From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordΚαδμίαν names the ingredient rendered cadmia.
- In this workCadmia is the third member of Galen’s A34 list of substances to be finely ground and mixed.
- In this editionThe passage does not identify cadmia with cadmium metal or provide its chemical composition.
- A place to readNames cadmia in the four-ingredient powder comparison for the mixing of unchangeable constituents.
Meaning
Καδμίαν names the ingredient rendered cadmia. Retaining the ancient name is preferable to substituting the modern metal cadmium: the lexical resemblance does not establish identity, and the source provides no modern compositional analysis.
Use in the book
Cadmia is the third member of Galen’s A34 list of substances to be finely ground and mixed. Within the analogy it has exactly the status of a distinct starting material whose presence is not lost merely because the resulting powder cannot be separated ingredient by ingredient in ordinary handling.
The passage offers no individual description of cadmia’s color, production or therapeutic use. Its significance is therefore relational rather than encyclopedic: one among several materials that make the distinction between preserved constituent and mixed whole concrete for Galen’s readers. To add a detailed mineral history would exceed the evidence being indexed.
The separate entry gives the reader a reliable route from the unfamiliar term to the larger Mixture discussion, while guarding against a false modern equivalence and against attribution of Galen’s technical example to Empedocles himself.
Places to read
- A 34 (testimony)Galen, In Hippocratis De natura hominis XV 32 K. Names cadmia in the four-ingredient powder comparison for the mixing of unchangeable constituents.
Translation in this edition
The passage does not identify cadmia with cadmium metal or provide its chemical composition. The ingredient is part of Galen’s analogy, not an Empedoclean root.