One of the most famous of the antimony compounds was the kermes
mineral, which it is understood was invented by Glauber about 1651. He
made it by treating a solution of the oxide of antimony with cream of
tartar, and then passing a current of sulphuretted hydrogen through
the solution. An orange-red powder was obtained, and famous cures were
effected by it. Glauber kept his process secret, but a Dr. de Chastenay
learnt it after Glauber’s death from one of his pupils and confided
it to a surgeon named La Ligerie, who in his turn communicated it to
Brother Simon, a Carthusian monk, who at once commenced successfully to
treat his brother monks with it, and soon after the Poudre des Chartres
was one of the most popular remedies in France for many serious
diseases, small-pox, ague, dropsy, syphilis, and many others. In 1720
Louis XIV bought the formula for its preparation for a considerable
sum from La Ligerie. It has been agreed by chemists, Berzelius and
others, who have studied Kermes Mineral, that it is a mixture of about
40 per cent. or less of oxide of antimony with a hydrated sulphide of
the metal, and a small proportion of sulphide of sodium or potassium
(according to the method of preparation). It is still official in the
Pharmacopœias of the United States and of many Continental countries.
From the solution from which the Kermes had been deposited a further
precipitate was obtained by the addition of hydrochloric acid. This,
too, was a mixture, consisting of protosulphide and persulphide of
antimony with some sulphur. It was the golden sulphuret which in
association with calomel became so noted in the form of Plummer’s
powder and Plummer’s pills. The powder was at first known as Plummer’s
Æthiops Medicinalis.
It would be tedious to go through the multitude of antimonial
compounds which have become official, and it would be impossible
in any reasonable space even to enumerate the quack medicines with
an antimonial base which were so recklessly sold in this and other
countries, especially in the earlier half of the seventeenth century.
The most important of all the antimonial compounds, or, at least, the
one which has maintained the favour of the medical profession in all
countries, is, of course, the tartrate of antimony and potassium,
emetic tartar.