Preparation of Foam for Joining Gold, Silver, and Bronze

Σκευασία ἀφρονίτρου τοῦ ζητουμένου εἰς τὰς

The Preparation of Foam for Joining Gold, Silver, and Bronze is a concise, practical alchemical recipe attributed by modern scholarship to the anonymous figure designated as Alchemist I. It survives within the corpus of Greek alchemical writings transmitted through the Byzantine manuscript tradition, notably appearing in anthologies held in major European libraries and in the standard critical edition, the Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs. The text procedurally details the creation of a substance called foam of saltpeter, specifying ingredients and a heating process to produce an agent suitable for metallurgical joining. As a workshop manual, it exemplifies the applied, craft-oriented dimension of Greco-Egyptian alchemy, focusing on practical techniques for soldering or alloying precious metals like gold and silver with bronze. While its direct historical influence is difficult to trace, the work contributes to the understanding of ancient technical processes in metalworking and forms part of the broader corpus of material that was later transmitted to and influenced Arabic and Latin alchemical traditions.