Terra Lemnia

Abstract

In ancient medical practice several sorts of natural earths, found at various places in the Levant and described in detail by Pliny and other writers, had recognised curative properties, being employed for the most part as astringents and desiccatives in the treatment of wounds and internal haemorrhages. Pliny's list includes the earths of Chios, Kimolos, Eretria, Lemnos, Melos, Samos, and Sinope. The use of many of these persisted into quite modern times, but none was so generally esteemed either by ancients or moderns as the Lemnian, which was set apart in the first place by its alleged miraculous power against poisons (especially the bites of venomous reptiles) and later against plague, and in the second by the religious accompaniments and the various artificial restrictions of its production.