Stibium. Antimony.

St/n. Antimoine (F.), Spiessglanzmetall (G.), Antimonio (I.), Antimonio

The term antimony was formerly given to an ore, in which antimony was combined with sulphur; but it is now solely appropriated to express the pure metal.2 It is found in various parts of the world in different states of combination.

A. Metallic (at Stalberg, Sweden, and Allemont in France). g. i. combined with silver and iron. Sp. 1. Native Antimony. ii.------------with sulphur. - 1. Grey sulphuret of antimony.

Var. a. compact.

b. foliated.

c. striated. .

d. plumose.

I he sulphuret is the ore from which it is most abundantly procured. Pure antimony is of a white colour, with a bluish-grey shade, brilliant, and very slowly tarnished in air of a low temperature. The texture is foliated, moderately hard, brittle and pulverulent. It is fusible at 810° Fahr., and on cooling acquires a lamellated texture : in a very high temperature it volatilises in close vessels; but if exposed to the air it is very rapidly oxidized, burning and forming, when

A. de Chim. et Phys. viii. p. 101. 2 Metallic Antimony was first made known by Basil Valentine in the fifteenth century : the name is quaintly supposed to have originated from one of its preparations having proved fatal to some monks; thence Anti-moinc, condensed in cool surfaces, white acicular crystals, argentine flowers of antimony, a sesquioxide of the metal. It decomposes water when ignited, and is oxidized by, and combines with, the sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids; but the other acids unite with its oxides only. It readily combines with sulphur and phosphorus. Its specific gravity, according to Brisson, is 6.702. The pure metal when rubbed between the fingers communicates to them a peculiar taste and smell, but it exerts no action on the body, nor is it used for officinal purposes. The equivalent of antimony is 64.6.

Officinal. Antimonii Sesquisulphuretum, Lond. Sulpiiu-retum Antimonii, Edin. Dub. Sulphuret of Antimony.

Syn. L'Antimoine sulfure (F.), Spiessglanz (G), Spiesglas (Belg.), Spidse-glas (Dan.), Ra Spetsglans (Swed.), Szpiglas (Polish), Unjitnakulloo (Tarn.), Sulfuro d'Antimonio (I.), Antimonio (Portug.), Kohul (Arab.), Surmeh (H. Pars. Duk.), Sauvira (San.).

Sesquisulphuret of antimony is commonly sold in loaves, under the name of crude antimony; and is the grey ore, separated from the stony matter and other gross impurities with which it is naturally combined. It is the striated variety, the most common of all the antimonial ores, found both in masses and crystallized in Hungary, Saxony, France, Tuscany, Spain, Cornwall in England, and Dumfries-shire in Scotland; generally "in micaceous schistus and clay porphyry, mixed with pyrites and oxides of iron." In its natural state, its colour is light lead grey; its internal lustre splendent; its fracture radiated, affording splintery fragments. It is soft; not very brittle, but easily frangible.

Sulphuret of antimony is fitted for the market by the following process. The ore is separated from the greater part of the stony gangue by hand, and then placed in the bed of a reverberatory furnace, covered with charcoal powder. As it is brought to a low red heat, the sulphuret of antimony is fused, while the earthy parts float on the surface, and are taken off with a rake or ladle; and the fluid portion, when cast into the form of loaves or large cakes, is fit for sale, and forms the crude antimony of commerce.1 Sometimes the ore is broken into small pieces, then washed and put into a pot perforated with holes, which is let into the mouth of another pot, so that the fluid sulphuret flows into the undermost, while the infusible matter remains in the uppermost. These loaves are dark grey externally, but internally they have a striated structure, and considerable brilliancy. Their goodness depends on their compactness and weight, the largeness and distinctness of the striae, and the volatility of the sulphuret.

1 Journal des Mines, Aikin's Dictionary of Chymistry.

When carelessly prepared, they contain lead, sometimes arsenic, and occasionally manganese and iron. When they contain much lead, the structure is more foliated, and less distinctly striated, while at the same time the volatility is so much diminished that a portion, which is the lead, remains fixed. Arsenic is discovered by the garlic odour emitted when the sulphuret is thrown on live coals; manganese and iron, by their not being volatilised when it is exposed to a red heat, and iron in particular by the brown colour produced by deflagrating them with nitre. The specific gravity of the sesqui-sulphuret is about 4.62; and its constituents are, antimony 73.8, sulphur 26.2, in 100 parts l; or, according to the atomic doctrine, 2 atoms of antimony - 125.2, and 3 atoms of sulphur = 48.3, making the equivalent 177.5. The greater part of the sesquisulphuret used in this country is imported from Germany and Holland. It should never be purchased in the form of powder.

