Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXXIV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF METALS., CHAP. 56.

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CHAP. 56.—ARRHENICUM.

Arrhenicum,¹ too, is procured from the same sources. The best in quality is of the colour of the finest gold; that which is of a paler hue, or resembling sandarach, being less esteemed. There is a third kind also, the colour of which is a mixture of that of gold and of sandarach. The last two kinds are both of them scaly, but the other is dry and pure, and divides into delicate long veins.² This substance has the same virtues as the one last mentioned, but is more active in its effects. Hence it is that it enters into the composition of cauteries and depilatory preparations. It is also used for the removal of hangnails, polypi of the nostrils, condylomatous tumours, and other kinds of excrescences. For the purpose of increasing its energies, it is heated in a new earthen vessel, until it changes its colour.³

SUMMARY.—Remedies, one hundred and fifty-eight, Facts, narratives, and observations, nine hundred and fifteen.

ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—L. Piso,⁴ Antias,⁵ Verrius,⁶ M. Varro,⁷ Cornelius Nepos,⁸ Messala,⁹ Rufus,¹⁰ the Poet Marsus,¹¹ Bocchus,¹² Julius Bassus¹³ who wrote in Greek on Medicine, Sextus Niger¹⁴ who did the same, Fabius Vestalis.¹⁵

FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Democritus,¹⁶ Metrodorus¹⁷ of Scepsis, Menæchmus¹⁸ who wrote on the Toreutic art, Xenocrates¹⁹ who did the same, Antigonus²⁰ who did the same, Duris²¹ who did the same, Heliodorus²² who wrote on the Votive Offerings of the Athenians, Pasiteles²³ who wrote on Wonderful Works, Timæus²⁴ who wrote on the Medicines de- rived from Metals, Nymphodorus,²⁵ Iollas,²⁶ Apollodorus,²⁷ Andreas,²⁸ Heraclides,²⁹ Diagoras,³⁰ Botrys,³¹ Archidemus,³² Dionysius,³³ Aristogenes,³⁴ Democles,³⁵ Mnesides,³⁶ Xenocrates³⁷ the son of Zeno, Theomnestus.³⁸

1 The substance here mentioned, though its name is the foundation of our word "arsenic," is not the arsenic of modern commerce, but probably a sulphuret of arsenic containing a less proportion of sulphur than the Sandarach of the last Chapter.—B.

2 The other two mentioned species naturally divide into laminæ, while this kind is disposed to separate into fine fibres.—B.

3 By this process a considerable portion of the sulphur is expelled, so as to cause the orpiment to approximate to the state of arsenic.—B.

4 See end of B. ii.

5 See end of B. ii.

6 See end of B. iii.

7 See end of B. ii.

8 See end of B. ii.

9 A different person from the Messala mentioned at the end of B. ix. He is mentioned in B. xxxiii. c. 14, B. xxxv. c. 2, and in Chapter 38 of this Book; but nothing further seems to be known of him.

10 See end of B. vii. and Note 94 to B. vii. c. 53.

11 Domitius Marsus, a poet of the Augustan age, of whom few particulars are known, except that he wrote an epitaph on the poet Tibullus, who died B.C. 18. He is mentioned by Ovid and Martial, from the latter of whom we learn that his epigrams were distinguished for their wit, licentiousness, and satire.

12 See end of B. xvi.

13 See end of B. xx.

14 See end of B. xii.

15 See end of B. vii.

16 See end of B. ii.

17 See end of B. iii.

18 See end of B. iv.

19 See c. 19 of this Book, Note 11, page 184.

20 See end of B. xxxiii.

21 See end of B. vii.

22 See end of B. xxxiii.

23 See end of B. xxxiii.

24 See end of B. xxxiii.

25 See end of B. iii.

26 See end of B. xii.

27 See end of Books iv., viii., xi., and xx.

28 See end of B. xx.

29 See end of Books iv., and xii.

30 See end of B. xii.

31 See end of B. xiii.

32 See end of B. xii.

33 See end of B. xii.

34 See end of B. xxix.

35 See end of B. xii.

36 See end of B. xii.

37 See end of B. xxxiii.

38 See end of B. xxxiii.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 56.—ARRHENICUM.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 56.—ARRHENICUM.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.