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　　Medicinal tablets are nothing new. Doctors have been dispensing¹ pills for thousands of years. And now archaeologists have turned up some of those ancient medicines, which were preserved in a shipwreck² for close to two millennia⁴.

　　The 2nd-century Pozzino wreck³ was discovered in 1974 off the coast of Italy. It’s cargo⁵ included medical equipment like a cupping vessel⁶, iron probe, and tin boxes of supplies. in one of those boxes, researchers recovered five gray tablets. Now, they’ve analyzed⁷ the antique medication. The work is in the Proceedings⁸ of the National Academy of Sciences.

　　The pills primarily contained zinc⁹ compounds, probably the active medicinal ingredients. But researchers also detected starch¹⁰, pollen¹¹, charcoal¹², fats and linenfibers. Those fibers¹³ helped the tablets hold their round, loaf-like shape, which may be the key to the medication's use: the Greek word meaning “small round loaves” also inspired the word collyrium, or eye-wash. The pills were probably either dissolved in liquid or ground into a powder and used to treat eye conditions. Who knows, maybe Hippocrates used them on his pupils.

　　Thanks for the minute for Scientific American 60 second science, I am Sophie Bushwickdispensing: 配药

　　millennia: 千年

　　pollen: 花粉

　　linen: 亚麻布

　　collyrium: 洗眼液

　　loaf: 一条面包

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