Chap. 34.] SEVEN EEMEDIES DEEIVED "FROM STIMMI. 115 



CHAP. 33. STIMMI, STIBI, ALABASTRUM, LAKBASIS, OR PLATY- 



OPHTHALMON. 



In the same mines in which silver is found, there is also 

 found a substance which, properly speaking, may be called a 

 stone made of concrete froth.'-^ It is white and shining, with- 

 out being transparent, and has the several names of stimmi, 

 stibi, alabastrum,22 and larbasis. There are two kinds of it, 

 the male and the female.-^ The latter kind is the more ap- 

 proved of, the male 2^ stimmi being more uneven, rougher to 

 the touch, less ponderous, not so radiant, and more gritty. 

 The female kind, on the other hand, is bright and friable, and 

 separates in laminae, and not in globules.^^ 



CHAP. 34. SEVEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM STIMMI. 



Stimmi is possessed 'of certain astringent and refrigerative 

 properties, its principal use, in medicine, being for the eyes. 

 Hence it is that most persons call it "platyophthalmon,"^^ it be- 

 ing extensively employed in the calliblepharic^' preparations of 

 females, for the purpose of dilating the eyes. It acts also as a 

 check upon fluxes of the eyes and ulcerations of those organs ; 

 being used, as a powder, with pounded frankincense and gum. 

 It has the property, too, of arresting discharges of blood from 



21 He is speaking of Antimony. 22 prom its whiteness. 



23 Under the name of " female stimmi," Ajasson thinks that pure, or 

 native, antimony is meant, more particularly the lamelliform variety, re- 

 markahle for its smoothness. He thinks it possible, also, that it may have 

 derived its Greek name " larbason," or " larbasis," from its brittleness. 



«4 Ajasson thinks that under this name, crude antimony or sulphuret of 

 antimony may have been included ; as also sulphuret of lead, sulphuret ot 

 antimony and copper, and sulphuret of antimony and silver; the last or 

 ■which is often found covered with an opaque pellicle. 



25 " Globis." The fracture of sulphuret of antimony is, in reality, small 

 subconcho'idal. 



26 " Eye dilating." Belladonna, a preparation from the Atropa bella- 

 donna, is now used in medicine for this purpose. A similar effect is attri- 

 buted in B. XXV. c. 92, to the plant Anagallis. In reaUty, the application 

 of prepared antimony would contract the eyelids, and so appear to enlarge 

 the eyes. This property is peculiar, Ajasson remarks, to sulphuret ot an- 

 timony, and sulphuret of antimony and silver. , 



2"^^ Preparations " for beautifying the eyebrows." See B. xxi. c. 73, B. 

 xxiii. c. 51, and B. xxxv. c. 56. Omphale, the Lydian queen, Avho capti- 

 vated Hercules, is represented by the tragic poet Ion, as using_ "stimmi^' 

 for the purposes of the toilet. It was probably with a preparation of anti- 

 mony that Jezebel " painted her face, and tired her head." 2 Kings, ix. 30, 

 The "Kohl" used by the females in Egypt and Persia is prepared from an- 

 timony. I 2 



