Mary the Jewess, also known as Mary the Hebrew or Miriam the Prophetess, was the first woman alchemist. She lived between the 1st and 3rd century A.D. in Alexandria. She invented complicated apparatus for the distillation and sublimation of chemicals, as well as the famous Bain Marie. The Kerotakis is the most important of his inventions, it is a reflux apparatus used to heat substances used in alchemy and collect their vapors.