Qualities.-Sulphuret of antimony is inodorous, insipid, of a leaden grey or steel colour, staining the fingers; has a rough spicular fracture, and is insoluble in water and alcohol. Its brilliancy is dulled by long exposure to the air; in a red heat it melts, and is partly dissipated along with its, sulphur in the form of a white smoke; and what remains in the crucible is a grey ash-coloured oxide. It is slightly acted upon by the vegetable acids 2; it decomposes the sulphuric and nitric acids when assisted with heat, and is totally dissolved and partially decomposed by the hydrochloric acid; the metallic part of the sulphuret is oxidized, sulphurous acid and nitrous gases are disengaged; the hydrochloric decomposes it, and sulphuretted hydrogen is extricated. The fixed alkalies act upon it, and form kermes mineral, a compound used in medicine.3

Medical properties and uses.-Sesquisulphuret of antimony is not an active medicine when taken into the stomachy unless it meets with acid in that viscus or in the bowels, when it operates with extreme violence; before it is prescribed.

1 Dr. Thomson's proportions are, antimony 100, sulphur 35.572; nearly a mean of all the other analyses that have been published : Vauquelin stated them to be, antimony 100, sulphur 33.333; Wenzel, antimony 100, sulphur 29.870; Proust, antimony 100, sulphur 33.333; Dr. J. Davy, antimony 100, sulphur 34.960; Berzelius, antimony 100, sulphur 37.000; Bergman, antimony 100, sulphur 35.035. Thomson's Chymistry, 5th edit. i. 536.

2 Wine was formerly put into cups made of sesquisulphuret of antimony, and, owing to the acid acting upon it, the wine acquired an emetic quality.

3 The sesquisulphuret was used by the Greek ladies, and is still employed by the Turkish ladies, for staining the eyelashes black, which softens the appearance of the eye. It was a custom among the Jews also; for although in our translation of the Bible, Jezebel is described as having "painted her face," (2 Kings, ix. 30.) vet the expression in the Hebrew means, literally, "put her eves in painting." therefore, the bowels should be opened. It was not employed internally until the middle of the fifteenth century; and now, owing to the uncertainty of its operation, its occasional violent action, and the difficulty of obtaining it perfectly free from other metals, as copper, lead, and arsenic, it is almost entirely discarded from modern practice. It has been given in gouty and rheumatic affections, in scrofula and other glandular obstructions, and in chronic cutaneous eruptions.

It produces perspiration; and in a few instances in which it was given in large doses, Dr. Cullen found that some nausea and even vomiting were excited. It is freely used in veterinary practice, and is given to horses, mixed with their food, to produce a smooth coat. Its chief use is for the preparation of the other antimonial remedies.1

The dose of the sulphuret may be from ten grains to one drachm, or more, if the stomach can bear it.

Officinal preparations. The table drawn up by Dr. Black has generally been given as presenting the best view of the officinal preparations of which antimony is the basis; but as many of those mentioned in it have been long since disused, and the nomenclature of all is changed, we have altered it so as to present, on the same plan, a distinct view of the preparations now found in the British Pharmacopoeias. Medicines are prepared from Sulphuret of Antimony;

I. By trituration.

1. Sulphuretum Antimonii prceparatum, E. D. II. By the action of heat; (oxidized.)

2. Oxidum Antimonii cum sulphure vitrificatum, E.

3. Oxidum Antimonii vitrificatum cum cera, E.

III. By the action of heat with phosphate of lime (acidified.)

4. Oxidum Antimonii cum phosphate Caleis, E.

Pulvis Antimonii compositus, L. Pulvis Antimonialis, D.

IV. By the action of alkalies; (oxidized.)

5. Antimonii oxysulphuretum, L.

Antimonii Sulphuretum prcecipitatum, E. Sulphur antimoniatum fuscum, D.

V. By the action of acids; (oxidized.)

6. Antimonii Oxidum nitro-muriaticum, D.

Murias Antimonii, E.

7. Antimonii Potassio-Tartras, L.

Tartras Antimonii, olim Tartarus emeticus, E. Antimonii etPotassce Tartras, sive Tartarum emeticum, D.

8. Vinum Antimonii Potassio-tartratis, L.

Vinum Tartratis Antimonii, E.

1 It is an ingredient in Spilsbury's drops, which, according to Dr. Paris, consist of Corrosive Sublimate 3ij., prepared Sidphuret of Antimony 3j., Gentian root and Orange-peel, of each, 3 ij., Shavings of red Saunders, 3j., made into a tincture, with a pint of proof Spirit digested and strained.

All the preparations of antimony contained in this table have one general mode of action, and possess, therefore, the same medicinal properties. Their general operation is evacuant, either by the stomach, the bowels, or the skin; but their determination to these particular parts depends more on the dose, and the constitution and state of the patient, than on the nature of the preparation. In small doses they produce nausea and diaphoresis; in medium doses, vomiting, and purging; in large doses neither, but a simple reduction of excitement.

Antimonials, prior to the time of Basil Valentine, were used only in veterinary medicine; but ever since they were introduced by that learned Benedictine1 into the Materia Medica, they have been very generally employed for the cure of febrile and inflammatory diseases, when the excitement is great. In the latter stage of fever, however, when much debility prevails, their use is contra-indicated. Some have imagined that the compound powder of antimony of the London College, or its prototype, James's powder, is to be preferred in typhus, and the tartar emetic in synochus; believing that the benefit in the first disease is greater when no sensible evacuation is produced; but as this implies some inexplicable specific action of that preparation, we are not inclined to admit the distinction. The Pulvis Antimonii compositus is an inert preparation. (See Part III.)