SECT. LVIII.—ON GYPSUM.
Gypsum, when drunk, produces suffocation, by being converted into stone; hence we must transfer the remedies applicable to those who have taken mushrooms, giving them in this case, and substituting the decoction of mallows for oil; for being of a fatty nature it lubricates the parts, and prevents them from being injured by the stony hardness of the gypsum. Oil, also, in honied water is proper; and the decoction of figs, and the lye of figs, or of the ashes of vine-shoots with much wine, and marjoram, or thyme with lye or vinegar. Clysters are also to be administered, consisting of must and the decoction of mallows.
Commentary. Our author copies closely from Dioscorides.
Rhases and Avicenna treat this case upon much the same principles as the Greeks, only they give scammony freely at first, and if dysentery supervene they recommend the remedies suitable for it. Aëtius, Dioscorides, and the other Greek authors, although they approve of clysters, say nothing about drastic purgatives. Avicenna says, gypsum in its action resembles ceruse, but is even more powerful than it in inducing strangulation. Haly Abbas says, gypsum occasions colic and ileus with dryness of the mouth, suffocation, difficulty of making urine, and so forth. He directs clysters at first, and afterwards an electuary of pepper and mustard to be given. Alsaharavius forbids emetics, recommends water mixed with honey, and olive-oil for drink, also emollient clysters, and sweet wine.
For an account of gypsum, see Pliny (H. N. xxxvi, 59) and Theophrastus (de Lapidibus.) Isidorus gives the following description of it:—“Gypsi plura genera: omnium autem optimum, lapis specularis: est enim signis ædificiorum, et coronis gratissimus.” (Orig. xvi, 3.) The gypsum speculare was evidently selenite, or crystallized sulphate of lime. See Matthiolus (Com. in Dioscor.)
Dr. Kidd gives the following account of the varieties of the ancient gypsum:—“It was, by the general description of it, an earthy compound of lime; but the ancient naturalists seem to apply it to sulphate of lime, the gypsum of the present day, and sometimes to a calcined carbonate of lime, or quicklime, which they called calx.” (Mineral. b. i, p. 70).
Sir John Hill gives a full account of the ancient gypsums in his notes on Theophrastus (de Lapidibus.) “Gypsum,” he says, “is nothing more than a selenite less elegant than the rhomboidal or plated kinds.” There can be no doubt that the γυψος διαφάνης of Philoponus (Com. in Aristot. de Anima. ii) was pure selenite. It is singular that our recent authorities on toxicology have not included gypsum in the list of poisonous substances which they treat of, although there is good reason to believe that the powder, if given in any great quantity, is highly deleterious. We know for certain that gypsum, or stucco, is often used for poisoning rats and mice. It is further deserving of remark that all the earlier modern authorities on medicine, down at least to the middle of the 16th century, treat of gypsum as an active poison. All the ancient authorities, it will be seen, represent it in this light. Pliny makes mention of a case of suicide committed by means of gypsum (H. N. xxxvi, 24.)