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Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica

Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica Page of 251 Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
88
DE NATURA FOSSILIUΜ
found as a narrow wedge, sometimes broad, sometimes little, sometimes large. Pieces from Misena may weigh as much as fourteen pounds. It may congeal with the form of an icicle or a belemnite, for example, that found at times in Goslar and common in the iron mines of Bohemia near the village of Lessa. It may have the appearance of grapes as in the case of the mineral from the Harz forest and some of the very black mineral from Goslar. The Harz mineral often has the appearance of a brain since it sometimes occurs in hemispherical forms. Finally it may be broader than long, for example, the Harz mineral that sparkles like artificial minium.
Physicians use hematite since it dries and is astringent. The powder, after the mineral is completely pulverized in a mortar, reduces roughness of the eyelids, a disease the Greeks call τράχωμα, when mixed with egg and smeared on the inflamed lid. If mixed with water it stops bleeding from an open vein. It is beneficial in the treatment of all ulcers. The powder reduces all fleshy growths. Schistos of the same color as hematite has the same properties while that of other colors is less efficacious. The best hematite is the color of dried blood, friable, uniform and pure. Similarly, the best schistos has the same properties although Dioscorides preferred the variety that was yellow at the ends but he is mistaken in this since the very finest differs only in form from hematite.
Nature produces hematite from ostracites in the Hildesheim district at a place between a cave and a water course and it is produced artificially from lodestone, in each case by burning. The gem antipathes which is black and opaque is nothing other than black hematite. The latter miner­al, as well as hematite, if cooked in milk becomes similar to myrrh. The black trichrus from Africa belongs to this same genus and yields three juices, black from the base, red from the middle and white from the top. This is a compound mineral consisting of two kinds of hematite, red and black, and apparently galactites or some similar mineral.
Just as hematite and schistos form from red rocks, morochthus forms from white and similar calcareous rocks. Since this mineral makes white lines in the same manner as chalk it is also called leucographis and since it is also white and soft it is called leucogaea, i.e., white earth. It is called galaxias by some because it gives a milky streak. This mineral is found in Egypt and is mined in Saxony, Germany, along with the earth of Alfeld. The pit is to the south on the road to the wooded mountain. Morochthus is white, soft and readily soluble. Textile workers use it to whiten linen. Since it possesses the property of spreading and reduces bleeding physi­cians use it to relieve menstruation. Since it dries and is not astringent and does not draw nor bite when taken internally it relieves pains in the abdomen and bladder. It is used in eye remedies, causes hollow ulcers to fill and stops the flow of humors. It covers up scars from ulcers, especially soft ulcers.
Galactites and melitites form from the same calcareous rocks. Each is
Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica Page of 251 Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica
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