373 



ANTIDOTES. 



ANTIMONY. 



374 



organ which is not often the cage, as most of them influence some of 

 the vital functions, and thus prove fatal. These are termed instant 

 poisons, such as arsenic ; but they are frequently also termed corrosives, 

 though inaccurately. 



Lastly, there are poisons which neither corrode nor irritate the part, 

 but cause a peculiar impression upon the sentient extremities of the 

 nerves, which is conveyed along these to some remote organ or organs, 

 the function of which they impair or suspend. Many of these should 

 be termed sedatives, in the strictest sense of the word [SEDATIVES]; 

 others are narcotics ; and those which produce some degree of local 

 irritation are termed narcotico-acrids. But often one and the same 

 article, according to the dose and mode of administration, acts in all the 

 three ways ; tobacco, for example. 



The selection of appropriate means to counteract the efi'e 

 poisons must be determined by a knowledge of the manner in which 

 each particular poison acts ; but as we cannot enumerate or specify 

 these here, we shall give only general rules to this effect. These may 

 be reduced to three, namely, 1, to remove the poisonous substance ; 

 2, to prevent or limit its local effects ; 3, to obviate its effects on remote 

 organs, supporting their .action by appropriate measures, till the inju- 

 rious impression has subsided. The first of these is to be accomplished 

 mostly by mechanical means. If the poison has been applied to any 

 external part, as by the bite of a viper or rattle-snake, a cupping-gins*, 

 or what will answer as well, a wine-glass, tumbler, or cup of any kind, 

 from which a part of the air has been expelled, by holding within it a 

 lighted candle for a second of time, should be immediately applied. If 

 the poison has been taken into the stomach, and is not of a kind to 

 arrest instantly the action of the heart, its removal is to be attempted 

 by the stomach-pump, or by exciting vomiting. The stomach-pump 

 cannot well be used without introducing into the stomach a consider- 

 able quantity of water, which, by diluting the poison, lessens its 

 violence in all cases, except that of oxalic acid. The stomach-pump is 

 also to be preferred in the case of narcotic poisons, as the insensibility 

 which they occasion prevents the stomach from being affected by 

 emetics. But should a stomach-pump not be at hand, nor any one be 

 present skilled in the use of it, we must attempt to produce vomiting 

 by every means in our power. For this purpose, a table-spoonful of 

 Hour of mustard, which is mostly to be found ill every house, may be 

 put into a tumbler of warm water, and given to the patient; or a 

 scruple of sulphate of zinc (white vitriol) dissolved in a pint of distilled 

 water ; or ten grains of sulphate of copjier dissolved in half a pint of 

 iiny distilled water, as cinnamon, may be drunk by the patient, and the 

 disposition to vomit encouraged by tickling the throat with a feather, 

 and pressing on the pit of the stomach. Neither ipecacuanha nor 

 tartar emetic should l>e given, as their action is always preceded by 

 much nausea, during which the absorption of the poison is often 

 facilitated. 



Where the poison is of a corrosive or irritant nature, instead of 

 losing time in seeking the means of causing vomiting, it is in general 

 advisable to adopt the second rule, and attempt to prevent or limit its 

 local, and thereby its remote, effects. To accomplish this, we must ascer- 

 tain what the poise mous substance was, from which the patient is suffering, 

 and must also know how it acts, as upon this depends the success of 

 our treatment. The objects we must have in view are either to dilute, 

 and so weaken it; to supply from an external source the particular 

 principle, which the poison would nlistract from the coats of the 

 ieh; or by adding something to it, o change its nature as to 

 r it comparatively or altogether liannl-ss. which last will always 

 be effected, if we can succeed in forming an insoluble compound. The 

 I'n -st may be done by giving plenty of warm water ; and when we know 

 the partici 1 1 i the wanu water can be made the vehicle of an 



antidote, the sec-mid or third object will also be insured. Suppose 

 'iric acid (oil of vitriol) has been swallowed, add to the water 

 chalk, ma-ii p ; the chalk will make, with the acid, sulphate 



of lime, which bein-^ insoluble, will do no harm, while with the mag- 

 Hie acid will form sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salts), and with 

 Ijih.-ite of potash, both of which are purgative salts, and will, 

 by their action on the bowels, assist in ! .- eiiii:g the inflammation 

 caused by the poison before it was de s, , v, hen sugar of 



lead (acetate of lead) is swallowed, by giving Epsom salts we form an 

 insoluble sulphate of lead, which will be discharged by the bowels 

 operated UIHJH by the magnesia, which has been freed from the sul- 

 phuric acid. Corrosive sublimate (bi-chloride) of mercury tb 



the coats of the stomach the albumen which they contain, by 

 which it is converted into protochloride, or calomel ; now, if by giving 

 white of egg, which is pure albumen, we supply it with the principle 

 which it would otherwise; obtain from the coats of the stomach, we 



i vc these entire. 



