Τό γε μὴν τῆς Ναξίας ἀκόνης ἀπότριμμα ψυκτικὸν εἶναι φασὶν ὥστε καὶ τιτθοὺς παρθένων καὶ παίδων ὄρχεις προστέλλειν. τῆς ἐλαιακόνης δὲ τὸ ἀπότριμμα ῥυπτικὸν ὑπάρχον ἀλωπεκίαις ἁρμόττει.
‘The filings of the Naxian whetstone are said to be refrigerant, repressing the breasts of maidens and the testicles of boys. The filings of the oilstone being detergent suit with alopecia.’
It is uncertain what the Naxian whetstone was, but it was considered the best variety of whetstone. It is mentioned in Pindar. From the fact that emery is found in Naxos one might conclude that the Naxian whetstone was of emery, but a few lines before the passage quoted from Paul he has already mentioned the emery:
Ἡ δὲ σμύρις ῥυπτικὴν ἔχουσα δύναμιν ὀδόντας σμήχει.
‘The emery having detergent powers cleanses teeth.’
Galen makes the Naxian stone a variety of ostracites which was apparently marble formed of shells. One of the marble ointment tablets had, we saw, been used as a whetstone, but the whetstones for which Naxos was famous must, if not emery, have been some variety of shale or slate. It seems contrasted to some extent with the ‘oilstone’, i. e. whetstone which required oil. This was a clay slate (see Pliny, H. N. xxxvi. 47).
There are several whetstones from Stabiae in the Naples Museum which are classed among surgical implements. Whetstones are common objects in the finds from any Roman settlement, but they are not ground to regular shapes as our whetstones are. They usually consist of fine sandy schistaceous shale.