102 
corides, have been shewn by Rossius, as quoted by Sprengel, 
to be Egyptian words, and both are supposed to be sulphu- 
rets of copper ; but it is remarkable, that mis is a Fersian 
name for copper, and that missy is a name frequently 
applied in India to sulphate of iron, of which the common 
Indian name, however, is kusees. Galen, in the prescription, 
transcribed at p. 79, expressly mentions foreign misy (misyos 
pcregrini in the Latin translation). 
Though Dioscorides has judiciously omitted taking any 
notice of the supposed medical properties of jewels and 
precious stones ; yet as the majority of these are obtained 
from India, and were still more so in ancient times, so 
they corroborate the foregoing line of argument. They may 
be briefly enumerated, to complete the list of substances 
anciently used as medicines, and procured from India even 
in times as remote as those of the Persian Magi. 
Thus, of siliceous minerals we have great variety of 
quartz crystals; amethyst, catseye, and calcedonies, as onyx, 
plasma, heliotrope, cornelians, and every coloured agate; 
with jaspers, in the island of Ceylon, in the rivers and 
mountains, as well of Central as of Peninsular India. 
Common garnets are found at great elevations in the 
Himalayas, but the precious variety with pyrope, in 
Ceylon and Pegu. From the former island we also have 
cinnamon-stone, with tabular spar ; stilbite and heulandite 
from the Vindya, or transverse central range of Indian 
mountains, and Indianite with corundum from the Car- 
natic. So also, Ceylon and the opposite coast of Ava and 
Pegu, with the Capellen mountains, are equally famous 
for those ranked as aluminous minerals. Common corun- 
dum (Hind, koorun) has long been imported into Europe 
from Malabar and the Carnatic, where it occurs in granite 
rocks. Indeed, Dr. Thomson is of opinion, that the sand 
brought from the isle of Naxos and Ethiopia, which the 
