Spongia. 



(SPONGIA USTA). 



"The sponges were formerly regarded by many naturalists as belonging 

 to the vegetable kingdom. They are now regarded as compound animals 

 by all, and by many as being even higher than the Protozoa, havmg close 

 analogies with the Radiates." — Elements of Zoology, Sanborn. 



Both sponge and its ash have been valued in medicine from a 

 very early date, as shown by the following excerpt from Dioscorides 

 Translated and condensed by Miss Margaret Stewart, A. M. 



"Fresh sponges, and those most free from oils, are helpful for wounds, 

 and to check tumors. With water or vinegar, they bind up (literally, glue 

 together) fresh wounds, while, cooked with honey, they join together 

 old wounds. Old sponges are useless. But even these are of value in 

 softening up callouses and separating ulcers that are growing together, il 

 bound upon them, dry, with a linen cloth. Fresh sponges placed upon old 

 ulcers full of corruption dry them up. They also check the flow of blood 



"Burned with vinegar, they are useful in inflammation of the eye; alsc 

 where there is need of a detergent or astringent. But it is better to tinc- 

 ture the ashes with the remedies to be used for the eye. The ashes ol 

 sponges burned with pitch check the flowing of blood." — Dioscorides, V: 138 



History. Spongia Usta (Burnt Sponge). — This preparation 

 known in Dioscorides' day, and in subsequent medical works anc 

 Dispensatories as Spongia Usta, was once included among the most 

 important of remedial agents. Not only did it occupy a prominen' 

 position in the works on domestic medicine, but in authoritative pro- 

 fessional publications generally. 



The third edition of the London Pharmacopeia, 1751, gives ex 

 plicit directions for its preparation as follows: 



Heat the sponge in a covered vessel, till it becomes black, and is easilj 

 friable; then reduce it to powder in a glass or marble mortar. 



Remark. — The heat here used must be much greater than in the formei 

 process; but, however, care should be taken not to burn the sponge till iti 

 volatile salt be expelled, for so doing would reduce it to a mere coal; bu 

 the volatile salt is so much extricated from the, other principles by thii 

 operation, that if it be rubbed to powder in a brass or beJI-metal mortar 

 it is very apt to acquire from the vessel a taint, that will offend the stomach 

 — From Dispensatory of the Royal College of Physicians, London, ij^i ($i 

 edition). 



Thi^ substance crept as a matter of reference into many moderi 

 works, but its general use was abandoned very soon after the discoven 

 of iodine and the compounds of iodine. 



It will be noticed in the above formula that the sponge, aftei 

 being burned, is to be powdered in a mortar of stone or glass, to pro 



38 



