Tbe Bijhop ofLandaff on Orichalcum, 5 1 



and that the Romans ufed it for the converting 

 of copper into a metallic fubftance, called, in the 

 Auguftan age, Orichalcum. 



In oppofition to this, it ought to be remarked, 

 that fome underftand by the cadmia oi Pliny y not 

 calamine, but native arfenic. They feem to 

 have been led into this opinion, from obferving 

 that Pliny fays, lapis arofus was called cadmia. 

 For, apprehending that by lapis arofus Pliny un- 

 dcrftood a kind of ftone which caufed ulcers 

 and erofions in the flelh of thofe who were occu- 

 pied in working it, and knowing that arfenic 

 produced fuch an effedl, they have concluded 

 that cadmia was native arfenic* This, proba- 

 bly, is a miftake, arifing from a mifinterpretation 

 of the word, arqfus. Pliny ufually, if not con- 

 ftantly, applies that word to fubtlances in which 

 copper is contained, without having any refpe6t 

 to the adlions of fuch fubftances on the flefh of 

 animals. Arfenic, moreover, when mixed with cop- 

 per, does not give a gold, but a filver-like appear- 

 ance to copper. And laflly, Pliny in another place 

 exprefsly fays, that the ftone from which brafs 

 was made was called cadmia ; now it is impolTi- 

 bl-e to make eicher brafs or copper from arfenic. 



• - - - - nous fonpconnons que Pline a voulu defigner 

 par Lapis srofus, utii picrre qui mange et fait de ulceres 

 ou crouons a ceux qui la travaillent, et qui ell probable- 

 ment I'arfenie vierge. Miner, par M, YaimOBt de Bomaie, 

 Y. II. p. 64. 



E 2 Amhrofe, 



