_Sulphuret of Antimony._
QUALITIES. This article appears in the market in conical loaves, which
are dark grey externally, but internally possess a bladed structure and
considerable brilliancy; the Edinburgh and Dublin colleges direct this
substance to be levigated with water, and kept in the state of powder;
it should however never be purchased in that form, as it is not
unfrequently adulterated with sulphuret of lead, whereas it cannot
contain such admixture when its form is characteristically crystalline
and bladed. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION. Antimony 100, Sulphur 35·572. From the
time of Basil Valentine to the present, this preparation has been known
in the market by the name of _Antimony_, a name which it is evident can
only with propriety be applied to the pure metal. SOLUBILITY. It is
insoluble in water and alcohol; since however it is slightly acted upon
by vegetable acids, cups were formerly made of it, which imparted to
wine that stood in them for some time, an emetic quality.[374] USES. It
is principally employed for the preparation of the other antimonial
combinations, for which purpose it is more eligible than the metal
itself, as being less contaminated with metallic impurities. Its
medicinal energies depend altogether upon the state of the stomach, and
must therefore be extremely uncertain; when it meets with any acid in
the stomach, it acts with extreme violence, a circumstance which
requires precaution. It was formerly much more employed as an Alterative
than at present. Stoll recommends its use in chronic rheumatism, and
advises its union with Myrrh. In the treatment of affections of the skin
it has been long used, both singly, and in union with other substances,
such as _Conium_, _Dulcamara_, _Guaiacum_, &c. In Scrophulous diseases,
connected with cutaneous eruptions, or ulcerations, it has been a
favourite remedy with many practitioners, and it forms the basis of
several foreign _Nostrums_. In times of remote antiquity it was used by
females as a black pigment for staining the eye-lashes, a custom which
continues to this day in the east.[375] It is at present given to horses
mixed with their food, to make their coats smooth, and very large doses
may be given to these animals without producing any deleterious effects.
OFFICINAL PREPARATIONS. Dr. Black constructed a table representing a
view of all the preparations whose basis was antimony; many of these
however have fallen into disuse, and the nomenclature of all is changed.
The following arrangement of the medicines prepared from the sulphuret
of antimony,[376] is presented to us by Mr. Thomson, in his London
Dispensatory. 1. BY TRITURATION, _Sulphuretum Antimonii Præparatum_.
E.D. 2. BY THE ACTION OF HEAT WITH PHOSPHATE OF LIME, (oxidized) _Pulvis
Antimonialis_, L.D. _Oxidum Antimonii cum Phosphate Calcis._ E. 3. BY
THE ACTION OF ALKALIES, (oxidized), _Antimonii Sulphuretum
Præcipitatum._ L.E. _Sulphur Antimoniatum Fuscum_. D. 4. BY THE ACTION
OF ACIDS, (oxidized,) _Antimonii Oxydum_. L. _Oxydum Antimonii
Nitromuriaticum_. D. _Antimonium Tartarizatum_. L. _Tartris Antimonii_,
_olim Tartarus Emeticus_. E. _Tartarum Antimoniatum_, sive _Emeticum_,
D. _Vinum Antimonii Tartarizati_. L. _Vinum Tartaritis Antimonii_. E.
ADULTERATIONS. The importance of employing this article in a state of
great purity, for the preparation of so many active and valuable
medicines, is obvious. It ought to be entirely volatilized by a read
heat; _Lead_ is discovered by its imparting to the antimony a foliated
instead of a bladed texture, and from not being vaporizable; _Arsenic_,
by the garlic odour emitted when thrown upon live coals; or by the
numerous tests mentioned under the history of that article; _Manganese_
and _Iron_, from not being vaporizable, and from other tests: the most
usual adulteration is black oxide of iron, or the scoriæ of that metal,
“_Smithy dust_.”