CHAP. 35.—THE SCORIA OF SILVER. SIX REMEDIES DERIVED FROM IT.
The scoria of silver is called by the Greeks "helcysma."
1
It has certain restringent and refrigerative effects upon bodies,
and, like molybdæna, of which we shall make further mention
when speaking
2 of lead, is used as an ingredient in making
plasters, those more particularly which are to promote the
cicatrization of wounds. It is employed also for the cure of
tenesmus and dysentery, being injected in the form of a clyster
with myrtle-oil. It forms an ingredient, too, in the medicaments
known as "liparæ,"
3 for the removal of fleshy excrescences
in sores, ulcerations arising from chafing, or running
ulcers on the head.
The same mines also furnish us with the preparation known
as "scum of silver."
4 There are three
5 varieties of it; the
best, known as "chrysitis;" the second best, the name of
which is "argyritis;" and a third kind, which is called
"molybditis." In most instances, too, all these tints are to
be found in the same cake.
6
The most approved kind is that of Attica; the next being
that which comes from Spain. Chrysitis is the produce of
the metallic vein,
7 argyritis is obtained from the silver itself,
and molybditis is the result of the smelting of lead,
8 a work
that is done at Puteoli; to which last circumstance, in fact, molybditis
owes its name.
9 All these substances are prepared in
the following manner: the metal is first melted, and then allowed
to flow from a more elevated receiver into a lower. From
this last it is lifted by the aid of iron spits, and is then twirled
round at the end of the spit in the midst of the flames, in
order to make it all the lighter. Thus, as may be easily per-
ceived from the name, it is in reality the scum of a substance
in a state of fusion—of the future metal, in fact. It differs
from scoria in the same way that the scum of a liquid differs
from the lees, the one
10 being an excretion thrown out by
the metal while purifying itself, the other
11 an excretion of
the metal when purified.
Some persons distinguish two kinds of scum of silver, and
give them the names of "scirerytis" and "peumene;
12 a third
variety being molybdæna, of which we shall have to make
further mention when treating of lead.
13 To make this scum
fit for use, the cakes are again broken into pieces the size
of a hazel-nut, and then melted, the fire being briskly blown
with the bellows. For the purpose of separating the charcoal
and ashes from it, it is then rinsed with vinegar or with wine,
and is so quenched. In the case of argyritis, it is recommended,
in order to blanch it, to break it into pieces the size
of a bean, and then to boil it with water in an earthen vessel,
first putting with it, wrapped in linen cloths, some new wheat
and barley, which are left there till they have lost the outer
coat. This done, they bruise the whole in mortars for six consecutive
days, taking care to rinse the mixture in cold water
three times a day, and after that, in an infusion of hot
water and fossil salt, one obolus of the latter to every pound
of scum: at the end of the six days it is put away for keeping
in a vessel of lead.
Some persons boil it with white beans and a ptisan
14 of
barley, and then dry it in the sun; others, again, with white
wool and beans, till such time as it imparts no darkness to the
wool; after which, first adding fossil
15 salt, they change the
water from time to time, and then dry it during the forty hot-
test days of summer. In some instances the practice is, to
boil it in water in a swine's paunch, and then to take it out
and rub it with nitre; after which, following the preceding
method, they pound it in a mortar with salt. Some again
never boil it, but pound it only with salt, and then rinse it
with water.
Scum of silver is used as an ingredient in eye-salves, and,
in the form of a liniment, by females, for the purpose of removing
spots and blemishes caused by scars, as also in washes
for the hair. Its properties are desiccative, emollient, refrigerative,
temperative, and detergent. It fills up cavities in
the flesh produced by ulceration, and reduces tumours. For
all these purposes it is employed as an ingredient in plaster,
and in the liparæ previously mentioned.
16 In combination
with rue, myrtle, and vinegar, it removes erysipelas: and,
with myrtle and wax, it is a cure for chilblains.