Encyclopædia Britannica, First Edition/Chian Earth

CHIAN earth, in pharmacy, one of the medicinal earths of the ancients, the name of which is preserved in the catalogues of the materia medica but of which nothing more than the name has been known for many ages in the shops.

It is a very dense and compact earth, and is sent hither in small flat pieces from the island of Chios, in which it is found in great plenty at this time. It stands recommended to us as an astringent. They tell us, it is the greatest of all cosmetics, and that it gives a whiteness and smoothness to the skin, and prevents wrinkles, beyond any of the other substances that have been celebrated for the same purposes.