Confusion bismuth salts

There are several chemical elements the history of whose discovery is not clear. We had every reason to classify the nine elements described in Chapter 1 as the elements of antiquity. For the five elements—phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, and zinc—discussed in this chapter, there is evidence that people knew these elements (with the exception of phosphorus), or at least their ores and minerals, in prehistoric times, or at any rate before the Christian era. But the knowledge of them was confused and ambiguous. It became better much later, at the time of alchemistry when various chemical procedures were performed in laboratories and chemist s shops. Although their nature remained unclear, they were a basis of many useful compounds (particularly, acids and salts). 

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