Chap. 52.] ALU3EE3T. 297 



fingers. This last kind is calcined by itself upon hot coals, 

 unmixed with any other substance, until it is entirely reduced 

 to ashes. 



The best kind of all, however, is that called " mclinum," 25 

 as coming from the Isle of Melos, as already mentioned ; none 

 being more effectual for acting as an astringent, staining 

 Muck, and indurating, and none assuming a closer consistency. 

 It removes granulations of the eye-lids, and, in a calcined state, 

 is still more eilicucious fur checking deiluxions of the eyes : 

 in this last form, too, it is employed for the cure of prurigi- 

 nous eruptions on the body. Whether taken internally, or 

 employed externally, it arrests discharges of blood ; and if it is 

 applied with vinegar to a part from which the hair has been 

 first removed, it will change into a soft down the hair which 

 replaces it. The leading property of every kind of alumen is 

 iu remarkable astringency, to which, in fact, it is indebted for 

 its name** with the Greeks. It is for this property that the 

 various kinds are, all of them, BO remarkably good for the 

 eyes. In combination with grease, they arrest discharges of 

 blood ; and they are employed in a similar manner for check- 

 ing the spread of putrid ulcers, and for removing sores upon 

 the bodies of infants. 



Alumen has a desiccativo effect upon dropsical eruptions ; 

 and, in combination with pomegranate juice, it removes dis- 

 eases of the ears, malformed nails, indurations resulting from 

 cicatrization, hangnails, and chilblains. Calcined, with vine- 

 gar or nut-galls, in equal proportions, it is curative of phage- 

 damic ulcers; and, in combination with extracted juice of 

 cabbage, of leprosy. Used iu the proportion of one part of 

 alumeu to two of salt, it arrests the progress of serpiginoua 

 eruptions ; and an infusion of it in water destroys lice and 

 other parasitical insects that infest the hair. Employed iu a 

 similar manner, it is good for burns; and, .in combination with 

 the serous 27 part of pitch, for furfuraceous eruptions on the 

 body. It is used also as an injection for dysentery, and, em- 

 ployed in the form of a gargle, it braces the uvula and tonsil- 

 lary glands. For all thoso maladies which wo have men- 



w lie has previously said that the most esteemed kind was the Egyptian, 

 that of Melos being the next best. 2<s Zrvimipia, the " styptic." 



27 " Sero picis." Uardouin ia of opinion that under this name pisse- 

 luu is intended. See B. xv. c. 7, B. xxiv. cc. 11, 24, and B. xxv. c. 22. 



