L I T 



I, I T 



•writers to an inC.rament ufed in the operation of litliotomy ; UTIIONTR IPTICON TctPii, the name of a famou» 



it is a forceps intended for taking hold of the Hone. diuretic medicine, invented by Tulpius, and jjiven with 



LITHOLOGY, the fyftematical arrangement of Hones; great fucccfsin cafes of tlie Hone, but requiring great judg- 



vvhich fee. ~ "^ ' 



LITHOMANTIA, \i9ojMVTiia, in JnUquily, a fpecies 

 of divination performed with ftones Sometimes the (lone 

 called fldcr'tlcs was ufed : this tiiey wallicd in fpring-water 

 in the night by candle-light ; the perfon that confulted it, 

 was to be purified from all manner of pollution, and to have 

 his face covered : this done, he repeated divers prayers, and 

 placed certain charafters in an appointed order ; and then 

 thtf ftono moved of itfelf, and in a foh, gentle murmur (or 

 as fomc fay) in a voice hke that of a child, returned an 

 ar.fw^r. By a ftone of this nature, Helena is reported, to 

 have foretold the deftruiSion of Troy. 



LITHOMAKGE, StoVw.-ir^, Wern. Argik nthomcir-e, 

 Hn'iy. Ste nmiifg, or Sjqfjum, Swed. 



Thii fubftance, which is related to the fmedtic kinds of 

 clay and to Iteatite, occurs fri^hle and compatl. 



r. Friable llthomarge. Zernlblirhcs j2;lr!n:ari, Wern. 

 Its colour is fnow-white, oflener yellovviih, and fometimcs 

 reddifii-white. 



It is found mafllvc, dilTeminated, and in crufts, con.'^'fting 

 of fine, dull, fometirrtes feebly glimmering fcaly particles, 

 which arc either coherent or loofe. 



It is light, rather greafy to the touch, but adheres to the 

 tongue. Streak fliining. 



It occurs in Saxony, on the Hartz, &c. generally in fmall 

 Tnaffes, particularlv in metalliferous veins. 



A variety from the Hartz, where it occurs in grey 

 wacke, (hews phofphorefcfnce by friftion. 



2. Compa3 or induraled Ihliomarge. Fe;,esjii-inm(irk, Wern. 

 Irs colours, befides thole of the friuhle lithumart^e, are 

 pearl-grey, lavender and purplilh-blue, yellovvifh-grey, 

 fcveral (hades of ochre yellow, and alfo flefli-red ; feveral 

 of thefe colours frequently occurruig together as clouded, 

 veined, Itriped, and fpotted delineations. 

 It is found malTive. 

 Irternally it is dull. Streak (liiniug. 



mept and caution in the adminiftering of it. 



The preparation is this : take a drachm of cantharidea 

 without their wings, and a drachm of lefTer cardamoTi* 

 without their hu(l<s, powder them fine, and pour upon tL<-m 

 an ounce of reftified fpirit of v.ine, and half an ounce of 

 fpirit of nitre ; fct them to infufe, without heat, for hve or 

 fix d,i)s, ftirring them from time to time. The phial miiit 

 not be (lopped riofe ; becaufe, if it be, the contin'ial fef- 

 mentaiion will burl! it. The dofe is from fe^urteen to (iftetn, 

 or twenty drops, in a glal's of wine and water. It is to be 

 taken iii a morning, an hour after eatin;; a mefs of broth, 

 and may be repeated for three o: four days. 



It is rcira-kable, that this mixture never ceafes fermenting 

 for many \ eirs ; but if it be too fall corked, will break tlie 

 glafs ; if it be (lightly (lopped, it only throws out the cork 

 with an explofion. Mem. de I'xlcad. Par. 1709. p. 35S. 

 edit. Par. 



LITHONTRIPTICS, or as it is perhaps more cor- 

 reftly writitn, Lithontiiuvptics, in Medicine, from tiie 

 Greek Ai5o.-, a Jlotie, and ?jtJ7rTa, I break, fucli medicines 33 

 were fuppofed to poffefs the property of difTolving the ftoiie 

 in the bladder and kidnies. See Stone. 



