march, a Roman medicine-stamp is described. In 1818, it was found in the Leauses garden at Cirencester, deposited in a fictile urn. This stamp is of the form of a parallelogram, and is inscribed on two of its sides. Plate III., No. IX., shows the lettering of these two inscriptions, as well as the size of the sides and two ends of the stone. The inscriptions are as follows: 1. MINERVALIS DIALEB ANUM AD IMPT LIPP EX OVO 2. MINERVALIS MELINU AD OMNEM DOLOREM Messrs Buckman and Newmarch read MINERVALIS as signifying "pertaining to Minerva;" but it is no doubt the name, as in other specimens, of the oculist who was the proprietor of the stamp. And from the inscriptions left us upon Roman tombs, we know that Minervalis was a Roman cognomen.2 The two inscriptions are easily read; they are as follows:: 1. MINERVALIS DIALEBANUM AD IMPETum LIPPitudinus EX OVO. -The frankincense Collyrium of Minervalis, for attacks of Ophthalmy, to be used with an egg. We have already had occasion to discuss the nature of the Collyrium Dialibanum;-see stamp No. VI., and it is unnecessary to recur to it. On a previous occasion, also, the signification of the common expression, ex ovo, was adverted to. 2. MINERVALIS MELINUM AD OMNEM DOLOREM. -The yellow Collyrium of Minervalis, for every pain or disease of the eye. More than once we have had occasion to allude to the Collyrium Melinum. (See stamps Nos. IV. and V.) The only singularity is, that we have here the Melinum offered as a panacea for every painful affection to which the eyes of the colonists and natives of Cirencester might be subject, at the time that Minervalis practised amongst them. One of the forms of the Collyrium Melinum given by Galen is professed by him to be efficacious " ad omnem oculorum hebetudinem."-(Tom. xii., p. 786.) No. XII.-A Roman medicine-stamp has lately turned up in these islands, in a locality in which its presence could be little expected, viz., in the county of Tipperary, in Ireland. It has been described by Mr Albert Way in an interesting paper (published since the first part of these notices appeared). Dr Dowsley, of Clonmel, who now possesses this stone, has kindly furnished me with a wax impression of its inscription, and with the following note relative to the locality in which it was discovered :-"It was found (he 1 Illustrations of the Remains of Roman Art in Cirencester, the site of the Antient Corinium. P. 117. 2 See, for example, Gruter's Inscriptiones Romanæ. Vol.ii., p. DCCLXXXIII. 2; OML. 3; MXXvii. 4. Notice of a stamp used by a Roman oculist or empiric, discovered in Ireland. Archeological Journal, p. 354. says) near the village of Golden, parish of Relig-Murry, in the county of Tipperary, in a field near the ruins of an old hospital, or at least what was supposed to be such; but it was built at so remote a period, that there is now no record of what the building was for, nor of the founder of it, and so little of the walls are at present standing, that even the style of architecture cannot be known. The seal was discovered by a labourer when digging. There was no pottery nor coin found; but near it was a human skeleton much decayed, the position of which in the ground was not noticed. The soil in this field is peculiarly rich and very deep; it is frequently carted away for manure; most likely it was an ancient burial ground. The village of Golden is about a mile from the old abbey of Athassel." It is unnecessary to discuss here, how such a Roman relic reached this part of Ireland, and whether it was conveyed there or not when the Romans were colonising Britain; or, what is probable, at a later period. But I may merely remark, there can be no doubt, that Roman civilisation and Roman practices spread in the earlier centuries of the Christian era to parts beyond the precise line of Roman conquest. Other Roman relics have been found in Ireland, though Ireland was never subject to the Roman arms. Pl. III., No. XII., shows the figure of this Irish medicine-stamp. It is engraved only on one side, and the inscription runs as follows: M IUVEN TUTIANI DIAMYSUS AD VET CIC : M(arci?) JUVENții TUTIANI DIAMYSUS AD VETeres CICatrices.The Diamysus of Marcus Juventius Tutianus, for old cicatrices. At the end of the first line there is a small cut in the inscription (see Plate), which, in all probability, is not a letter, but a mark or ornament intended to fill up that space. In speaking of the Bath stone, I have already taken occasion to state, that this same inscription of Diamysus ad veteres cicatrices, has now been found on various Roman medicine-stamps discovered in different parts of France. The collyrium DIAMYSOS derived its designation from containing as its principal ingredient the Misy, a metallic vitriolic preparation, used to a considerable extent as a stimulant and escharotic among the ancients; and it was retained even to a comparatively late period in the London pharmacopeia.1 It appears to be still used medicinally in the East.2 The chemical nature, however, of Misy, has given rise to some considerable doubt and discussion. It was usually found, and generally described, along with two other cognate fossils, Sori and Chalcitis. And Galen, who enters into an elaborate description of them, 1 See the Pharmacopeia Londinensis for 1662, p. 48. 