Editing Avicenna (section)

=== Chemistry ===
Avicenna was first to derive the attar of flowers from distillation<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WMvVBi5EbhMC&q=attar+perfume+muslim&pg=PA70|title=Studies in Islamic Civilization: The Muslim Contribution to the Renaissance|last1=Essa|first1=Ahmed|last2=Ali|first2=Othman|date=2010|publisher=International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)|isbn=978-1-56564-350-5|language=en|page=70}}</ref> and used [[steam distillation]] to produce essential oils such as rose essence, which he used as [[aromatherapeutic]] treatments for heart conditions.<ref name="Marlene">Marlene Ericksen (2000). ''Healing with Aromatherapy'', p. 9. McGraw-Hill Professional. {{ISBN|0-658-00382-8}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Traditional Healer's Handbook: A Classic Guide to the Medicine of Avicenna |last=Ghulam Moinuddin Chishti |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-89281-438-1 |page=239|publisher=Inner Traditions / Bear & Co }}</ref>

Unlike al-Razi, Avicenna explicitly disputed the theory of the [[Philosopher's stone|transmutation of substances]] commonly believed by [[alchemy|alchemists]]:

{{blockquote|Those of the chemical craft know well that no change can be effected in the different species of substances, though they can produce the appearance of such change.<ref>[[Robert Briffault]] (1938). ''The Making of Humanity'', p.&nbsp;196–197.</ref>}}

Four works on alchemy attributed to Avicenna were translated into [[Latin]] as:<ref name="Anawati">Georges C. Anawati (1996), "Arabic alchemy", in Roshdi Rashed, ed., ''[[Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science]]'', Vol. 3, pp.&nbsp;853–885 [875]. [[Routledge]], London and New York.</ref>
* {{lang|la|Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae}}
* {{lang|la|Declaratio Lapis physici Avicennae filio sui Aboali}}
* {{lang|la|Avicennae de congelatione et conglutinatione lapidum}}
* {{lang|la|Avicennae ad Hasan Regem epistola de Re recta}}

{{lang|la|Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae}} was the most influential, having influenced later [[medieval]] chemists and alchemists such as [[Vincent of Beauvais]]. However, Anawati argues (following Ruska) that the de Anima is a fake by a Spanish author. Similarly the Declaratio is believed not to be actually by Avicenna. The third work (''The Book of Minerals'') is agreed to be Avicenna's writing, adapted from the ''Kitab al-Shifa'' (''Book of the Remedy'').<ref name=Anawati /> Avicenna classified minerals into stones, fusible substances, sulfurs and salts, building on the ideas of Aristotle and Jabir.<ref>{{Citation |last=Leicester |first=Henry Marshall |title=The Historical Background of Chemistry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJZVQnqcwv4C&pg=PA70 |page=70 |year=1971 |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |isbn=978-0-486-61053-5 |quote=There was one famous Arab physician who doubted even the reality of transmutation. This was 'Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina (980–1037), called Avicenna in the West, the greatest physician of Islam.&nbsp;... Many of his observations on chemistry are included in the ''Kitab al-Shifa'', the "Book of the Remedy". In the physical section of this work he discusses the formation of minerals, which he classifies into stones, fusible substances, sulfurs, and salts. Mercury is classified with the fusible substances, metals}}</ref> The ''epistola de Re recta'' is somewhat less sceptical of alchemy; Anawati argues that it is by Avicenna, but written earlier in his career when he had not yet firmly decided that transmutation was impossible.<ref name=Anawati />