Schistos and hæmatites[2716] have a certain affinity between them. The latter is found in mines, and, when burnt, has just the colour[2717] of minium.[2718] It is calcined in the same manner as Phrygian stone, but is not quenched in wine. Adulterations of it are detected by the appearance of red veins in it, and by its comparative friability. It is marvellously useful as an application for bloodshot eyes, and, taken internally, it acts as a check upon female discharges. To patients vomiting blood, it is administered in combination with pomegranate-juice. It is very efficacious also for affections of the bladder; and it is taken with wine for the cure of wounds inflicted by serpents. In all those cases the stone called “schistos”[2719] is efficacious, though not in so high a degree as the other; the most serviceable being that which resembles saffron in colour. Applied with woman’s milk, it is particularly useful for arresting discharges from the corners of the eyes,[2720] and it is also very serviceable for reducing procidence of those organs. Such, at least, is the opinion of the authors who have most recently written on the subject. CHAP. 38.—ÆTHIOPIC HÆMATITES. ANDRODAMAS; TWO REMEDIES. ARABIAN HÆMATITES. MILTITES OR HEPATITES. ANTHRACITES. Sotacus, one of the most ancient writers, says, that there are five kinds of hæmatites, in addition to the magnet[2721] so called. He gives the preference among them to that of Æthiopia,[2722] a very useful ingredient in ophthalmic preparations and the compositions which he calls “panchresta,”[2723] and good for the cure of burns. The second, he says, is called “androdamas,”[2724] of a black[2725] colour, remarkable for its weight and hardness, to which it owes its name, in fact, and found in Africa more particularly. It attracts silver, he says, copper, and iron, and is tested with a touchstone made of basanites.[2726] It yields a liquid the colour of blood, and is an excellent remedy for diseases of the liver. The third kind that he mentions is the hæmatites[2727] of Arabia, a mineral of equal hardness, and which with difficulty yields, upon the water-whetstone, a liquid sometimes approaching the tint of saffron. The fourth[2728] kind, he says, is known as “hepatites,”[2729] while raw, and as “miltites”[2730] when calcined; a substance good for burns, and more efficacious than rubrica[2731] for all the purposes for which that mineral is employed. The fifth[2732] variety is schistos; a substance which, taken internally, arrests hæmorrhoidal discharges. Upon the same authority, it is recommended to take any kind of hæmatites, fasting, in doses of three drachmæ, triturated in oil, for affections of the blood.[2733]