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of perfection and simplicity, because enclosing the greatest space
under the least superficies; all straight lines drawn from its centre
to the circumference being equal. Gold was betokened as the most simple
metal, the most perfect, and the heaviest, because it includes the
greatest quantity of matter under the least surface. The character for
the Moon (signifying silver) was a half circle, because it is half
Gold, as chemists agree, but that half lies hid. The character for
Copper (Venus) denotes that the body is of Gold, joined with some
corrosive menstruum. The explanation of the character for Lead was the
same as for Tin, but inverted, with the corrosive passing through the
middle. Neither of these two significations is clear. A skull—(caput mortuum)—was designed, and shown at the end of the metallic symbols; this " caput mortuum" meaning the residue of dregs left in the retort, or alembic, after distillation.
The
Arabian physicians were in the habit of using Gold,—giving the metal
itself in a fine powder—as a medicine, which proved highly curative in
their hands. Far later, in 1811, Chretien revived in Paris the curative
use of powdered metallic Gold; making public his Observations sur un Nouveau Remede dans le Traitement des Maladies Veneriennes, et Lymphatiques, wherein
he communicated a number of cases illustrating the curative value of
this medicine in syphilis, and scrofula. He stated that finely powdered
Gold-leaf produces the same beneficial effect as the Chloride, or the
Oxide, of the metal. The nasal action of the medicine has led to its
successful use in raw soreness within the nostrils, with formation of
crusts therein, attended with offensive smelling of putrid odours.
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