Terra Lemnia, Earth of Lemnos
Kaolin
Kha ika (Ayurveda)
Yugs rdo ཡུགས་རྡོ་ (Tibetan)
Ortus Sanitatis, Beck, 1517
Kaolin
Photo by Tommy from Arad
Mineralogical name:
Kaolinite; Halloysite: Hydrated Aluminium Silicate
Parts used:
Cleansed (washed) yellow clay-earth
Temperature & Taste:
Cold, dry. Sweet, sour.
Properties:
Nature: lumps
Color: whitish, sometimes with hints of color
Streak: white
Cleavage: none
Fracture: none
Lustre: Vitreous
Tenacity: Brittle
Transparency: Translucent
Hardness: 2–3
Specific Gravity: 2–3
Classification:
Uses:
1. Stops Leakages, Stops Bleeding:
-Diarrhea, Dysentery; primarily used for Diarrhea, including that with Blood
-Gastric and Duodenal Ulcers, chronic Ulcerative Colitis, Gastritis, Enteritis, Colitis.
-spitting blood, vomiting blood. (Used with vinegar to stop bleeding)
2. Clears Heat, Resists Poison:
-antidote against poisoning and venomous wounds; Pliny used it for Snakebite
-in modern times, it has been used for both Food and Alkaloidal poisoning.
-heat diseases including Pestilential Fevers (West).
3. Moves the Blood:
-Dioscorides said it is good against Trauma and bruising.
4. Absorbent:
-Kaolin is sometimes added to powders as an absorbent when Volatile Oils are added. This prevents the Oils forming a mass with the powder; 10 grains absorbs 5 drops of Volatile Oil.
5. Externally:
-washed in wine, it is used on green wounds and applied to Ulcers.
-it may also be used as a dusting powder for Eczema and other forms of Skin irritation.
-made into a paste with glycerine or oil and applied to Boils and Carbuncles.
-also a good application to Arthritic joints
–Pliny said if rubbed under the Eyes, it relieves pain and watering from them; similarly in Ayurveda
-a paste is applied to swellings and the pain of fibrocystic Breasts.
Dose:
Powder: 500mg–1 gram, with water
Preparation:
Wash well with purified Water, filter through cloth, then dry.
Main Combinations:
Often combined with Armenian (Red) Earth, which see.
1. Bleeding:
i. Earth of Lemnos with Armenian (Red) Earth, Dragons Blood and Hematite (as in Styptic Powder)
ii. Heat-type Bleeding, Earth of Lemnos with Armenian (Red) Earth, Red Coral, Pomegranate flower (as in Troches of Coral of Galen)
2. Against Poison, Juniper with Earth of Lemnos (as in King Nicomedes Antidote)
Major Formulas:
Troches of Earth of Lemnos (Trochisci de Terra Lemna)
Red Hungarian Powder
Styptic Powder (Fuller)
Troches of Coral (Galen)
Troches of Winter Cherry (Trochisci Alkekengi) (Mesue)
Philonium Persicum
Cautions:
1. Not used in constipation
2. All Earths are best heated at 100 degrees C for 1–2 hours to eliminate bacteria and fungal spores.
Main Preparations used:
Troches of Earth of Lemnos
There is a Good article with pictures of the Mine of Earth of Lemnos here.
See Armenian Earth for research on the clay-earths.
