276 Chittenden and Blake—Distribution of 
1. The quantitative estimation of antimony. 
There are many methods by which antimony may be detected, even 
when present in quite small quantities ; but there are only a few which 
yield accurate quantitative results, particularly in the presence of or- 
ganic matter. In attempting to find a method sufficiently accurate 
for our purpose, we first tried the method recommended by Orfila, of 
introducing the final antimony solution into the Marsh apparatus; 
using for this purpose the form of apparatus and mode of procedure, 
found so efficacious in the case of arsenic.* In every trial, however, 
there was a loss of at least 40 per cent. of the antimony; thus in the 
first case, with an amount of tartar emetic equivalent to 6 milligrams 
of metallic antimony, only 3°4 milligrams of the metal were recovered, 
and under exactly such conditions as with arsenic would lead to the 
recovery of the entire amount. And since in this trial experiment, 
the antimony was introduced directly into the Marsh apparatus, as 
tartar emetic dissolved simply in dilute sulphuric acid and without 
the presence of any organic matter to act as a hindrance, it follows 
that the loss must be due to retention of a portion of the antimony 
by the zine and platinum. A second trial, with the same amount of 
antimony salt, gave a decided deposit of metallic antimony in the 
heated tube, but weighing only 3°5 milligrams. In this case the ap- 
paratus ran for three hours, but as before, it is evident that only a 
portion of the antimony was converted into antimoniuretted hydro- 
gen, the remainder undoubtedly being retained either by the plati- 
num used to alloy the zinc, or by the zine itself. The presence of a 
small amount of platinum fused in with the zine, previous to its granu- 
lation, does not appear to offer any obstacles to the complete evolu- 
tion of arsenic as arseniuretted hydrogen. Numerous results obtained 
by one of ust testify to the accuracy of this statement. Bernstein had 
also noticed that alloying zine with platinum or silver, did not hinder 
the complete evolution of the arsenic, while the addition of a little 
platinic chloride solution to the acid fluid from which arsenic was be- 
ing evolved, led to the precipitation of even 50 per cent. of the - 
arsenic present.{ This probably is the explanation of the low results 
obtained by Hedden and Sadler in the estimation of arsenic by the 
Marsh apparatus, in the presence of platinum.§ But with antimony, 
* See Amer. Chem. Jour., vol. ii., p. 235. +See Amer. Chem. Jour., vol. ii, p. 235. 
t See Dragendorff, Gerichtlich chemische Mittheilung von Giften, p. 334, foot note. 
§ See Amer. Chem. Jour., vol. vii, p. 342. 
