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Nic. Mahihith 11.188.14-2 1 (c Sh$i3 Mete. 68.13- 1 8): i+> 4 >I rliJl &+ JkJl ?ID1 Iil .@,A &+ j &UL aLZj Jl JI,iYI j LJUI &dl ,,bJYI L), &. &-I;) .+SlJUI J31 ,y ,I jS! ,I cs.r &I ,y Li& Lr> i&l tliJl A- ,y 3 ~ Jwel,SJL;L! j~-JIJUIJ~l&,j&J l&U+*;u Cil+lij;u,&~& i&Yl dl&. ,L;?I .'& i& dkSI &> Jnz& &Ci B>L;L! ,y +j A- Jj j &dl -9 lil Jik,i, .I,& &I, dl >&- i,&l (1 ) Third Chapter: on I&,& [anwar] whicb are seen at night in some places. [(2a)] When rain falls on some places which haye_ in them [allati takuna fi-hill an oily viscosity [luzujah duhniyyah], there rise from those places fine greasy vapours, [(26)] which arckindled by the least solar or fulminous cause or hy the fires of the stars. Then, there is seen on the surface of the earth light-emitting flames [shucal], without significant combustion [ihtirriqlS6 due to their fineness. Their condition is like that of the fire which is kindled in the vapour of wine [sharab] mixed with salt and sal ammoniac, when a wick is placed in the vaporised wine [khamr] and a is placed near its vapour so that it is kindled and the flame [ishtical] endures as long as the vapour endures, except that the vapours generated by rain are much finer and thinner. Nic. 12.1-4,8-9 (cf. Arist. Mete. 342a 3-5, 10- 1 1 ; 342a 34-35): +l.i, F2mL.K. e,k.dw Ab : KtPi: .u. u ,a3 K+W /,an , c +\ + /+- 6- + U . r &K U.r d . r pn . /r
THE GRECO-SYRIAC AND ARABIC SOURCES OF BARHEBRAEUS' MINERALOGY 243 source, and clauses (2e)-(4a) agree closely with the passage of Nic. given above. Although (4b)-(6) have no counterparts in the text of Nic. preserved in the Cambridge manuscript, the echoes found here of Arist. Mete. suggest that these parts may well be based on lost passages of N~c.'~ More difficult tcr account for are the alterations made in sentence (2), namely the introduction of the notion of "sulphureous" exhalations, and the insertion of the phrase "like columns" (ak 'arnrn~i') in sentence (3), a sentence which otherwise follows Nic. word for word. I would like to concentrate here on the latter of these alterations, since this notion of "columns" of fire or of light is one which occurs in at least three other works of Barhebraeus, the Ttgrat ttgrata (Treatise of treatises), K. d-zalgt (Book of Rays) and But.yrurn sapientiae, and in each case (except in K. d-zalgE, where Barhebraeus is summarising his own Cad.) the notion is introduced where there is no such notion in the principal sources which Barhebraeus is following in the respective works, a fact which suggests that Barhebraeus had a particular interest in making a mention of this phenomenon. In Cand. Barhebraeus apparently envisages the phenomenon under consideration as a kind of shooting star, as indicated by the fact that he talks of these lights as "falling to the earth and the sea". Similarly in the Ttgrat ttgrata, the mention of the "columns of fire" occurs in a passage where in the corresponding part of Ghazali's Maqa!id al-falasifah the talk is of "shooting stars". 59 TFgrat tkgriitii, ms. Cantab. Add. 3,003, 56v 12- 16: -a&:rdbur~~13/-MeLmdA&i.&12 -ex~15/&iiur&.m~+A~-&Aa&14/+~-.& . +& - Ad d+e- e+a 16/aiia~ m. L- es.u w-tennana man en IS metCakkrana"it netmate Iwl giglfi hfiy nuranit& meshtgm M meshtgar. badgon hi hula dileh en 'damma I-ar% y, kulhen mnawzteh hda men hdfi sbiss3it meshtagran, w-haannfi 'ammuday nurfi men ar'fi Iwfit shmayya methzen. When smoke comes to that fiery circle 1i.e. the sphere of fire] unhindered, it catches + Ld, .rrk ,I; o ,UI 4j -1, .$'UI J! &*sla- 3,JI A+ + On the relationship of Tegrat tegrata to the Maqeid, see Takahashi, "Barhebraeus und seine islamischen Quellen ..." - With the passage here, cf. Ghadi, Maqeid al-faltisifah [Dunya] 342.23-26: . jl;dI J,b - j!, .ihij'~~~~lri (Yf coldness does not strike it, (the smoke) rises to aether, fire is kindled in it and there &ses from it a fire which is seen; sometimes the fire extends [tasta!il?] along the length of the smoke and is then called a shooting star [kaukab munq&].") - Cf. also Ibn Sina, Danish-namah. Tabi'iyyat [Mishkat] 71 .I-4.
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