alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim wo ...

, cadmia (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

for

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 element, group 12, zinc and mercury (element), mercury. Li ...

) is an

oxide An oxide () is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen atom and one other element in its chemical formula. "Oxide" itself is the dianion of oxygen, an O2– (molecular) ion. with oxygen in the oxidation state of −2. Most of the E ...

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

(tutty; from ar, توتيا ''tutiya'', via Persian, from Sanskrit तुत्थ ''tuttha'') which collects on the sides of furnaces where copper or brass was smelted, and zinc sublimed. The term is also applied to an ore of

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, p ...

. For the cadmium produced in furnaces, there were five identified kinds: the first called ''botrytis'', as being in the form of a bunch of grapes; the second, ''ostracitis'', as resembling a sea shell; the third, ''placitis'', for resembling a crust; the fourth, ''capnitis''; and the fifth, ''calamitis'', which hung around certain iron rods that were used to stir material in the furnace; being shaken off, the cadmium resembled the figure of a quill, called in the Latin, ''calamus''. The ''cadmia botrytis'' was found in the middle of the furnace; the ostrytis at the bottom; the placitis at the top; and the capnitis at the mouth of the furnace. In pre-modern

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

, cadmium was used as a desiccative and detersive, in moist stinking

ulcers An ulcer is a discontinuity or break in a bodily membrane that impedes normal function of the affected organ. According to Robbins's pathology, "ulcer is the breach of the continuity of skin, epithelium or mucous membrane caused by sloughing o ...

, causing the area to become healed by the formation of scar tissue. The ''botrytis'' and ''placitis'' were also used for diseases of the eyes. The term cadmia was formerly applied to the mineral

, or ''lapis calaminaris''.

References

#''Webster's Revised Unabridged dictionary'' (1913) #{{1728, title=Cadmia History of pharmacy Oxides Alchemical substances