Lapis Manati, c1745-1807

Description

Glass jar containing a bone from the head of a manatee. From the Burges Collection

Text on paper labels reads ‘Catal. Mat. Med. p. 115. No. 54’ and ‘LAPIS MANATI’.

Pomet, in his Compleat History of Druggs, describes the substance as ‘a whitish Stone, or rather a bone taken out of the Head of the Manatea Fish, that is white and hard; sometimes like a Tooth, and somewhat resembling the whitest Ivory, but much harder; it is a fix’d Alcali, absorbs Acids, eases the Pain of the Stomach, cures Heart-burning and the Colick; is good against Stone and Gravel, and to expell Urine’.