The chemistry historian J . C . Brown asserted in 1920 : " An important point of evidence is the absence in the Arabic texts of the new and original facts recorded in the Latin particularly . . . nitric acid, aqua regia, oil of vitriol, silver nitrate . . . . " Aqua regia is a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid.
12.
In 1772, English chemist Joseph Priestley published a paper entitled " Impregnating Water with Fixed Air " in which he described a process of dripping sulfuric acid ( or " oil of vitriol " as Priestley knew it ) on chalk in order to produce carbon dioxide, and forcing the gas to dissolve by agitating a bowl of water in contact with the gas.
