Note 116 — Chapter VII · THE ROMANS.

[Minium is an ancient name for red oxide of lead; it was also applied to mercuric sulphide or vermilion, and the term vermilion was also used as a designation for granum tinctorum or kermes, the coccus ilicis, a variety of cochineal extolled by Galen for its medicinal properties. The exact nature of the meaning of minium in this connection is not altogether clear.—E. C. K.]