BOOK XXXIII. XXV. 84-xxvi. 87 



three times its weight of copper pyrites, and again 

 >vith two portions of salt and one of the stone called 

 ' spHttable.' Treated in this way it draws poison 

 out, when the other substances have been burnt up 

 with it in an earthenware crucible while it remains 

 pure and uncorrupted itself. The ash remaining 

 is kept in an earthenware jar, and eruptions on the 

 face may well be cleansed av/ay by being smeared 

 with this lotion " from the jar. It also cures fistulas 

 and what are called haemorrhoids. With the addition 

 of ground pumicestone it reHeves putrid and foul- 

 smelHng ulcers, while boiled down in honey and git, 

 and appHed as a liniment to the navel it acts as a 

 gentle aperient. According to Marcus ^ arro gold 

 is a cure for warts. 



XXVI. Gold-solder ^ is a liquid found in the Ooid- 

 shafts we spoke of, floving down along a vein of gokl, §§67 53/. 

 with a sHme that is solidified by the cold of winter 

 even to the hardness of pumicestone. A more 

 highly spoken of variety of the same metal has been 

 ascertained to be formed in copper mines, and the 

 next best in silver-mines. A less valuable sort also 

 with an element of gold is also found in lead mines. <^ 

 In aH these mines however an artificial variety is 

 produced that is much inferior to the natural kind 

 referred to ; the method is to introduce a gentle 

 flow of water into the vein all winter and go on till 

 the beginning of June and then to dry it off in June 

 and July, clearly showing that gold-solder is nothing 

 else than the putrefaction of a vein of metal. 

 Natural gold-solder. known as ' grape,' differs very 

 greatly from the artificial in hardness, and neverthe- 

 less it also takes a dye from the plant called yeHow- 

 weed. It is of a substance that absorbs moisture, 



67 



