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30
HISTORY.
principle
by
Lowitz,
in
the
year
1796,
/.
^.,
more
than
four
centuries
later.
What
we
now
call
alcohol
had,
from
the
eleventh
to
the
sixteenth
century,
very
different
names:
Aqua
ardens,
aqua
vita,
aqua
vita
ardens,
aqua
vini,
spiritus
vini,
vinum
ardens,
mercurius
vegetabilis,
etc.
Since
the
beginning
of
the
sixteenth
century
the
name
of
"
alcohol
"
was
more
and
more
adopted.
It
derives
its
name
from
the
Arabian
word
"al-kohl,"
i.
e.,
a
name
of
a
fine
powder
with
which
the
eyelashes
are
dyed,
therefore
a
substance
changed
into
the
finest
aggrega-
tion
of
molecules.
About
the
nature
and
composition
of
alcohol
there
were
as
many
different
meanings
and
opinions
as
there
were
writers,
and
each
following
more
fantastic,
if
it
were
possible,
than
the
previous
one.
But
all
these
phantasmagories
faded
away
like
fog
before
the
sun
when
the
great
French
chemist,
Lavoisier,
inaugurated
a
new
era
in
chemistry
by
his
discovery
of
oxygen;
he
proved
that
the
elementary
parts
of
alcohol
were
car-
bon,
hydrogen
and
oxygen.
Originally,
it
was
used
for
medical
purposes
only;
but
gradually
people
found
its
effect
upon
the
human
body,
and
drank
it,
whether
they
were
sick
or
not,
be-
cause
it
worked
more
rapidly
than
wine
and
beer.
The
general
use
of
alcohol
is
of
comparatively
recent
date
not
before the
fifteenth
century
we
find
in
Europe
the
use
of
"
aqua
vita"
together with
that
of
wine
and
beer.