Lime was known to the Egyptians and Hindus.
Magnesia seems to have been known to the alchemists. Its name occurs in Geber and other writers of the period. The Carbonate of Magnesia was probably first used as a medicine by the Count de Palma at Rome. Hoffmann introduced it into the list of Materia Medica.
Epsom Salts (Sulphate of Magnesia) was first discovered by Dr. Grew in 1675 in a spring at Epsom. It is found in many countries.
Alum is mentioned in Pliny, xxxv. chap. 15, and probably is referred to by Dioscorides (v. chap. 122). Shib was the generic term of alum of various kinds in Arab writings. Egyptians and Hindus must have known of its properties from the earliest ages of their civilization. It was introduced into Europe from Syria by the Genoese.
Green Vitriol or Sulphate of Iron was known to the ancients. It is mentioned, says Dr. Royle, in the Amera Cosha of the Hindus (Hind. Med., p. 44), and it is used by them as by the Romans in the time of Pliny in making ink.
Zinc seems to have been first made known as a metal in Europe by Paracelsus. The Hindus have imported it from China from remote times. The Oxide of Zinc was anciently called tutty, probably from the Tamil Tutanagum. In the East, says Royle, Sulphate of Zinc is called suffed tutia, or white tutia, the Sulphates of Iron and Copper being called green and blue tutia (Hindu Med., p. 100).
Copper was one of the metals most anciently known. It was employed in medicine by the Hindus and Arabs in the form of the Sulphate or Blue-stone. Verdigris, the Diacetate of Copper, must have been known wherever copper vessels were used. It was employed by the Greeks as a medicine, by the Arabs, and probably also by the Egyptians.
Lead was equally well known of old; the carbonate of the metal was one of the most anciently known of the metallic salts. The Middle Ages introduced the acetate of lead commonly known as Sugar of Lead. Extract of Lead, or Extract of Saturn, or Goulard’s Extract, have been known since the time of B. Valentine.
Bismuth was first mentioned by Agricola in 1520.
Sulphur was employed in medicine by the Greeks, Hindus, and Arabs. Geber knew of its solubility in an alkaline solution, and Albertus Magnus taught the method of procuring Sulphuret of Potassium by fusion.