Page:Chronicles of pharmacy (Volume 2).djvu/46

 XVI

REMINISCENCES OF ANCIENT PHARMACY

At the Renaissance of letters at first everything had to give place to the books of the ancients; nothing was good or true except what was found in Aristotle or Galen. Instead of studying plants as they grew, they were only studied in the works of Pliny and Dioscorides; and nothing is so frequent in the writings of those times than to find the existence of a plant doubted for the simple reason that Dioscorides has not spoken of it.


 * Dictionary of Botany.

Marvellous virtues were attributed by the ancients to the precious stones known to them, but rather perhaps in their character of amulets than as medicines. One of the so-called hymns of Orpheus, composed probably about 500, is "On Stones," and describes the properties of many of these highly esteemed minerals. Four lines (taken from a translation in the Rev. C. W. King's "Natural History of Precious Stones") will serve as a sample:—

With its complexion of a lovely boy The opal fills the hearts of gods with joy; Whilst by the mild effulgence of its light Its healing power restores the fading sight.

Coral, according to the same authority, acquired its special properties from Minerva. This substance was