CHAP. 13.—LYNCURUIM: TWO ASSERTED REMEDIES.
The pertinacity that has been displayed by certain authors compels me to speak of lyncurium[2985] next; for even those who maintain that it is not a variety of amber, still assure us that it is a precious stone. They assert, too, that it is a product of the urine of the lynx and of a kind of earth, the animal covering up the urine the moment it has voided it, from a jealousy that man should gain possession of it; a combination which hardens into stone. The colour of it, they inform us, like that of some kinds of amber, is of a fiery[2986] hue, and it admits, they say, of being engraved. They assert, too, that this substance attracts[2987] to itself not only leaves or straws, but thin plates of copper even or of iron; a story which Theophrastus even believes, on the faith of a certain Diocles.
For my own part, I look upon the whole of these statements as untrue, and I do not believe that in our time there has ever been a precious stone seen with such a name as this. I regard, too, the assertions that have been made as to its medicinal properties, as equally false; to the effect that, taken in drink, it disperses urinary calculi, and that, taken in wine, or only looked at, it is curative of jaundice.