Such means, then, are antidotes, properly si>eaking; for the means 

 by which the secondary or remote ell'ecU are to be combated, dc-iiTvi 



r to be termed counter-poisons. The couuter-poisois ai 

 -'"'" vata* ijoisoning by the corrosive nnd irritant., while 



they, are ejf the utmost importance in the treatment of the sedative 

 and narcotic poisejns. To administer these appropriately, we mn 

 which of the vital organs the poison most speedily affects. \Vhenit 

 affects the heart. .ias greatly resemble syncope (or fainting), 



anil as su ; ,rc the most dangerous, agents which act as 



rapidly as the poisons are alone to bo trusted to ; ouch agents are to 



x found among the diffusible stimuli, ammonia, or its carbonate, that 

 s, smelling salts, applied to the nostrils, or dissolved in water and 

 taken into the stomach, warm brandy and water, &c. Where it chiefly 

 affects the spinal marrow, there occur spasms and difficulty of breath- 

 ing; and when the brain, there is partial or complete insensibility 

 .coma), often with, at first, full pulse, flushed face, and laborious 

 jreathing. resembling apoplexy. In such a state of affairs, artificial 

 respiration, and afterwards bleeding, with the subsequent administra- 

 tion of coffee or vinegar, greatly contribute to save the patient. 



We have not spoken here of gaseous poisons, which would lead to 

 unnecessary details. They act either by excluding the common 

 atmospheric air, in which case removal into pure air is required ; or 

 by producing inflammation, like the irritant, or oppression of the 

 brain, like the narcotic poisons, and are to be combated on similar 

 principles. It will be more useful to append a list of the poisons which 

 act on the brain, and of those which act on the heart. Of poisons which 

 act upon the brain the most common are alcohol, that is .spirituous 

 liquors, opium, henbane, hemlock, camphor, and the essential oil of 

 almonds, and of tobacco. Of those acting on the heart, the chief are, 

 infusion of tobacco, and large doses of prussic acid, foxglove, strychnia 

 (principle of mix vomica), oxalic acid, arsenic, preparations or salts of 

 antimony and of baryta, chloroform, and several animal poisons. 



From what has been said on this subject, the great necessity of an 

 acquaintance with it must be sufficiently clear, not only to insure our 

 doing right, but to prevent us from doing wrong. By administering an 

 ill-timed antidote (as we conceive it to be), we often hasten the fatal 

 event : as where vinegar is given when opium has been swallowed, 

 before it has been ejected from the stomach ; and by throwing tobacco 

 smoke into the bowels of a person apparently drowned, we extinguish 

 the feeble spark of life which might have sufficed to re-animate him but 

 for such injudicious interference. 



It is to be hoped that more just principles of treatment will be 

 diffused among the people, as well as among medical men, by which 

 many lives may be preserved to their families and to the community. 

 [Poisoxs.] 



ANTI-KKU.MKNT. In the cider-districts a substance under this 

 name is sold for the purpose of correcting fermentation. Mustard seed 

 and clover, or mustard seed and sulphate of lime, are usually the ingre- 

 dients : they tend to allay the fermentation of cider or perry, or even 



ANTI-FRICTION WHEELS. The action of friction or anti-friction 

 wheels in machinery is to diminish resistance by converting what 

 would otherwise be a rubbing into a rolling contact. Friction roller^, 

 which are generally of small diameter, are not necessarily fixed upon 

 r shafts, but are interposed bodily between the rubbing or 

 sliding surfaces which press upon them ; and they may thus be em- 

 ployed to alleviate friction between surfaces. In some arrangements of 

 mechanism, friction rollers are provided with small axles which do not 

 bear any important strain, but are used chiefly for the purpose of 

 keeping the rollers in their proper place. The wheels of an ordinary 

 carriage are in principle very little other than anti-friction wheels or 

 rollers. 



The various applications of anti-friction rotation are very numerous ; 

 but they all depend on this principle that when the surfaces of two 

 bodies are made to pass over each other with a rubbing or sliding 

 motion, their inequalities necessarily meet and oppose each other, ami 

 thereby cause both resistance and wear ; but if rollers or wheels be 

 applied between them, instead of the inequalities of the roller being 

 dragged against those of the surface upon which it rolls, they are suc- 

 cessively laiel upon (so to speak) and lifted up from them. 



ANTILOOAHITHM, as used in this country, means the nviaJuir to 

 ill- l<,'iiiritliM. Thus, in Brigg's system, 100 is the antilog.mthm of 2, 

 because 2 is the logarithm of 100. We have introduced this term, 

 because the French 'Encyclopaedia,' followed by Dr. Hutton, have 

 defined the word to mean what is more usually called the complement 

 of the logarithm, namely, the remainder produced by subtracting the 

 logarithm from the next higher, term in the series, 1, 10, 100, &c. 

 This is not the most commonly received meaning of the word in this 

 country. 



It is becoming usual to express the number to a logarithm by 

 writing the logarithm in brackets. There is, however, another m.ta- 

 ti"ti nini-li luoi consistent with received symbols. In the 

 manner OH din '.r stands for the nmjle n'/i'/xe fine is .r, log-'.i' should 

 mean the number whose liyarit/nii ! .c. Thus, we might write either 

 log 100=2 

 or 100=log-'2. 



ANTIMONIC ACID. [ANTIMONY.] 



ANTIMONIOUS ACID. [ANTIMONY.] 



ANTIMONY (Sb), a metal, sometimes called rajidut of aiitlm - 

 distinguish it from crude antimony, the name by which the native 

 sulphuret is known in commerce. The ores of antimony h;'ve lung 

 been known, but Basil Valentine first obtained it in the metallic state 

 towards the end of the Uth century. It occurs, though rarely. n:iti\e, 

 but is generally obtained from the sulphuret, which is by far its meist 

 abunelant ore. The sulphuret is roasted in rcverbcratory furnaces, by 

 which it is converted into a compound of oxide and sulphuret of 

 antimony, known as ijlam nf tmtlimiHif ; this is then mixed with charcem! 