Various fiinple and compound drugs were believed to be 

 capable of didolving the calculous concretions of the uri- 

 nary palTages, in ancient times. Thefe medicines, however, 

 had been but too generally found, by modern practitioners, 

 to be dellitute of any adlive power of this fort, when, in 

 the former part of the lall century, a new folvent for the 

 Hone was announced by a lady, with fo much evidence in 

 favour of its efficacy, that the Englilh parliament granted 

 her a large pecuniary reward for divulging the fecret, and 

 medical prat'titioners reforted to it with cagcrncfs, and in- 

 velligated its properties with great care, and in many in- 

 (lances had the fatisfaftion to obferve a temporary, removal 

 of the dillre(Ihig fymptonis fuccced to its ufe. It appeared, 

 FraAure' large and flat conchoidal, palTing into even I'owever, ultimately, that the folvent power of Mrs. Sle- 

 J fine earthy ; fragments indeterminately angular, blunt- phens's medicine wa-s a gratuitous fuppofition ; for en ex- 

 amining, after death, the bodies of the perfons in thofe very 

 inflances, on the fuccefs of which the reward was given, it 

 ■was difcovered that the ilones had all the time remained in 

 the bladders of the patients, though they were fuppofed to 

 have been voided by the gradual lolution of them effected 

 by the medicines. 



The principal inllance of a fuppofed cure which was 

 brought forward, was that of Mr. Gardiner. This man was 

 examined in December 1748, by able furgeons, and found 

 to have a (lone in his bladder ; after this he took Mrs. 

 Stephens's medicines for eight months without intcrmiilion ; 

 and at the end of th.it time he decl.nred himfelf free frcim all 

 his ufual complaints ; and on fcarching him no llcue was 

 perceived in the bladder. Mr. Gardiner died about three 

 years afterwards, ard his body was opened. When the 

 At Zoblitz, in Saxony, it bladder was examined, there were found in it fix preter- 

 natural apertures of dilferent fixes, the largcfl of which was 

 capable of admitting the end of a finger. Thefe pa(rages 

 led to morbidly formed facs in the internal coat of the blad- 

 der, which (liielded the calculi from the touch of the fur- 

 geon's founding Haft'. In a word, though the fubjedl was 

 taken up by Dr. Hartley and others, and the medicine be- 



and 

 edged 



It is very foft and mild, and eafily frangible ; greafy to 

 the touch, but llrongly adheiing to tlie tongue. It is 



The variegated bluifh and purpli(h eanh, vulgarly called 

 lyunder-crde in German, or Terra miracidufa Saxoiiicci, is 

 one of the bell known and finell variety of lithomarge. It 

 ia found ac Planitz, near Zwickau, in Saxony, in beds of coal. 

 A fine (lefii-red variety occurs at Rochlitz in Saxony, in 

 difintegrated porphyry. Lithomarge is alfo met with in 

 fevei-al other parts of Saxony, and on the Hartz, in Bohe- 

 mia, Moravia, Bavaria, and Siberia. 



Compatl hthomarge is partly found in veins, fuch ss tin 

 (lone veins, partly, as that of Planitz, on beds of coal ; alfo 

 (the yellow variety) in the cryllalline gei-des of the Topaze 



rock, in bafalt and amygdaloid ' ~ 



occurs in ferpeiitine. 



Tills fubHance, of which we are (lill without a good che- 

 mical analyfis, appears Co pals into Iteatile, meer-fchaum, 

 and a!fo into variegated clay. 



It has been frequently confounded by authors with por- 



celain earth, fullers' earth, bole, 



The variety of lithomarge occurring in ferpentine, is ufed licved by fome to podefs all the powers which had been 



for poliOiing this latter (tone. It was alio formerly em- afcribed to it ; it was not only found, in feveral inftaiiccs, 



ployed in medicine, particularly the variegated variety, which that the calculi Hill remained in the bladder after death; 



was dignified with the appellation oi tfrra niiraMlojli. but the dillrcfilng fyniptoms were faund to recur, or even 



Vol. XXI. X io 



