3. M. JULII. SATYRI DIALIBANUm AD SUPPURATionem.—M. Jul. Satyrus’ Dialibanum, or Incense collyrium, for Suppurative discharge from the eyes.
Frankincense (thus, λιβανος, λιβανωτος)[515] was frequently used by the ancient oculists in their collyria. According to Galen[516] and Paulus Ægineta,[517] in consequence of its detergent powers, it apparently cleanses and fills up ulcers in the eyes (expurgare et implere quæ in oculis consistunt ulcera videtur). It has the power, according to Oribasius, “astringendi, calefaciendi, caliginem oculorum discutiendi, cava ulcera implendi, ad cicatricem perducendi,”[518] etc.
Alexander Trallianus gives a formula for the collyrium Dialibanum ad chemosim efficax; and he describes the Dialibanum as, like the Libanum, of much use in eye-diseases, and particularly for inflammations which are accompanied with ulceration (multi est usus, maxime ad inflammationes quae cum ulcere infestant).[519] Celsus recommends it in ulcers of the eye following pustules (fit quoque proprie ad hæc quod διὰ λιβάνου vocatur).[520] Paulus Ægineta gives a formula for the Dialibanum, in his chapter on collyria.[521] Marcellus Empiricus, who offers two recipes for its composition, ascribes to it the power of being efficacious in the disease noted on our inscription, namely, “ad suppurationes oculorum.”[522]
When speaking of the treatment of suppuration of the eye, Galen lays down the following indications for the use of the Diasmyrnes, and Dialibanum:—“At quando pus, quod in oculis est, digerere placet, collyriis quæ myrrham habent, maxime utemur; quæ utique et Diasmyrna Græci proprie vocant; his certe minus, sed reliquis melius faciunt quæ Dialibanum vocant.”[523]
4. (m): jul: satyri penicillum LENE EX OVO.—M. Jul. Satyrus' mild Penicillum; to be used with an egg.
The term Penicillum has been found inscribed on several different Roman medical stamps, as upon specimens discovered at Vieux and Paris, each marked with lene penicillum; upon one discovered at Nais (penicillum ad omnem lippitudinem); and upon another at Famars. Its signification has given rise to several opinions somewhat differing from each other.
M. Grivaud considers the Penicillum indicated on the Roman medicine-stamps, to be merely a small brush or hair-pencil, such as is still used at the present day to wipe away the more viscid discharges that may be found adhering to the palpebræ and eyelashes.[524] According to M. Sichel, the Penicillum consisted of a pledget or folds of charpie, which the ancient oculists used both for the purpose of cleansing the eyes, and of introducing into them soothing washes and collyria.[525] M. Eloi Johanneau,[526] and M. Duchalais,[527] describe the Penicillum as a soft and fine sponge, employed in applying collyria to the diseased eye. Blancardi, in his Lexicon Medicum, defines the word Penicillum as “lint reduced to charpie, and besmeared with ointment to be applied to ulcers.”
The word Penicillum occurs in the writings of Pliny and Celsus, and is used by these ancient authorities in such a manner as to give countenance to each of the preceding opinions. Thus Pliny, in his chapter on sponges (De Spongiarum Natura), speaks of a variety of very fine sponge under the name of Penicillum; and this, when soaked in a preparation of honeyed wine (mulso), was, he says, applied to tumours of the eyes.[528] These Penicilli were also (he adds) useful, when very soft and fine, in cleansing the eye in ophthalmy.[529] Celsus, in his observations on the diseases of the eye, three or four times, and in different senses, uses the term. In inflammation of the eye, he recommends the eyes to be fomented with a Penicillum or pledget, squeezed out of a warm watery decoction of myrtle or rose leaves, before local medicines and collyria are applied to them.[530] Elsewhere, he recommends a pledget or Penicillum to be laid, or, if necessary, bound over the eyes, squeezed out of water; or, if the attack is more severe, out of vinegar and water (Penicillo uti expresso ex aqua; si major, ex posca).[531] In another passage, he states that in intense ophthalmia the white of an egg or the milk of woman, dropped into the eye with a Penicillum, relieves the inflammation, and that this may be used by the patient when neither a physician nor other medicines are at hand.[532] And again, he recommends the patient to take a bath, and foment his head and eyes freely with the warm water, then to wipe both with a Penicillum, and anoint his head with iris ointment.[533] Here we have the Penicillum used by the same author as a mechanical means both of cleansing the eye and of making local applications to it. Further, in his chapter on the surgery of the eyes, Celsus uses the word Penicillum in the signification of tents. Thus, in describing the operation for ancyloblepharon, or agglutination of the eyelids, he directs the eyelids, after being separated by a probe, to be kept asunder by small penicilla laid between them, till the ulceration of the part is cured.[534]
The preceding quotations show that, besides other significations, there is no doubt that the term Penicillum was used to designate a soft sponge, and perhaps also a brush or pledget of charpie that was occasionally employed in ophthalmic practice, for the double purpose of fomenting or cleansing the eye, and of dropping local applications into it. But it seems very unlikely that a stamp should be used by the oculist to mark the material of these Penicilli with. It would be both difficult and unnecessary to stamp in any way either a piece of sponge or of charpie with such an inscription as that found upon this and the other Roman seals. And I would venture to suggest, that it appears much more probable that the collyrium, ointment, or lotion, that was to be used with the sponge or charpie, was sometimes designated Penicillum, from the special mode in which it was to be applied; in the same way as we have found various eye-drops passing under the general designation of Stactum, from the special mode in which they were applied to the diseased organ. In this way the LENE PENICILLUM in the legend of our present oculist-stamp would not signify the material which was used in the application of the medicine, but the name of the medicine or collyrium as indicative of the mode in which it was to be used.