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The composition and origin of massicot, litharge (PbO) and a mixed oxide of lead used as a traditional medicine in the Arabian Gulf

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

Michael A. Worthing  and
Hector H. Sutherland
Michael A. Worthing
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Box 36 Al-Khod 123, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
Hector H. Sutherland
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Sultan Qaboos University, Box 36 Al-Khod 123, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
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Extract

Lead and lead minerals have been used for medical purposes throughout human history. For example, galena was used as an eye salve in pre-Dynastic Egypt and by the ancient Indian civilisations of Mohendro-Daro and Harappa some 3200 to 2800 B.C. (Nriagu, 1983). The use of lead and other heavy metals and their compounds in Ayurveda, the Hindu system of medicine, can be traced back to the first century A.D. when Jain and Buddhist healers began to encourage the use of these substances instead of animal products (Mukherjee, 1992).

Keywords

massicotlithargeleadmedicineArabian Gulf
Type
Short Communications
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 60 , Issue 400 , June 1996 , pp. 509 - 513
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1996

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