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CHAP. 53. (16.)—SAMIAN EARTH: THREE REMEDIES.

In succession to these, we shall now have to speak of various other kinds of earth1 which are made use of in medicine.

Of Samian earth there are two varieties; one known as "collyrium,"2 the other by the name of "aster."3 To be in perfection, the first kind should be fresh, remarkably smooth, and glutinous to the tongue; the second being of a more solid consistency, and white. They are both prepared for use by being calcined and then rinsed in water, some persons giving the preference to the first. They are both of them useful for discharges of blood from the mouth, and are employed as an ingredient in plasters of a desiccative nature. They are used also in the preparation of ophthalmic compositions.

1 Aluminous silicates, as Delafosse remarks, more or less combined with other minerals. Though employed for various purposes in the arts, they are now but little used in medicine.

2 Probably because it was the more extensively employed of the two, in "collyria," or compositions for the eyes.

3 "Star" earth, apparently 32 From Eretria, in Eubœa. See B. iv. c. 21.

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