that the ancients gave them the name of " Tin Islands."
"
Some Authors affirm that Tin may be reduced into a Calx, or Ceruse, by
the help of urine ; and that the urine acts upon Tin as vinegar upon
Lead." The Diaphoretick Tin, which M. Lemery has called the " Jovial
Diaphoretick," is made of fine English Tin, with Iron, melted together,
and afterwards with SaltÂpetre ; they draw from thence a powder which
is used for diseases of the liver."
Though
Tin is not to be considered worthy to rank as a noble Metal, yet it
obtains such an extensive use for manufacture into homely utensils of
numerous sorts, thereby retaining in immediate contact with its surface
so many of our foods, provisions, stored materials for kitchen use, and
preserved comestibles, that enquiry in these pages as to the properties
possessed, and exerÂcised by Tin, remedially, or prejudicially, to the
bodily health, is a matter of really vital importance to us all.
It
is a remarkable fact, which has been proved over and over again, that
water in which tin has been boiled (or cooled, after having been first
heated), is capitally hostile to intestinal worms, particularly the
round worm (lumbricus). Teste declares that both lumbrici (round
worms), and ascarides (threadworms), will frequently come away in large
quantities after the medicinal taking of metallic Tin, in some such a
form as the water thus potentialized.
Another
simple method which may be reliably adopted for securing these desired
effects is to reduce purest Tin-foil to powder, and then rub some of
this powdered metal well together with dry powdered inert sugar of milk
: one part of the powdered Tin-foil to ninety-nine
