| Tin, per cent. | Copper, per cent. | Antimony, per cent. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Britannia Metal, | Best, | 92 | ·0 | 1 | ·8 | 6 | ·2 | |||
| Common, | 92 | ·1 | 2 | ·0 | 5 | ·9 | ||||
| For Castings, | 92 | ·9 | 1 | ·8 | 5 | ·3 | ||||
| For Lamps, | 94 | ·0 | 1 | ·3 | 4 | ·7 | ||||
| Tea Lead, per cent. | Antimony, per cent. | Block Tin, per cent. | ||||||||
| Type Metal, | - | (1.) | 75 | 20 | 5 | |||||
| (2.) | 70 | 25 | 5 | |||||||
| Metal for Stereotype, | 84 | ·2 | 13 | ·5 | 2 | ·3 | ||||
There is also antimony in brass, concave mirrors, bell-metal, &c.
§ 754. Pigments.—Cassella and Naples yellow are principally composed of the antimoniate of lead.
Antimony Yellow is a mixture of antimoniate of lead with basic chloride of lead.
§ 755. Dose.—A medicinal dose of a soluble antimonial salt should not exceed 97·2 mgrms. (11⁄2 grain). With circumstances favouring its action, a dose of 129·6 mgrms. (2 grains) has proved fatal;[803] but this is quite exceptional, and few medical men would consider so small a quantity dangerous for a healthy adult, especially since most posological tables prescribe tartar emetic as an emetic in doses from 64·8 to 194·4 mgrms. (1 to 3 grains). The smallest dose which has killed a child appears to be 48·5 mgrms. (3⁄4 grain).[804] The dose of tartar emetic for horses and cattle is very large, as much as 5·832 grms. (90 grains) being often given to a horse in his gruel three times a day. 3·8 grms. (60 grains) are considered a full, but not an excessive, dose for cattle; ·38 grm. (6 grains) is used as an emetic for pigs, and half this quantity for dogs.
[803] Taylor, Guy’s Hosp. Reports, Oct. 1857.
[804] Op. cit.
§ 756. Effects of Tartar Emetic and of Antimony Oxide on Animals.—Large doses of tartar emetic act on the warm-blooded animals as on man; whether the poison is taken by the mouth, or injected subcutaneously, all animals able to vomit[805] do so. The heart’s action, at first quickened, is afterwards slowed, weakened, and lastly paralysed. This action is noticed in cold as well as in warm-blooded animals. It is to be ascribed to a direct action on the heart; for if the brain and spinal cord of the frog be destroyed—or even if a solution of the salt be applied direct to the frog’s heart separated from the body—the effect is the same. The weak action of the heart, of course, causes the blood-pressure to diminish, and the heart stops in diastole. The voluntary muscles of the body are also weakened; the breathing is affected, partly from the action on the muscles. The temperature of the body is depressed (according to F. A. Falck’s researches) from 4·4° to 6·2°.