Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan

Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan (circa 721 - circa 815) Arab alchemist, also known in Latin as "Geber". Not to be confused with his 14th century European namesake, Geber.

From the alchemy article:

Of the many Arab hermetic philosophers, Jabir ibn-Hayyn of the eighth century was the most noteworthy. To Aristotelian physics he added the four properties of hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness. (Burkhardt, p. 29) Each element was characterized by these qualities: Fire was both hot and dry, earth cold and dry, water cold and moist, and air hot and moist. In metals two of these qualities were interior and two were exterior. For example, lead was cold and dry and gold was hot and moist. Thus, Jabir theorized, by rearranging the qualities of one metal, a different metal would result. (Burckhardt, p. 29)

External links:

• http://213.176.24.20/chemist/Jabir.htm