Chfip. 23.] MEDICINAL EFFECTS OF CALCIXED COPPER. 193 



second time upon a fire of pure charcoal, and -when duly 

 incinerated, is quenched in Amincan" 9 wine, if required for 

 making plasters, but in vinegar, if wanted for the cure of itch- 

 scab. Some persons first pound it, and then burn it in 

 earthen pots ; which done, they wash it in mortars and then 

 dry.it. 



Nytnphodorus 90 recommends that the most heavy and dense 

 pieces of mineral cadmia that can be procured, should be 

 burnt upon hot coals and quenched in Chian wine; after 

 which, it must be pounded and then sifted through a linen 

 cloth. It is then pulverized in a mortar and macerated in 

 rain water, the sediment being again pounded until it is 

 reduced to the consistency of ceruse, and presents no gritti- 

 ness to the teeth. lollas* 1 recommends the same process ; 

 except that he selects the purest specimens of native cadmia. 



CHAP. 23. FIFTEEN REMEDIES DEUIVED FBOM CADMIA. TEX 



MEDICINAL EFFECTS OF CALCINED COITEii. 



Cadmia 02 acts as a desiccative, heals wounds, arrests dis- 

 charges, acts detergently upon webs and foul incrustations of 

 the eyes, removes eruptions, and produces, in fact, all the good 

 effects which we shall have occasion to mention when speaking 

 of lead. Copper too, itself, when calcined, is employed fur 

 all these purposes ; in addition to which it is used for white 

 spots and cicatrizations upon the eyes. Mixed with milk, it 

 is curative also of ulcers upon the eyes ; for which purpose, 

 the people in Egypt make a kind of eye-salvo by grinding it 

 upon whet stones. Taken with honey, it acts as an emetic. 

 For these purposes, Cyprian copper is calcined in unbaked 

 earthen pots, with an equal quantity of sulphur ; the apertures 

 of the vessel being well luted, and it being left in the furnace 

 until the vessel itself has become completely hardened. Some 

 persons add salt, and others substitute alum 93 for sulphur; 

 others, again, add nothing, but merely sprinkle the copper with 

 vinegar. When calcined, it is pounded in a mortar of Thebuic 

 Ktone, yl after which it is washed with rain water, and then 



** Sre B. xiv. c. 1C. *> See end of B. iii. * l See end of B. xii. 

 y - "\Vc have the same account of the medicinal tflVcts of Cudmia, and 

 the other preparations mentioned in this Chapter, jjiveii by Dioscoridcs. B. 

 1M For an account of the "alumen" of the ancients, bee B. xxxv. c. 52. 

 * J Sec B. xxxiii. c. 21, and B. xxxvi. c. 13. 

 VOL. VI. O 



