CHAP. 50. (18.)—FIFTEEN REMEDIES DERIVED FROM LEAD.
Lead is used in medicine, without any addition, for the
removal of scars; if it is applied, too, in plates, to the region of
the loins and kidneys, in consequence of its cold nature it will
restrain the venereal passions, and put an end to libidinous
dreams at night, attended with spontaneous emissions, and assuming
all the form of a disease. The orator Calvus, it is said,
effected a cure for himself by means of these plates, and so preserved
his bodily energies for labour and study. The Emperor
Nero—for so the gods willed it—could never sing to the full
pitch of his voice, unless he had a plate of lead upon his chest;
thus showing us one method of preserving the voice.
1 For
medicinal purposes the lead is melted in earthen vessels; a layer
of finely powdered sulphur being placed beneath, very thin
plates of lead are laid upon it, and are then covered with a
mixture of sulphur and iron. While it is being melted, all
the apertures in the vessel should be closed, otherwise a
noxious vapour is discharged from the furnace, of a deadly
nature, to dogs in particular. Indeed, the vapours from all
metals destroy flies and gnats; and hence it is that in mines
there are none of those annoyances.
2 Some persons, during the
process, mix lead-filings with the sulphur, while others substitute
ceruse for sulphur. By washing, a preparation is made
from lead, that is much employed in medicine: for this purpose,
a leaden mortar, containing rain water, is beaten with a
pestle of lead, until the water has assumed a thick consistency;
which done, the water that floats on the surface is removed
with a sponge, and the thicker part of the sediment is left to
dry, and is then divided into tablets. Some persons triturate
lead-filings in this way, and some mix with it lead ore, or
else vinegar, wine, grease, or rose-leaves. Others, again,
prefer triturating the lead in a stone mortar, one of Thebaic
stone more particularly, with a pestle of lead; by which
process a whiter preparation is obtained.
As to calcined lead, it is washed, like stibi
3 and cadmia.
Its action is astringent and repressive, and it is promotive of
cicatrization. The same substance is also employed in preparations for the eyes, cases of procidence
4 of those organs more
particularly; also for filling up the cavities left by ulcers, and
for removing excrescences and fissures of the anus, as well as
hæmorrhoidal and condylomatous tumours. For all these purposes
the lotion of lead is particularly useful; but for serpiginous
or sordid ulcers it is the ashes of calcined lead that are
used, these producing the same advantageous effects as ashes of
burnt papyrus.
5
The lead is calcined in thin plates, laid with sulphur in
shallow vessels, the mixture being stirred with iron rods or
stalks of fennel-giant, until the melted metal becomes calcined;
when cold, it is pulverized. Some persons calcine lead-filings
in a vessel of raw earth, which they leave in the
furnace, until the earthenware is completely baked. Others,
again, mix with it an equal quantity of ceruse or of barley, and
triturate it in the way mentioned for raw lead; indeed, the
lead which has been prepared this way is preferred to the
spodium of Cyprus.