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41b:4 ·
The sign  was used in old pharmacology and had the meaning a dose of medicine, a large pill. It also stood for bolus, a clay containing iron oxide that was formerly used by pharmcists in order to make pills, when milling cloth, as a colouring substance, and in the purification of oils.
 has been found, for example, together with  ,  , and  , on a Buddha statue from Japan, from around A.D. 760.
In old chemistry and in alchemy the sign was used for orichalcum, a golden metal alloy. In alchemy, finally, it also sometimes was used for dissolvant.
Compare with  in Group 42, which is structurally similar; with  in this group; and with  , a sign in alchemy for clay.
This structure, turned upside down, occurs on old rock carvings in California.
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