Texts on chemistry and alchemy are of importance among the Matenadaran manuscripts - About Substance and Type by Hovhannes Yerzenkatsi (1283), the anonymous Methods of Smelting Gold (16th century), a herbal pharmacopoeia, etc. It is interesting to note, that in the last work the diagrams of the plants are accompanied with their Persian names, in order to eliminate confusion during preparation.
Hovhannes Yerzenkatsi gives interesting information about salts, mines, acids, about new substances that appear during the gas combinations and separations. According to him the substance in the basis of the nature is eternal. It can change its quality, turning into other substances, but it never disappears.
The manuscripts of the Matenadaran, with sparkling fresh paints, the ink, the leather of the bindings, the parchment, worked out in several stages and many other things come to witness about the corresponding knowledge in chemistry, about instruments and means that make it possible to produce the mentioned substances. Scribes and painters sometimes write about the methods and prescriptions of getting paints and ink. Their study can help to get colours of high quality.
The manuscripts of the Matenadaran, with sparkling fresh paints, the ink, the leather of the bindings, the parchment, worked out in several stages and many other things come to witness about the corresponding knowledge in chemistry, about instruments and means that make it possible to produce the mentioned substances. Scribes and painters sometimes write about the methods and prescriptions of getting paints and ink. Their study can help to get colours of high quality.
