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172), Kahruba = 21-5/12 (p. 182), hajar aPawz = 103-1/2 (p. 186).
Syrian glass = 62-19/24 (p. 191), and Green glass = 99-1/3 (P- 1 94). _
(c) Weight being the same, gold is less in volume than silver (p. 26).
(d) Weight of gold, as compared to any other metal/mineral of an
equivalent volume, always remains less in value (p. 202). (e) Volume being the same, silver is less in mass and heavier than
copper (p. 26). (f) Ratio of weight — gold ten dirhams: silver fifty dirhams: brass
fifteen manna (p. 26). (g) Ratio in volume of iron and gold, both of same weight, is 151:63
"as verified by me by means of the water balance' (p. 202). (h) "I have not verified the relative weights of bijadhi and tflmbari
(rubies)" (p. 73). In this context, Beruni has also stated that he has authored a special
Monograph (MaqalahJ on this subject (p. 64). Its full title is to be found in the h'ihrist (List) of his own works, drawn up by Beruni himself, as Maqalah fi al-tiisab allati bayu al-filizzat wa al-jan>ahir fi al-liajni (The Treatise on Ratios in Volume of Metals and Precious Stones). As the [■'ilirist was compiled by him in 427 A.H. (1035), the Maqalah was ob-. viously composed by him earlier. Being a scientific work of a pioneering nature, it was used subsequently by scientists for the next two centuries, though it continued to echo in scholarly circles for centuries thereafter. Abu Ja'far Al Khazini (d. 550 A.H./l 1 55) extracted it in the Third Part (maqalah) of his own work Mizan al-Hikmat' ("The Balance of Wisdom) referring to it as Abu Rayhan Beruni's ''Kitab al-nisab bayu al-jilizzat wa al-jawahir fi al-hajm". Later on, the scholastic Sa'd al-Din Al-Taftazani (d. 791 A.H./1389) recorded a description of Beruni's apparatus and experiment (most probably based on the Maqalah) in his own work Sharh al-Maqasid (see below). Both in Khazini's extraction and in Taftazani's description it is
stated that the sample of water used by Beruni for filling in his "specific gravity flask' was drawn by him from one fixed place in the section of the Oxus (Jayhun) river adjacent to the capital city of Jurjaniyah. This confirms that Beruni had started studying gemstones, minerals and metals long before his arrival in Ghaznah in 408/1017. This was during his stay in Jurjaniyah on the Oxus, the capital of the Mamunid Princes (opposite to Kath on the other side which was the capital of the previous Banu 'Iraq dynasty) of Khwarazm. On the basis of the recorded events, the period of Beruni's stay in
Jurjaniyah can more or less be precisely fixed from the year 399 A.H. to 407 A.H. (1008-1016/17 A.D.). He was born (Thursday. 3 Dhu'l Hijjah 362 A.H.) in his native city of Kath, the then capital of Khwarazm where |
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