BOOK XXXV. Lii. 184-187 



' perverted ' or adulterated alum. Liquid alum "^ 

 iias an astringent, hardening and corrosive property. 

 Mixed with honey it cures ulcers in the mouth, 

 pimples and eruptions ; this treatment is carried 

 out in baths containing two parts of honey to one 

 of alum. It reduces odour from the armpits and 

 perspiration. It is taken in pills against disorders 

 of the spleen and discharge of blood in the urine. 

 Mixed with soda and chamomile it is also a remedy 

 for scabies. 



One kind ^ of solid alum which is called in Greek 

 schiston, ' sphttable,' spHts into a sort of filament of a 

 whitish colour, owing to which some people have pre- 

 ferred to give it in Greek the name of trichitis, ' hairy 

 ahim.' This is produced from the same ore as 

 copper, known as copperstone, a sort of sweat from 

 that mineral, coagulated into foam. This kind of 

 alum has less drying effect and serves less to arrest 

 the detrimental humours of the body, but it is 

 extremely beneficial as an ear-wash, or as a Hniment 

 also for ulcers of the mouth and for the teeth, and if 

 it is retained in the mouth with sahva ; or it forms a 

 suitable ingredient in medicines for the eyes and 

 for the genital organs of either sex. It is roasted in 

 crucibles until it has quite lost its hquidity.<^ There 

 is another alum of a less active kind, called in Greek 

 strongyle, ' round alum.' Of this also there are two 

 varieties, the fungous which dissolves easily in any 

 hquid and which is rejected as entirely worthless, 

 and a better kind which is porous and pierced with 

 small holes Hke a sponge and of a round formation, 

 nearer white in colour, possessing a certain quaHty 

 of unctuousness, free from grit, friable, and not apt 

 to cause a black stain. This is roasted by itself on 



399 



