CHAP. 37. (20.)—HÆMATITES: FIVE REMEDIES. SCHISTOS: SEVEN REMEDIES.
Schistos and hæmatites[2716] have a certain affinity between them. The latter is found in mines, and, when burnt, has just the colour[2717] of minium.[2718] It is calcined in the same manner as Phrygian stone, but is not quenched in wine. Adulterations of it are detected by the appearance of red veins in it, and by its comparative friability. It is marvellously useful as an application for bloodshot eyes, and, taken internally, it acts as a check upon female discharges. To patients vomiting blood, it is administered in combination with pomegranate-juice. It is very efficacious also for affections of the bladder; and it is taken with wine for the cure of wounds inflicted by serpents.
In all those cases the stone called “schistos”[2719] is efficacious, though not in so high a degree as the other; the most serviceable being that which resembles saffron in colour. Applied with woman’s milk, it is particularly useful for arresting discharges from the corners of the eyes,[2720] and it is also very serviceable for reducing procidence of those organs. Such, at least, is the opinion of the authors who have most recently written on the subject.
CHAP. 38.—ÆTHIOPIC HÆMATITES. ANDRODAMAS; TWO REMEDIES. ARABIAN HÆMATITES. MILTITES OR HEPATITES. ANTHRACITES.
Sotacus, one of the most ancient writers, says, that there are five kinds of hæmatites, in addition to the magnet[2721] so called. He gives the preference among them to that of Æthiopia,[2722] a very useful ingredient in ophthalmic preparations and the compositions which he calls “panchresta,”[2723] and good for the cure of burns. The second, he says, is called “androdamas,”[2724] of a black[2725] colour, remarkable for its weight and hardness, to which it owes its name, in fact, and found in Africa more particularly. It attracts silver, he says, copper, and iron, and is tested with a touchstone made of basanites.[2726] It yields a liquid the colour of blood, and is an excellent remedy for diseases of the liver. The third kind that he mentions is the hæmatites[2727] of Arabia, a mineral of equal hardness, and which with difficulty yields, upon the water-whetstone, a liquid sometimes approaching the tint of saffron. The fourth[2728] kind, he says, is known as “hepatites,”[2729] while raw, and as “miltites”[2730] when calcined; a substance good for burns, and more efficacious than rubrica[2731] for all the purposes for which that mineral is employed. The fifth[2732] variety is schistos; a substance which, taken internally, arrests hæmorrhoidal discharges. Upon the same authority, it is recommended to take any kind of hæmatites, fasting, in doses of three drachmæ, triturated in oil, for affections of the blood.[2733]
The same author mentions also a kind of schistos which has no affinity to hæmatites, and to which he gives the name of “anthracites.”[2734] It is a native of Africa, he says, and is of a black colour. When rubbed upon a water-whetstone, it yields a black colour on the side which has adhered to the earth, and, on the opposite side, a saffron tint. He states also that it is a useful ingredient in ophthalmic preparations.
CHAP. 39. (21)—AËTITES. TAPHIUSIAN STONE. CALLIMUS.
The stone called aëtites[2735] has a great reputation, in consequence of the name which it bears. It is found in the nests of eagles, as already mentioned in our Tenth Book.[2736] There are always two of these stones found together, they say, a male stone and a female; and without them, it is said, the various eagles that we have described would be unable to propagate. Hence it is, too, that the young of the eagle are never more than two in number. There are four varieties of the aëtites: that of Africa is soft and diminutive, and contains in the interior—in its bowels as it were—a sweet, white, argillaceous earth. It is friable, and is generally thought to be of the female sex. The male stone, on the other hand, which is found in Arabia, is hard, and similar to a nut-gall in appearance; or else of a reddish hue, with a hard stone in the interior. The third kind is a stone found in the Isle of Cyprus, and resembles those of Africa in appearance, but is larger and flat, while the others are of a globular form: it contains a sand within, of a pleasing colour, and mixed with small stones; being so soft itself as to admit of being crushed between the fingers.
The fourth variety is known as the Taphiusian aëtites, and is found near Leucas,[2737] at Taphiusa, a locality which lies to the right as you sail from Ithaca towards Cape Leucas. It is met with in the beds of rivers there, and is white and round; having another stone in the interior, the name given to which is “callimus:” none of the varieties of aëtites have a smoother surface than this. Attached to pregnant women or to cattle, in the skins of animals that have been sacrificed, these stones act as a preventive of abortion, care being taken not to remove them till the moment of parturition; for otherwise procidence of the uterus is the result. If, on the other hand, they are not removed at the moment when parturition is about to ensue, that operation of Nature cannot be effected.