2 See Ainslie's Materia Indica, vol. i. p. 513, and Royle's Antiquities of Hindoo Medicine, p. 102. visited the copper mines of Cyprus, with a view of determining the precise nature of these three mineral substances.1 2 Dr Adams, who has examined this question with all his wellknown great learning and care, believes that these three minerals were merely varieties of chalcanthum or copperas. In his opinion, the Chalcitis was probably a kind of pure sulphate of copper which had contracted an efflorescence from age; the Sori was sulphate of copper combined with zinc or other impurities; and the Misy was a combination of sulphate of copper with sulphate of iron, the predominance of the chalybeate salt giving to the fossil its peculiar colour. For the Misy, says Dioscorides, is "of a golden appearance, hard, shining like gold when broken, and glancing like stars." In his notes on the Misy, Dioscorides speaks of the analogy of its caustic power with those of Chalcitis; but the only diseases that he referred to as having the Misy used in their treatment, are the diseases of the eye. And he does so in telling us that the Egyptian kind of Misy is quite inferior to the Cyprian in forming eye medicines (ocularia medicamenta).3 8 In speaking of its medical powers, Galen, Oribasius, and Paulus Aegineta, describe the Misy as escharotic, and astringent. In giving his list of eye medicines, Galen places the Misy, Sory, &c., amongst those local applications which have a detergent effect." Paulus Aegineta enters the Misy in his list of "detergents of foul ulcers" of the eye, (vol. iii., p. 548). Pliny, in describing the properties of Misy, states that "extenuat scabrities oculorum." Celsus in his work repeatedly alludes to the Misy and its effects. One of the collyria which he describes when treating of granular ophthalmia, contains the Misy (see page 294). And he adds, that with the exception of those affections which require mild applications, this special collyrium is adapted to every kind of disorder of the eye (adversus omne genus oculorum valetudinis idoneum est). Galen 1 1 I shall quote Galen's own graphic account of his personal visit and observations:-" At the mine in Cyprus, in the mountains of the Soli, there was a great cave dug in the mountain, at the right side of which, that is to say, on our left hand as we entered, there was a passage into the mine, in which I saw certain specimens of the three substances stretched upon one another like zones, the lowest being that of sori, upon it chalcitis, and then that of misy. In process of time the chalcitis changes into misy by degrees, and the sori can change into chalcitis, but requires a much longer space of time. So that it is no wonder that these three substances should be possessed of homogeneous (similar) powers, as differing from one another in tenuity and density of their parts-the grossest being the sori, and the finest the misy, whereas chalcitis possesses an intermediate power. When burnt, they become more attenuant, but less styptic."-Adams' Paulus Aegineta, Note, p. 400. (Kuehn's Galen, vol. xii., p. 226). 2 See his Edition of Paulus Aegineta. Notes in pp. 253, 400, and 402. 3 Opera, lib. v., cap. 117, p. 370. 4 Kuehn's Edit. of Galen, vol. xii., p. 228. Opera, lib. xv., p. 515, and lib. xiv., p. 483. 6 Dr Adams' Sydenham Society Edition, vol. iii., p. 253. 7 Kuehn's Ed., v. xii., p. 701. 8 Hist. Nat. lib. xxxiv., c. xii., v. iii., p. 399. 