Prop., &c. (Native.) Anhydrous, inodorous, insipid, opaque, brittle, easily pulverisable, and of a dark leaden-grey or steel colour; it has a striated crystalline texture, and breaks with a rough spicular fracture; is insoluble in both water and alcohol; soluble, with decomposition, in hot strong acids and alkaline solutions; melts at a red heat, and is partly dissipated in white fumes, leaving an impure grey-coloured oxide mixed with some undecomposed tersulphide (ANTIMONY-ASH). Its powder is black, of peculiar richness, and stains the fingers. Sp. gr. 4·6 to 4·62. The pure precipitated (amorphous) tersulphide is of orange colour; is darkened by a gentle heat, with loss of water, and at a higher temperature passes from the amorphous to the crystalline condition, at the same time that it assumes the colour and appearance of the native sulphide. It dissolves in hot hydrochloric acid, evolving hydrosulphuric acid, and producing a solution of trichloride of antimony.
Pur. The crude commercial sulphide frequently contains lead, iron, copper, and arsenic, and sometimes manganese. Its goodness is commonly estimated by its compactness and weight, the largeness and distinctness of the striæ, and the volatility of its sulphide.
Uses, &c. Chiefly as a source of metallic antimony, and of the oxide in the preparation of other antimonials. Exhibited alone, it possesses little activity unless it meets with acid in the primæ viæ, when it occasionally acts with considerable violence both as an emetic and cathartic.—Dose, 10 to 30 gr., in powder; as an alterative and diaphoretic in rheumatism, gout, scrofula, and glandular affections, and in lepra, scabies, and some other skin diseases. It is a favourite alterative in veterinary medicine, particularly in skin diseases. Farriers and grooms frequently mix a little of it with the food of horses to improve their coat and promote their ‘condition,’—Dose. For a HORSE, 1 to 4 dr., in fine powder, often combined with nitre and sulphur; for CATTLE, 1⁄2 to 1 oz., or even 11⁄2 oz.; DOGS, 5 or 6 to 20 or 30 gr.; HOGS, 20 to 30 gr., twice or thrice daily. According to Dr Paris, it is one of the ingredients in Spilsbury’s Drops. It is also an ingredient in Tisane de Feltz.
Antimony, Tartarated. KSbOC4H4O6.Aq. Syn. Tartarized antimony, Tartar emetic, Emetic tartar, Potassio-tartrate of Antimony, Eng.; Antimonium tartaratum, B. P. Prep. Various methods have been devised for the preparation of this compound, but the following, which is taken from the ‘British Pharmacopœia,’ is to be preferred:—
Take of oxide of antimony 5 oz., acid tartrate of potash in fine powder 6 oz., distilled water, 2 pints. Mix the oxide of antimony and acid tartrate of potash with sufficient distilled water to form a paste, and set aside for 24 hours. Then add the remainder of the water, and boil for a quarter of an hour, stirring frequently. Filter, and set aside the clear filtrate to crystallise. Pour off the mother-liquor, evaporate to one third, and set aside, that more crystals may form. Dry the crystals on filtering paper at the temperature of the air.
Char. and Tests. In colourless transparent crystals exhibiting triangular facets, soluble in water, and less so in proof spirit. It decrepitates and blackens upon the application of heat. Its solution in water gives with hydrochloric acid a white precipitate, soluble in excess, and which is not formed if tartaric acid be previously added. Twenty grains dissolve without residue in a fluid ounce of distilled water at 60°, and the solution gives with sulphuretted hydrogen an orange precipitate which, when washed and dried at 212°, weighs 9·91 grains.
Phys. eff., Doses, &c. Externally tartar emetic acts as a powerful local irritant, causing a pustular eruption, which permanently marks the skin; for this purpose it is used in the form of solution, ointment, or plaster. Internally, in small doses (1⁄16 to 1⁄8, or even 1⁄6 gr.), it acts as a diaphoretic and expectorant; in somewhat larger doses (1⁄6 to 1⁄2 gr.) it excites nausea, and sometimes vomiting, occasioning depression and relaxation, especially of the muscular fibre; in larger doses (1 to 2 or 3 gr.) it acts as an emetic and sudorific (and often as a purge), depressing the nervous functions, and producing a feeling of feebleness,
exhaustion, and relaxation, greater than that caused by other emetics; in certain doses (1⁄2 to 3, or even 4 gr.), it is used as a sedative and antiphlogistic, to reduce the force of the circulation, &c.; in excessive doses it acts as an irritant poison, and has in some instances caused death; and even small doses, frequently administered and long continued, have brought on a state of weakness, prostration, and distaste for food, which has led to a fatal termination. It is usually exhibited dissolved in distilled water, either with or without the addition of a little simple syrup. In acute rheumatism, inflammation of the lungs or pleura, chorea, hydrocephalus, and apoplexy, it is said to have been given in doses of 2 to 4, or even 6 gr., with advantage, by Laennec, Rasori, and others; but these extreme doses are not always safe, and cannot be commendable when smaller ones (1⁄4 to 1⁄2 gr., repeated every two hours) appear equally beneficial, and distress the patient less.[73] In doses of 1⁄2 gr. to 3⁄4 gr. each, combined with calomel, it is a powerful and excellent alterative in acute rheumatism and many skin diseases. Of all our sudorifics it is perhaps the most valuable, and the one most generally available. Triturated with 16 to 20 times its weight of sulphate of potassa, it forms an excellent substitute for antimonial powder and James’s powder, as a diaphoretic, in doses of 2 to 4 gr.
[73] “In consequence of the violent vomiting” (and it might be added—prostration) “which (even) 1 gr. has sometimes produced, I have found patients positively refuse to continue the use of the medicine.” Pereira ‘Th. & M. M.,’ 4th ed., i, 752.
Whenever much gastric or intestinal irritation is present, tartar emetic should be avoided, or very cautiously administered, and then combined with an opiate, or some other sedative. It should also be given with caution to children; as, according to Messrs Goodlad and Noble, even in small doses it sometimes acts as a poison on them.