33
castor oil is confirmed by the medical writers. The
most complete discussion of kiki is found in Dioscorides,4 and other medical writers mention the therapeutic qualities of kiki in shorter notices.5 They all
agree on the purgative effect for which castor oil is
so well known today.
There is no doubt, then, that kiki is castor oil.
The measure used in P. Cornell 1 for the issue of
the oil is the kotyle, and that was reckoned as a
liquid measure of 24. 65 centiliters, -or 8. 3 ounces,
by Segre. Allowing for inaccuracies in calculation
and in actual measurement by the ancients, it is
still safe to use a half-pint measure in determining
the length of time which a kotyle will burn. Since the
results of the experiment are so striking, showing
a very long burning life for a kotyle of oil, even
with the roughness of the measure and possible
differences in quality of oil and wick, the conclusions will have validity.
The experiment was conducted in the following
manner. Four ounces of castor oil were burned in
each of two ancient lamps, and in one, lamp A, a
wick of braided linen approximately 1/8 inch in diameter was used, and a hemp wick 1/4 inch thick was
used in lamp B. Record was kept of the minutes
each lamp burned until the ration for each was exhausted. On four ounces, a half kotyle of oil, lamp A
burned for 18 1/2 hours, and lamp B for 14 1/2 hours.
4. IV, 161 5. Galen, De. Sanct. Tuenda
III, 10,11; Oribasius, VII, 26, 39; Aetius, 8,30;
Paulus Aegineta, 7,20.
6. A. Segre, Metrologia E Circulazione Monetaria
Degli Atichi, Bologna, 1928, p. 25
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