9 See Milligan's Edit., p. 194, Misy sanguinem suppremit; p. 197, rodit; p. 199, crustas inducit, &c. (vol. xii. p. 736) and Paulus Aegineta (vol. iii. p. 556) both give formulæ for the collyrium-Panchrestos of Erasistratus, which contained Misy as its leading ingredient. "It has," says Paulus "wonderful efficacy in diseases of the eyes." The Misy (valedissimum medicamentum) enters into the composition of several of the collyria described by Actuarius.1 In a previous page I have already taken occasion to state that Marcellus Empiricus gives a formula for a collyrium under the name inscribed upon the stone of the collyrium DIAMYSOS; and he describes it as calculated "ad aspritudines oculorum tollendas et ad lachrymas substringendas." The collyrium Diamysos of Marcellus Empiricus consists of Misy burnt till it becomes red, and then combined with spikenard, saffron, cadmia, calcined copper, opium, myrrh, Cyprian scales, and gum, with all which it was to be rubbed down in the best wine, shaken and filtered. But he gives also the alternative of adding to the Diamysos another ingredient, which was long an article in the materia medica, viz., vipers. For some (he observes) add to the collyrium Diamysos "a viper, dried and baked well in the sun, as if it were salted" (quidam adjiciunt huic collyrio viperam siccam et arefactam bene in sole tanquam si sit selita). He goes on, however, still further to explain that prayers and incantations must be used in making this addition to the Diamysos. For (he observes) if you thus wish to add the dried viper, you must first extract its bones, roll it up in linen, and then pour over it the wine of the collyrium,3 previously charming the viper (sed prius eam praecantabis) as follows, lest it cause tears and produce harm, saying, “As thou dost not see, even so may thy juice, when tasted, hurt no one, but I pray that with the purpose for which thou hast been added, thou mayest further the cure (quomodo tu non vides, sic et tuus succus gustatus nulli noceat, sed ob rem propter quam adjecta es proficias bene curationi precor)." The preceding list contains notices of all the Roman medicinestamps that have, as far as I know, hitherto been discovered in the British Islands. The account of them has extended to such an unexpected length, that I must retain for a concluding communication all generalisations relative to the nature, use, &c., of these stamps.3 1 See De Methodo Medendi, lib. vi. p. 305-308. 2 Viper wine (Vinum Viperinum) and viper broth (Jus Viperinum), had long a place in the London Pharmacopoeia, and still longer the vipers were retained in it as an ingredient in the celebrated but multifarious Theriaca Andromachi, which, with its discordant farago of seventy and odd ingredients, was only expelled about a hundred years ago from the British Pharmacopoeias. (See Alston's Materia Medica, vol. ii. p. 517; Hill's Materia Medica, p. 829; Quincy's Dispensatory, p. 400; Mead's Essay on the Viper, 1745, &c.) In the "Gentleman's Magazine" for the year 1778, vol. 48, p. 510, it is mentioned that a Roman medicine-stamp had been found at St Albans, but I believe no kind of description of it has, as yet, been anywhere published. Part Second. REVIEWS. Report of the General Board of Health on the Epidemic Cholera of 1848 and 1849. London. 8vo. Pp. 159. 1850. Appendix (A) to the Report of the General Board of Health on the Epidemic Cholera of 1848 and 1849. Report by Dr SUTHERLAND. London. 8vo. Pp. 164. Pp. 164. 1850. Appendix (B) to the Report of the General Board of Health on the Statistics of Cholera. By Assistant-Surgeon Edward Balfour, By WILLIAM J. COX, 1850. By J. STEVENSON 1850. THE labours of the General Board of Health have been conducted with an energy of benevolent purpose, which would of itself command respect, even had their sole fruits been disappointment. The great object which they have striven to illustrate is, that all pestilences, whether plague, fever, or cholera, are the necessary consequences of infringements of what some modern philosophers style, the organic laws, those stern conditions of existence which prescribe deadly penalties against filth, over-crowding, the respiring of an impure atmosphere, the use of bad or insufficient food, and of unwholesome water,-against intemperance and kindred vice,-and, in short, against all the evils inseparable from poverty. Although this doctrine, when first announced by the General Board of Health, in their famous "Report on Quarantine," was not tacitly subscribed to by the medical press; and although, even at the present day, it cannot, without considerable modification, be held as representing the views of any very large section of the profession, its promulgation, by such high authority, has directed inquiries into the social position of the poor of our large cities, and has strengthened the hands of sanitary reformers in preparing remedies for certain great public errors. For even those who refuse assent to the whole doctrines of the Board of Health, cannot deny that the condition of the poor of our cities seems to render them but too prone to become the victims of pestilence, when it has been introduced or breaks out among them; while all modern experience tends to prove, that districts in |