One of these varieties—the CROCODES PACCIANUM—received its name from Paccius, a celebrated Roman medical practitioner, who either invented this special collyrium, or brought it into repute. Paccius, who lived about the commencement of the Christian era, is said to have amassed a fortune by the sale of a secret nostrum. At his death he bequeathed the prescription for it to the Emperor Tiberius, who placed a copy of it in the various public libraries.[461] In the list of his ophthalmic medicines, Galen gives formulæ for various collyria invented by Paccius, such as the “Sphragis Paccii,”[462] “Asclepiadeum Paccii,”[463] “Collyrium ex terra Samia Paccii Ophthalmici ad affectus intensos (επιτεταμενας διαθεσεις).”[464] Galen does not give any recipe for the Crocodes of Paccius; but it was evidently a collyrium duly esteemed at the time in which he wrote; for, in his chapter on ulcers of the eyes, he specially names the “CROCODES PACCIANUM,”[465] and recommends its use in cases in which the accompanying inflammation has already ceased, and at the stage when a stimulating application becomes necessary.
The other variety of crocodes used by Sedatus is the CROCODES DIALEPIDOS. A formula for Dialepidos is given by Marcellus,[466] with the crocus as the first ingredient mentioned in its composition. The Dialepidos derived its name from its containing the scales—(λεπιδες) of burnt copper, or the black peroxide of that metal,—a preparation which Dioscorides (lib. v. cap. 89) describes as useful in eye-diseases; and which Galen declares to be a “medicamentum multo utilissimum,” vol. xii. p. 223.
SECTION IV.
STAMP NO. III.—CONTAINED IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
A second Roman medicine-stamp is (as I have already stated, p. 244) contained in the British Museum. The stone is small and broken, and only engraved on one side (see Plate I., No. III.) The inscription does not include, as usual, the name of the oculist who possessed and employed it.
The lettering on this stamp is very distinct, except in one particular. It is doubtful whether the third last letter is intended for an “L,” or stands, as suggested by Mr. Way, for an “I,” with a period-point after it, thus—“I.” An inspection of the stamp itself has impressed me with the belief, that the doubtful letter is truly an “L;” and if so, the inscription would run:—
COLLYR. P. CLOC.
Or, to read it in an extended form, COLLYRium Post CaLiginem OCulorum—Collyrium for blindness of the eyes. And I may observe that several of the prescriptions found on these medicine-stamps are collyria professing to be useful against and after (ad and post) caliginem.
But if the doubtful letter is an “I,” and not an L, then the inscription, when extended, may be read as follows:—COLLYRium Post CIcatrices OCulorum, or, “Collyrium after cicatrices of the eyes.”
The P may stand for Pro, and not for Post; but I am not aware of any instance of the former preposition (Pro) occurring in these inscriptions, while several examples of this use of the latter preposition (Post) are known. An instance of this use of the preposition Post will be found in the sequel, in Stamp No. VI.