Aztec advances (11): distillation

‘Distillation is the process of evaporating liquid and collecting the condensation of vapours in order to extract certain substances... The Aztec had a fundamental knowledge of distillation. They were familiar with a crude form of the process that they used for extracting substances from bark, wood, liquids, roots, herbs, minerals, and plants...
’Samuel Fastlicht... writes in his book Tooth Mutliations and Dentistry in Pre-Columbian Mexico “The Aztecs knew and used alum [a natural occurring salt] for whitening teeth and knew how to obtain it in its purified and distilled form.” He also gives a partial description of how the Aztec achieved distillation: “First they pulverise the aluminous earth and pour it into great earthenware vessels ending in a point. When it is perfectly condensed it is a solid, brilliant white, transparent, and having an acrid and astringent taste”.
’After conquest, the Spaniards introduced the distillation process for making alcoholic beverages tequila and mezcal...’

Dentistry, pre-Columbian style; illustration by Miguel Covarrubias based on a detail from a mural at Tepantitla, Teotihuacan