Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LEM'MING, or LEM'ING, n.

An English name applied to a group of rodent mammals, very nearly allied to the mouse and rat. They mostly inhabit the north of Europe and Asia. By some naturalists this group is made a genus under the name of Lemmus, but by others it is placed under the genus Mus. Lemnian earth, or sphragide, from the isle of Lemnos, in the Egean sea, a kind of astringent medicinal earth, of a fatty consistence and reddish color, used in the same cases as bole. It has the external appearance of clay, with a smooth surface resembling agate, especially in recent fractures. It removes impurities like soap. – Encyc. Nicholson.