti: Excubedat Iohannes Saurius, impensis Petri Kopffii,
1597. Issued with: D.O.M.A. Commentationvm metallicarvm libri
qvartvor de natvra metallorvm.... Francofvrti ad Moenvm: In
officina typographica Iohannis Saurij, impensis Petri Kopffij,
1597.
William Johnson (fl. 1562-1678).
Lexicon chymicum. Londini: Excudebat G.D. impensis Gulielmi
Nealand, 1652-1653.
Nicolas Lémery (1645-1715).
Cours de chymie: contenant la maniere de faire les operations
qui sont en usage dans la medecine, par une methode facile....
A Paris: Chez l'autheur, rue Galande, proche la place Maubert,
1677.
-----. Cours de chymie: contenant la maniere
de faire les operations qui sont en usage dans la médecine,
par une méthode facile.... A Paris: Chez Laurent-Charles
d'Houry fils..., 1756.
Pierre Joseph Macquer (1718-1784).
Elemens de chymie theorique. A Paris: Ch'es Jean-Thomas
Herissant, 1749.
-----. Dictionnaire de chymie.... A Paris:
Chez Lacombe, 1766.
"Chymie, contenant vignt-cinq planches, vingt-quatre
simples et un double". Excerpt from L'Encyclopédie;
ou, Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts, et des
métiers. 1762-1777.
Andrew Ure (1778-1857).
A dictionary of chemistry. London: Printed for T. &
G. Underwood [and 6 others], 1821.
James Curtis Booth (1810-1888).
The encyclopedia of chemistry, practical and theoretical....
Philadelphia: H. C. Baird, 1854, c. 1850.
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