of Plinies Naturall Hiftorie. 
A remoovedthey muft notbebut at the verie time of deliverance, for otherwife the verie wombé 
or matrice would flip out withall; andunleffé they be remooved then they fhall never be delive- 
red, Within the fame Ifle Samos (wherein we praifed the gold{miths earth Tripolie) there is a 
ftone likewife called Samius,very good to burnith and polith gold: the fame ferveth allo in ply- 
ficke togither wich milke; for ulcers of the eyes, being applied in manner aforefaid; and in that 
fortitcureth alfo their weeping and wateting which hath continued a long time : rhe fame being 
taken in drinke, helpeth the infirmitie and other accidents of the {tomacke; it cureth the dizzi- 
neffe of the head, and reftoreth thofe to their right fenfes againe who be troubled in their brain. 
Some are of opinion, that itis holefome tobee given unto thofe that ate fubje@t tothe falling 
fickneffe, or ditficultie of making water: befides, ic isone of the ingredients that goe to the ma- 
B king of thofe medecines which be called Acopa: for to know whether it bee good, fee that itbe 
pafling whiteand heavie withall. It is faid, that ifa woman weare it hanging or tied about her, it 
will keepe herfrom untimely flips of het abortive fruit, and withall containé the matrice thovghi 
it were given to fall downe toolow, Fh Nededane : 
_ Touching the ftone Arabus, like it is to yvorie; a proper thing for dentifrices, if itbecalcined 
and reduced to powder: a peculiar propertie it hath befides, ro cute the hemorrhoids, beeing 
applied thereto in lint, fo thatthere be fine linnen cloaths Jaid afterwards theretipon. 
{ muftnot overpaffe in filence, the treatife of pumith {tones and theirnature: I am not igno- 
rantthat in architecture and mafonrie, they ufe to call by the name of Pumices or Pumifhes 
thofe hollowed ftones or bricks as if they were eaten into, which hang downe from thofe vaulted 
~ © buildings which they call Mufea, roreprefent acave or hollow vault artificially made. But to 
fpeake more properly of thofe Pumifhes which are ufed by women for tofmooth and flicke their * 
skin, yea and by your leave by men alfo in thefe daies ; alfo for td pollith books,as Catullas faiths 
the beft of them are found iri Melos, Scyros,and the Iflands of Aitolia:and thofe oughtto bee 
verie white, and aceording to their proportion exceeding Ipht: the fame fhould be allo as {pun- 
gcousas is poffible,and drie without ;eafie to be beaten to powder, and in the rubbing betweene 
the fingers not apttoyeeld from therm ay fand. As for their medicinable vertues, they doc ex- 
tenuat and drie,after three calcinings,fo that regard be had in the torrifying,that it be done with 
cleane charcoles that burn cleare, and that they be everie time quenched with white wine:which 
done, they are to be wafhed like unto C admia or the Calamine {tone ; and being dried againe, 
_ D theywould be laid up in fome drie place which isin any wife danke or given to gather mouldi- 
nefle. The powder of this ftone is commended principally in medecines for the eyes, for a gen- 
tle mundificative itis, and cleanfeth the ulcers and fores incident untothem: it doth incarnat 
hollow skars and maketh them even with the teftaboutthem, Some, after the third burning fuf- 
fer them to coole of themfelves,and not by quenching;and chufe rather to beat them afterwards 
with fome fprinckling of wine among: they enter likewife into thofe-emollitive or lenitive pla- 
fires which are devifed for the fores of the head or ulcers in the privities, The beft dentifrices for 
to cleanfe or whiten the teeth, bee made of the pumith, 7 beophraftvs writeth, that great drun- 
kards who drinke for a wager, ufe to take the powder of the pumith ftone before-hand : for then’ 
_ they may, nay they muft quaffe luftily indeed, for unleffe they bee filled with drinke, they are en= 
E daungeredby the forefaid powder, To conclude, hee faith, that foexceeding refrigerative it iss 
__ thatif new wine doe worke or purge never fo much, caft but a little pumith {tone into it, you 
fhall {ee it give over immediatly. tRTi ¢ i 
(Cuav. xxi0 Many ; a 
2& Of floneswhich be goed for Apothecaries to make their mortars of : of [oft flones : of an 
the glafse-flone : of flimts and the fhining ftone Phengites : of whctflones = 
and grindftones : of other flones that ferve in building whith 
refift the violence of fireand tempefs, 9 
FE Vr auincierit writers in old time were carefull to find ftones fit for mortars, and not onely 
to ferve Aporhecaries for to beat and pulverize their druggs, or painters to grind thei 
colouts, but the cookes alfointhekitehin forto powder their fpices:and in Verie truth, 
they preferred the Ephefian marble before all others ;and next to it,thar of Thebais in high 2- 
gypt which I called before Pyrthopoecilon,although fometherebethat nameit Pfaroniumina — 
Eee ij third 
