Ethiops alone meant Ethiops Mineral. This was a combination of mercury and sulphur, generally equal parts, rubbed together until all the mercury was killed. It was a very uncertain preparation, but was believed to be specially good for worms. “Infallible against the itch,” says Quincy, 1724. Its chemical composition varied from a mere mixture of the two substances to a mixture of sulphur and bisulphide of mercury, according to the conditions in which it was kept. It was formerly known as the hypnotic powder of Jacobi. Ethiops Martial was the black oxide of iron. It was a mixture of protoxide and sesquioxide of iron. Lemery’s process was the one usually recommended, but perhaps not always followed. It was to keep iron filings always covered with water and frequently stirred for several months until the oxide was a smooth black powder. Lemery’s Crocus Martis was a similar preparation but contained more of the sesquioxide. The Edinburgh and Dublin Pharmacopœias of 1826 ordered simply scales of iron collected from a blacksmith’s anvil, purified by applying a magnet, and reduced to a fine powder. This was a favourite preparation of iron with Sydenham. Made into pills with extract of wormwood, the Ethiops Martial constituted the pilula ferri of Swediaur. Ethiopic pills were similar to Plummer’s pills (pil. calomel. co.). Guy’s ethiopic powder was once a well-known remedy for worms. It was composed of equal parts of pure rasped tin, mercury, and sulphur. Vegetable ethiops was the ashes of fucus vesiculosus which were given in scrofulous complaints and in goitre before iodine was discovered. The ashes contain a small proportion of iodine. Dr. Runel (“Dissertation on the Use of Sea Water,” 1759) says it far exceeds burnt sponge in virtue. Huxham recommended an Aethiops Antimoniale, composed of two parts of sulphide of antimony and one part of flowers of sulphur. The older Aethiops Antimoniale was a combination of antimony chloride with mercury, and was given in venereal and scrofulous complaints. Mercury with chalk was sometimes called absorbent ethiops, or alkalised ethiops. IODINE