Fig. 32.—Photo-micrograph of crystals
of tartarated antimony, × 50.
(R. J. M. Buchanan.)
Tartar Emetic
Antimonium Tartaratum. Tartarated Antimony
Tartar emetic occurs as a white powder; sometimes, however, with a yellowish tint. It is soluble in about three parts of boiling water and fifteen of cold, and insoluble in alcohol.
The vinum antimoniale of the Pharmacopœia contains two grains of the salt in an ounce of wine.
Before 1856 poisoning by antimony was of rare occurrence, but since that year several cases of chronic poisoning have occurred, giving to this substance considerable importance.
Symptoms of Antimonial Poisoning
Acute.—Tartar emetic is an irritant poison, but possesses slight corrosive properties. When taken in large doses, two or three drachms, it gives rise to a metallic taste in the mouth, which is not easily removed. In most cases, violent vomiting follows immediately after the poison is swallowed, the vomiting continuing even after the stomach is emptied of its contents. In a few cases, however, even when a large dose has been taken, vomiting may be absent. Burning pain is felt at the pit of the stomach, accompanied with cramps in the belly and purging. There is considerable difficulty in swallowing, and the patient complains of tightness and constriction in the throat. The mouth and throat in some cases are excoriated, or covered with whitish aphthous-looking spots, which ultimately become brown or black. In some cases the thirst is intense; in others, absent or nearly so. Cramps in the lower extremities, almost amounting in some cases to tetanic spasms, followed by extreme depression, are generally the precursor of a fatal termination. The urine may be suppressed, as is the case in arsenical poisoning; in some cases it has even been increased. On this point, however, the statements of observers differ. Trousseau says that the urine is suppressed; Huseman that it is never suppressed. The skin is in some cases covered by a pustular eruption, not unlike that of smallpox. Dobie has recorded a case of poisoning by tartar emetic in which a comatose condition was present. In antimonial poisoning, even in the most desperate cases, there is always greater hope of recovery than in arsenical poisoning.
