Note 803 — ON INJURIES OF THE HEAD.

Celsus translates this passage as follows: “At si ne tum quidem rima manifesta est, inducendum supra os atramentum scriptorium est, deinde scalpro id deradendum; nigritiem enim continet, si quid fissum est.” (viii., 4.) Arantius properly remarks, that the ancient ink must not be confounded with the modern, which is composed principally of copperas and galls. It was, no doubt, the milder kind prepared from the soot of pines with gum which was used in this case. On the writing-ink of the ancients, see Dioscorides (M. M., v., 182) and Pliny (H. N., xxxv., 6).