220 PLTinr's natural history. [Book XXXIV. 



mentioned.-' It is, however, the mildest of all the prepara- 

 tions of lead ; in addition to which, it is also used by females 

 to whiten the complexion.^" It is, however, like scum of 

 silver, a deadly poison. Melted a second time, ceruse be- 

 comes red. 



CHAP. 55. — sandarach; eleven remedies. 



"We have already mentioned nearly all the properties of 

 sandarach.^^ It is found both in gold-mines and in silver- 

 mines. The redder it is, the more pure and friable, and 

 the more powerful its odour, the better it is in quality. It is 

 detergent, astringent, heating, and corrosive, but is most re- 

 markable for its septic properties. Applied topically with 

 vinegar, it is curative of alopecy. It is also employed as an 

 ingredient in ophthalmic preparations. Used with honey, it 

 cleanses the fauces and makes the voice more clear and har- 

 monious. Taken with the food, in combination with turpen- 

 tine, it is a pleasant cure for cough and asthma. In the form 

 of a fumigation also, with cedar, it has a remedial effect upon 

 those complaints.^^ 



CHAP. 56. — arrhentcxtm:, 



Arrhenicum,^^ too, is procured from the same sources. The 

 best in quality is of the colour of the finest gold ; that which is 

 of a paler hue, or resembling sandarach, being less esteemed. 

 There is a third kind also, the colour of which is a mixture of 

 that of gold and of sandarach. The last two kinds are both of 

 them scaly, but the other is dry and pure, and divides into 



29 Scoria of lead and molybdaena. — B. 



2° Preparations of lead are still used in cosmetics for whitening the 

 complexion. 



31 The Realgar of the moderns, red orpiment, or red sulphuret of arsenic. 

 Pliny has in numerous places spoken of it as a remedy for certain morbid 

 states both of animals and vegetables, B. xvii. c. 47, B. xxiii. c. 13, B. 

 XXV. c. 22, and B. xxviii. c. 62, but he has not previously given any ac- 

 count of its origin and composition. — B. 



32 Dioscorides, B. v. c. 122, informs us, with respect to this effect of san- 

 darach, that it was burned in combination with resin, and that the smoke 

 was inhaled through a tube. — B. 



33 The substance here mentioned, though its name is the foundation 

 of our word "arsenic," is not the arsenic of modern commerce, but 

 probably a sulphuret of arsenic containing a less proportion of sulphur 

 than the Sandarach of the last Chapter.— B. 



