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In [[alchemy]], '''cadmia''' (Latin for [[cadmium]]) is an oxide of [[zinc]] ('''tutty'''; from {{lang-ar|توتيا}} ''tutiya'') which collects on the sides of furnaces where [[copper]] or [[brass]] was smelted, and zinc [[w:Sublimation (physics)|sublimed]]. The term is also applied to an ore of [[cobalt]].

For the cadmium produced in furnaces, there were five identified kinds: the first called ''botrytis'', as being in the form of a bunch of grapes; the second, ''ostracitis'', as resembling a sea shell; the third, ''placitis'', for resembling a crust; the fourth, ''capnitis''; and the fifth, ''calamitis'', which hung around certain iron rods that were used to stir material in the furnace; being shaken off, the cadmium resembled the figure of a quill, called in the Latin, ''calamus''. The ''cadmia botrytis'' was found in the middle of the furnace; the ostrytis at the bottom; the placitis at the top; and the capnitis at the mouth of the furnace.

In pre-modern medicine, cadmium was used as a desiccant in moist stinking ulcers, causing the area to become healed by the formation of scar tissue. The ''botrytis'' and ''placitis'' were also used for diseases of the eyes.

The term '''cadmia''' was formerly applied to the mineral ''lapis calaminaris''.

==References==
#''Webster's Revised Unabridged dictionary'' (1913)
#{{Cite Cyclopaedia 1728}}

[[Category:Alchemical substances]]