(1) Pharmaceutical Preparations:—
Oxide of Antimony (Sb2O3) is a white powder, fusible at a low red heat, and soluble without effervescence in hydrochloric acid, the solution responding to the ordinary tests for antimony. Arsenic may be present in it as an impurity; the readiest means of detection is to throw small portions at a time on glowing charcoal, when very small quantities of arsenic will, under such conditions, emit the peculiar odour. Carbonate of lime appears also to have been found in the oxide of commerce.
Antimonial Powder is composed of one part of oxide of antimony and two parts of phosphate of lime; in other words, it ought to give 33·3 per cent. of Sb2O3.
Tartar Emetic itself has been already described. The preparations used in medicine are—
The Wine of Antimony (Vinum antimoniale), which is a solution of tartar emetic in sherry wine, and should contain 2 grains of the salt in each ounce of the wine (0·45 grm. in 100 c.c.).
Antimony Ointment (Unguentum antimonii tartarati) is a mechanical mixture of tartar emetic and lard, or simple ointment;[801] strength 20 per cent. There is no recorded case of conviction for the adulteration of tartar emetic; cream of tartar is the only probable addition. In such a case the mixture is less soluble than tartar emetic itself, and on adding a small quantity of carbonate of soda to a boiling solution of the suspected salt, the precipitated oxide at first thrown down, becomes redissolved.
[801] Simple ointment is composed of white wax 2, lard 3, almond oil 3 parts.
Solution of Chloride of Antimony is a solution of the terchloride in hydrochloric acid; it is a heavy liquid of a yellowish-red colour, powerfully escharotic; its specific gravity is 1·47; on dilution with water, the whitish-yellow oxychloride of antimony is precipitated. One drachm (3·549 c.c.) mixed with 4 ounces (112 c.c.) of a solution of tartaric acid (·25 : 4) gives a precipitate with SH2, which weighs at least 22 grains (1·425 grm.). This liquid is used on very rare occasions as an outward application by medical men; farriers sometimes employ it in the foot-rot of sheep.