4J2 PLINY'S N ATI; HAL IUSTOKY. [Book XXXY1L.. 



ments, and even goes so fur us to say Unit it is highly beneficial 

 to be rubbed with it on the field of battle. There is another 

 stone of the same class, called " menui" by the people of 

 India, and " xanthos 1 ' w by the Greeks : it is of a whitish, tawny 

 colour. 



CHAP. 61. IDJSI DACTYL!. ICTKRTA8. JOVIS GEMMA. INP1CA. 



ION. 



The stones called Idrei daetyli, 60 and found in Crete, are of 

 an iron colour, and resemble the human thumb in shape. The 

 colour of icterias* 1 resembles that of livid skin, and hence it 

 is that it has been thought so excellent a remedy for jaundice. 

 There is also another stone of this name, of a still more livid 

 colour; while a third has all the appearance of a leaf. This 

 lust is broader than the others, almost imponderoiis, and streaked 

 with livid veins. A fourth kiud again is of the same colour, 

 but blacker, and marked all over with livid veins. Jovis 

 gemma" is a white stone, very light, and soft : another name 

 given to it is "drosolithos." 63 Jndica cl retains the name of 

 the country that produces it: it is a stone of a reddish colour, 

 and yields a purple liquid"' 5 when, rubbed. There is another 

 stone also of this name, white, and of a dusty appearance. 

 Iou w is an Indian stone, of a violet tint : it is but rarely, 

 however, that it is found of a deep, full, colour. 



CHAP. 62. LEPIDOTI8. LESBIAS. LEUCOPllTHALilOS. LEUCOPCE- 



CILOS. LIJlAXOCUKUS. LIMOXIATIS. LIl'AIiEA, LYSIMACHOS. 

 LEUCOCIIUYSOS. 



Lepidotis 67 is a stone of various colours, and resembles the 

 scaU-s of fish in appearance. Lcsbias, so called from Lesbos 

 which produces it, is a stone found in India as well. Leu- 

 cophthalmos/ 8 which in other respects is of a reddish hue, 

 presents all the appearance of an eye, in white and black. 



M " Yellow" stone. Sec Chapter 45. 



10 ** Ido?:in finders." These were probably Memnitcs, so called from 

 the ir long, tapering shape, and being tirst observed, perhaps, on Mount 

 Ida in Crete. Belemnites are the shells of fossil Cephalopods, and are 

 commonly known as '* thunder stones." 6l '* Jaundice stone." 



" " Gem of Jove." 63 " Dew stone." c4 " Indian stone." 



w It is just possible that he may be thinking of Indigo here, which he 

 has before called by the same name. See 13. xxxiit. c. 57. 



15 " Viok -coloured." r ' 7 " Scale stone." A fossil, probably. 



e9 'White eye.*' Cat's eye chalcedony, perhaps. See ** AstroboW in 

 Chapter 4S, and ' JVu oculuV' in Chapter 55, of this Book. 



