Hi, Marshall. Thank you for clarifying the meaning of "flowers" in context of materia medica. Maybe you could help me out on another question. I am interested in collecting allusions to silver as a health-enhancing substance in antiquity. The Greek physician Hippocrates notes it in treatment of ulcers (above.) The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder recorded that the slag of silver used as an ingredient in medical plaster causes wounds to close. The Greek historian Herodotus records that the Persian king Cyrus the Great boiled drinking water and stored it in silver vessels.
I vaguely recall reading that Aristotle taught his student Alexander to store his drinking water overnight in a helmet made of iron but lined with silver. I can't locate the reference, though. Do you know of any classical reference to silver in the context of Aristotle and Alexander the Great? Thanks for your help! Matthew
