Kuh Banan has been visited by Mr. E. Stack, of the Indian Civil Service.
(Six Months in Persia, London, 1882, I. 230.) - H. C.]
NOTE 2. - Tutty (i.e. Tutia) is in modern English an impure oxide of
zinc, collected from the flues where brass is made; and this appears to be
precisely what Polo describes, unless it be that in his account the
production of tutia from an ore of zinc is represented as the object and
not an accident of the process. What he says reads almost like a condensed
translation of Galen's account of Pompholyx and Spodos: "Pompholyx is
produced in copper-smelting as Cadmia is; and it is also produced from
Cadmia (carbonate of zinc) when put in the furnace, as is done (for
instance) in Cyprus. The master of the works there, having no copper ready
for smelting, ordered some pompholyx to be prepared from cadmia in my
presence. Small pieces of cadmia were thrown into the fire in front of the
copper-blast. The furnace top was covered, with no vent at the crown, and
intercepted the soot of the roasted cadmia. This, when collected,
constitutes Pompholyx, whilst that which falls on the hearth is called
Spodos, a great deal of which is got in copper-smelting." Pompholyx, he
adds, is an ingredient in salves for eye discharges and pustules. (Galen,
De Simpl. Medic., p. ix. in Latin ed., Venice, 1576.) Matthioli, after
quoting this, says that Pompholyx was commonly known in the laboratories
by the Arabic name of Tutia.
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