Elements of the Theory and Practice of Chymistry, 5th ed.

by Pierre Joseph Macquer

Mix one part of Antimony with three parts of Nitre; project this mixture by spoonfuls into a crucible kept red-hot in a furnace. Each projection will be attended with a detonation. Continue doing this till you have used all your mixture: then raise the fire, and keep it up for two hours; after which throw your matter into a pan full of hot water. Let it lie steeping in water kept hot for a whole day. Then pour off the liquor: wash the white powder you find at bottom in warm water; and repeat the ablutions till the powder become insipid. Dry it, and you have Diaphoretic Antimony.

OBSERVATIONS.

This operation differs from the preceding one, in respect of the quantity of Nitre deflagrated with the Antimony. In the former we added one part only of Nitre to one part of Antimony; but in this three parts of Nitre are put to one of the mineral; and the calx resulting from this mixture is of course very different from the other.

In the first place, Liver of Antimony hath a reddish colour; whereas Diaphoretic Antimony is very white. Secondly, Liver of Antimony is in a manner half vitrified; Diaphoretic Antimony is, on the contrary, in the form of a powder, the parts of which have no connection together.

The reason of these differences will easily appear, if we consider, that, Liver of Antimony being the result of calcination with one part of the Nitre only, which is not sufficient to consume all the Sulphur of the mineral, what remains after the detonation is not entirely deprived of its phlogiston; from whence arise the colour it retains and the ease with which it flows in the fire: but that, when three parts of Nitre are added instead of one, this quantity is not only sufficient to consume all the Sulphur and the phlogiston of the Antimony, but even more than enough; seeing that, after the operation, some Nitre is still found undecomposed.

The calx of Antimony, prepared by calcining it with three parts of Nitre, is therefore deprived of all its phlogiston. This is the cause of its whiteness, and the reason why it is not half vitrified by the operation, as Liver of Antimony is: for we know that the more a metallic calx is deprived of its phlogiston, the less fusible and the less vitrifiable it is. This calx of Antimony bears the name of Diaphoretic Antimony, or Diaphoretic Mineral: because, being neither emetic nor purgative, it is thought to have the virtue of promoting perspiration.

Antimony may be calcined with various proportions of Nitre, between that used to make Liver of Antimony, and this with which Diaphoretic Antimony is prepared; and from these calcinations will result calces possessed of properties both chymical and medical, of an intermediate nature between the extremes of those two preparations. The nearer the proportion of Nitre comes to that employed in preparing Liver of Antimony, the more will the resulting calx resemble that preparation; and in the same manner, a calx prepared with a greater proportion of Nitre will so much the more resemble Diaphoretic Antimony, as the proportion of Nitre used comes nearer three parts of Nitre for one of Antimony.

It is not necessary that Antimony in substance be employed to make the Diaphoretic Mineral: you may, if you please, make use of its Regulus. But as the Regulus contains no Sulphur, nor any more phlogiston than is requisite to secure its metalline form, it is needless to put three parts of Nitre to one of Regulus; an equal quantity thereof being sufficient.

The matter is projected by spoonfuls, to the end that, by gradual and repeated detonations, the Antimony may be more perfectly calcined: it is also with a view to destroy entirely the small remainder of phlogiston, which may have escaped the action of the Nitre, that the matter is kept red-hot in the crucible for two hours.

The whole is afterwards thrown into hot water, and left steeping therein for several hours, with design to give the water time to dissolve all the saline matters that are mixed with the Diaphoretic Calx. When crude Antimony is used in making this preparation, these saline matters are, 1. an Alkalizated Nitre; 2. a Neutral Salt formed by the union of the Acid of Sulphur with part of that Alkali, as in the preparation of Liver of Antimony; 3. a portion of undecomposed Nitre.