426 Mr. Gray on the Origin of the Name Calomel. [Dec. 



problematical, interdict the exit of flame ; we should, I think, 

 not adopt, without some hesitation, an opinion which supposes 

 so much : for myself, the more I consider it, the more gratuitous 

 seems the assumption. I have the honour to be, Sir, 



Your most humble and obedient servant, 



J. Murray. 



Article VI. 



On the Origin of the Name of Calomel. 

 By S. F. Gray, Lecturer on the Materia Medica, Sec. 



In the Annals of Philosophy for October last, p. 309, a 

 ■question is started respecting the origin of the name calomel, 

 Tisually written in Latin calomelas, being given to Mercurius 

 dulcis, at least when prepared by repeated sublimations. To 

 this a correspondent has replied in your November number, and 

 suggested that calomel or calomela is probably the Arabic name 

 adopted by Spielman in 1766. It were to be wished that this 

 ■correspondent had given his authority for the name calomel 

 being used by the Arab writers before it was introduced in 

 Europe, especially as the etymology given by him, namely, 

 iurning rust, is scarcely applicable to Mercurius dulcis. 



In the Cynosura Materise Medicaj of Paul Hermann, my copy 

 of which is that published in 1726 by Boeder, but which states 

 that the work had been published 16 years before byHenninger, 

 and of course in 1710, 1 find (Part I. p. 687, and Part 111. p. 9) 

 a mixture of Mercurius dulcis with twice or thrice as much 

 scammony, mentioned as the calomelas of Riverius, and said to 

 be frequently ordered in his writings. This carries up the use 

 of the word calomel more than half a century before Spielman ; 

 namely, to 1710, if not earher, as Prof. Hermann died in 1695, 

 and M. Riviere in 1656. The mixture of the white Mercurius 

 ■dulcis with the dark coloured scammony gives some degree of 

 probability to its alledged derivation from the Greek xaAoj, 

 white, or fair ; and ju,eX«j, black, or dark. I have not, however, 

 been able to find the word calomel used in my edition of Riverii 

 Praxis Medica, viz. the 7th, 1653, although in treating of the 

 diseases of the liver, he recommends Mercurius dulcis to be used 

 conjointly with scammony ; but it may have been used in some 

 later edition, or perhaps in the French ones. 



As to the use of the word calomel, for Mercurius dulcis itself, 

 Wiegleb, who was very well versed in the literary history of 

 chemistry, designates calomel as a synonym of De la Brune's 

 Mercurial Panacea. Of this author I have no recollection at 

 present, but if he was the first introducer of these two appella- 

 tions, he must have written upon this substance, or advertised it 



