Mr. Brodie, in his examination of animals poisoned by emetic tartar, sometimes found the stomach bearing the marks of inflammation, but at other times, its appearance was perfectly natural. In no case did he discover any traces of inflammation in the intestines. The reader must compare this account with that already given by M. Majendie, at p. [282].
1. Tests for the detection of emetic tartar.
1. The poison is in a solid form. Dissolve a portion of the suspected salt in about fifteen times its weight of boiling distilled water; if it be emetic tartar, the following reagents will identify it, viz.
(a) The hydrosulphurets will occasion a reddish-yellow precipitate, which is a combination of oxygen and antimony, proceeding from the emetic tartar; and of hydrogen and sulphur, from the reagent employed. If it be dried on a filter, and mixed with charcoal and the potass of commerce, it gives, by the action of heat, a cake of metallic antimony.
(b) Tincture of galls. This is regarded as the most sensible test of this salt, affording a precipitate of a curdled, dirty white colour, inclining to yellow.
(c) Lime water. This reagent produces a white precipitate, which is extremely thick, and is easily redissolved by pure nitric acid. In this case the lime forms an insoluble tartrate, and the tartrate of antimony, thus rendered insoluble, subsides along with it.
(d) Concentrated sulphuric acid gives a white precipitate, which consists of the oxide of antimony retaining a small portion of the acid. It redissolves in an excess of the precipitant.
(e) Vegetable extractive, occasions in the solution of this salt, a reddish-yellow precipitate, which has been found to consist of oxide of antimony, and a portion of vegetable matter.
2. It is mixed with various alimentary substances.
If our attempts should fail to procure a solution of the salt by filtration, answering to the above reagents, we must rely upon the proof of metallic reproduction. Various circumstances may invalidate the action of our tests, such, for instance, as the ingestion of some vegetable infusion or decoction, especially that of galls, or yellow bark.