Though the Greeks and Romans were well acquainted with pearl-mussels, as is obvious from several passages in the classical authors, it does not appear that they ever used these articles in the practice of medicine. They were used by the Arabians as an ingredient in their celebrated Electuarium de Gemmis, (Mesue de Elect.) and were reckoned among their cordial medicines. Avicenna says of pearls, that they resemble karabe in medicinal powers, but are more powerful in their operation. (De Med. Cordial.) Serapion gives a fuller account of them upon the authority of several Arabian writers, who describe pearls as being cold, desiccant, and attenuant, and recommend them in diseases of the eyes, and in hemorrhages, as dentifrices in diseases of the teeth, but more especially as cordials in palpitations and other affections of the heart. (De Simpl. 397.) We could have wished to have given in this place, since we have had no convenient opportunity to do so elsewhere, an exposition of the views of the Arabians respecting the operation of cordial medicines; but as this subject could not be understood without a fuller explanation of certain parts of the higher philosophy of the ancients than is consistent with our limits, we are reluctantly obliged to dismiss it with a very brief notice. We would beg leave to refer our readers to Avicenna’s elaborate treatise ‘de Medicinis Cordialibus.’ He there gives an ingenious disquisition on medicines which operate upon the animal spirits and dispel vapours, and first advocates views which have formed the basis of many a modern hypothesis on this subject. Among the cordial medicines described by him we would remark amber, gold, silver, citron, coral, cinnamon, camphor, myrobalans, hyacinth (the gem), lapis lazuli, myrtle, musk, mace, frankincense, silk, sandal-wood, tamarinds, zerumbet, zeduary, &c. One important class of cordials consists of medicines which evacuate black bile, namely, melanogogues, which we will have to treat of in a subsequent section of this work.
In imitation of the Arabians, Paracelsus and the modern alchemists have attributed great virtues to the precious metals and stones as cordial medicines. See Schröder (Chemical Dispensatory, pluries.) He says of pearls, that “they are an excellent cordial, that strengthens the balsam of life, resists poison, pestilence, and putrefaction, and clear the spirits.” (167.) Pearls and other precious stones have always been highly esteemed by the Hindoo physicians. See the Susruta and Wise’s Hindoo Medicine (124.)
Sericum.
We have mentioned above, that silk is one of the cordial medicines treated of by Avicenna. Silk, and especially raw silk, he says, is attenuant and desiccative, acts as a cordial, improves the memory, proves useful in affections of the eyes, in obstructions of the liver and other complaints. (De Med. Cord. ii, 3.) The silkworm (bombyx mori) and the uses of silk in medicine, are described with considerable accuracy by Serapion. Like Avicenna he ranks it with the cordial medicines, and recommends it in this capacity along with pearls, karabe, corals, and musk. (De Simpl. c. 28.) Silk forms one of the ingredients in the electuary of Mesue, to which he gives the following imposing title, “Electuarium ex granis tinctoriis ad cordis palpitationem, syncopem, mentis alienationem, seu desipentiam, moerorem sine causa manifesta, facultates enim nostrum corpus dispensantes mirifice roborat.” See f. 89, and the interesting Commentary of Costa. It is also an ingredient in several of the Antidotaria of Avenzoar. Ebn Baithar says, that various Arabian authors had written on the medicinal properties of silk. One of them quoted by him describes the use of it in medicine by burning it, and using its ashes for collyria and other purposes. He remarks, that Ebn Sina (Avicenna) says, that silk as an article of clothing prevents the formation of lice. Raw silk has been used as a medicine in modern times. Moses Charras, in his ‘Royal Pharmacopœia,’ writes thus of it: “Many writers have attributed great virtue to raw silk. But although the use thereof had been at all times unknown in physic, my judgment is that it is too fragrant, that it has too much beauty, that it affords too many conveniences to human life, that there are too many wonders in the first original, progress, labour, and metamorphosis of the worm which produces it, to be despised.” He adds, “that is called raw silk which was never boiled, but is still as it were in the grain, out of which the worm has been but newly taken.” He says further of the composition, whereof raw silk is an ingredient, namely, Confectio alkermes regia, “This confection is, without question, one of the best cordials that ever Galenic physic invented. For it repairs and recreates the vital and animal spirits, it ceases palpitations of the heart and swooning-fits; it fortifies the brain, &c.” (R. P. 149.) A still more recent authority on pharmacy, says of raw silk, Sericum, that it is “cordial, restorative, one drachm in powder.” Gray (Suppl. to Pharmacop. 215.)
Hyacinthus.
This is one of the precious stones which often occurs as an ingredient in the Arabian formulæ for antidotes. Ebn Baithar remarks, that it is not described by Dioscorides nor Galen. He mentions three kinds, a yellow, a red, and a black, of which the red is the noblest. Its powers, he says, are increased by fire. It was used as an amulet, and was held to be cordial and alexipharmic; and, in fact, Ebn Baithar says it is possessed of many virtues. From his mentioning of it, that, when rubbed, it attracts straw, there seems every reason to suppose that it was tourmaline. Some have taken the hyacinth of the Greeks and Romans for the same, but Heeren rather supposes it to be the ruby. It is briefly noticed as a cordial by Avicenna, Mesue, and Serapion. The last of these gives nearly the same account of it as Ebn Baithar; that is to say, both had copied from the same authorities. He particularly mentions it as being an excellent phylactery to guard the body during thunder-storms. (De Simpl. 398.) The Confectio de Hyacintho has been very celebrated in modern times. See Moses Charras (Roy. Pharmacop. 147.)
Hager Albuzedi.
It is thus described by Serapion: “Hager albuzedi is a red stone, but less so than the hyacinth, the redness of which is more agreeable to the eye, as there is no obscurity in it. The mines where this stone is found are in the East. When taken from the mine it is opake; but when divested of its outer coat by a lapidary, its goodness is discovered and it becomes transparent. When this stone has been strongly rubbed against the hair of the head, it attracts chaff, as the magnet does iron.” He speaks of its being useful to the eyes when they are rubbed with it, and says that as a seal it dispels frightsome dreams. (de Mineral. 399.) According to Beckmann this is most probably not the tourmaline, although it bears some resemblance to it in properties, but belongs rather to the hyacinths. (History of Inventions.) In fact, it would appear to us highly probable, that this article like the preceding was a variety of the ruby.
Hager Salachil, or Lapis Corneolus.
Several species of it are described by Serapion, of which the best he says is the red. They are brought, he adds, from the mines of the Romans, and were used principally as an amulet and dentifrice. It must have been the same as the Sardion of Theophrastus (De Lapidibus), and of Plato (Timæus.) The term would appear to have been used in a general sense for several of the finer kinds of agates. (De Simpl. 400.) A modern authority thus describes it: “The Sarda or Cornelian. It is a gem half transparent, like the water wherein flesh is washed, or like bloody flesh: hence it is called Carneolus or Cornelian. The best cornelians are found in Sardinia.” Schröder (Chemical Dispensatory, p. 160.)