STAMP NO. III.—CONTAINED IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
A second Roman medicine-stamp is (as I have already stated, p. 244)
contained in the British Museum. The stone is small and broken, and only
engraved on one side (see Plate I., No. III.) The inscription does not
include, as usual, the name of the oculist who possessed and employed
it.
The lettering on this stamp is very distinct, except in one particular.
It is doubtful whether the third last letter is intended for an “L,” or
stands, as suggested by Mr. Way, for an “I,” with a period-point after
it, thus—“I.” An inspection of the stamp itself has impressed me with
the belief, that the doubtful letter is truly an “L;” and if so, the
inscription would run:—
COLLYR. P. CLOC.
Or, to read it in an extended form, COLLYR_ium_ P_ost_ C_a_L_iginem_
OC_ulorum_—_Collyrium for blindness of the eyes._ And I may observe
that several of the prescriptions found on these medicine-stamps are
collyria professing to be useful against and after (_ad_ and _post_)
_caliginem_.
But if the doubtful letter is an “I,” and not an L, then the
inscription, when extended, may be read as follows:—COLLYR_ium_ P_ost_
CI_catrices_ OC_ulorum_, or, “_Collyrium after cicatrices of the eyes._”
The P may stand for P_ro_, and not for P_ost_; but I am not aware of any
instance of the former preposition (_Pro_) occurring in these
inscriptions, while several examples of this use of the latter
preposition (_Post_) are known. An instance of this use of the
preposition _Post_ will be found in the sequel, in Stamp No. VI.