Æthiops or Ethiops originally meant a negro or something black. The
word is alleged to have been derived from aithein, to burn, and ops,
the face, but this etymology was probably devised to fit the facts.
There is no historical evidence in its favour. Most likely the word
was a native African one of unknown meaning. It became a popular
pharmaceutical term two or three hundred years ago, but is now almost
obsolete, at least in this country. In France several mercurial
preparations are still known by the name of Ethiops. There are, for
instance, the Ethiops magnesium, the Ethiops saccharine, and the
Ethiops gommeux; combinations of mercury with magnesia, sugar, and gum
acacia respectively. These designations echo the mysteries of alchemy.
Ethiops alone meant Ethiops Mineral. This was a combination of mercury
and sulphur, generally equal parts, rubbed together until all the
mercury was killed. It was a very uncertain preparation, but was
believed to be specially good for worms. “Infallible against the
itch,” says Quincy, 1724. Its chemical composition varied from a mere
mixture of the two substances to a mixture of sulphur and bisulphide
of mercury, according to the conditions in which it was kept. It was
formerly known as the hypnotic powder of Jacobi.
Ethiops Martial was the black oxide of iron. It was a mixture of
protoxide and sesquioxide of iron. Lemery’s process was the one
usually recommended, but perhaps not always followed. It was to keep
iron filings always covered with water and frequently stirred for
several months until the oxide was a smooth black powder. Lemery’s
Crocus Martis was a similar preparation but contained more of the
sesquioxide. The Edinburgh and Dublin Pharmacopœias of 1826 ordered
simply scales of iron collected from a blacksmith’s anvil, purified by
applying a magnet, and reduced to a fine powder. This was a favourite
preparation of iron with Sydenham. Made into pills with extract of
wormwood, the Ethiops Martial constituted the pilula ferri of Swediaur.
Ethiopic pills were similar to Plummer’s pills (pil. calomel. co.).
Guy’s ethiopic powder was once a well-known remedy for worms. It was
composed of equal parts of pure rasped tin, mercury, and sulphur.
Vegetable ethiops was the ashes of fucus vesiculosus which were
given in scrofulous complaints and in goitre before iodine was
discovered. The ashes contain a small proportion of iodine. Dr. Runel
(“Dissertation on the Use of Sea Water,” 1759) says it far exceeds
burnt sponge in virtue.
Huxham recommended an Aethiops Antimoniale, composed of two parts of
sulphide of antimony and one part of flowers of sulphur. The older
Aethiops Antimoniale was a combination of antimony chloride with
mercury, and was given in venereal and scrofulous complaints. Mercury
with chalk was sometimes called absorbent ethiops, or alkalised ethiops.