Anbik (the alembic; head of the distilling apparatus)

The anbik, from the Greek word for a head or cap, is the part of the distilling apparatus also called the head or cap. Al-anbik appears as early as the tenth century in a translation of Dioscorides, in the Majalih al-'Ulum and in al-Razi. Writers often describe it as one of the apparatus used for distilling rose-water. ¹

The complete distilling apparatus had three parts: the cucurbit (qar'a), the cap or head (anbik), and the receiver (qabila). Modern retorts combine the cap and the cucurbit into one. Illustrations of Arabic apparatus survive in al-Dimashqi's cosmography, where the cucurbit is placed in front of the cap rather than under it. In that case the cap resembles a cupping-glass. Often the name refers only to the faucet-pipe that fits onto the cap, and the anbik is also called the head (ra's) of the cucurbit. Special kinds include the blind anbik, without a faucet, and the anbik with a beak. ¹