526 THE IMPROVED ART OF FARRIERY. 



ON THE NATURE AND USE OF ANTI 

 MONIALS. 



Antimony, when prepared in a certain manner, is so 

 useful a medicine in veterinary practice, that every 

 practitioner should understand its nature and pro- 

 perties. 



If powdered antimony be exposed to a gentle fire, 

 the sulphur exhales ; the metallic part remaining in 

 the form of a white calx, reducible, by proper fluxes, 

 into a whitish brittle metal, called reguJus. This is 

 readily distinguished from the other bodies of that 

 class by its not being soluble in aquafortis ; its pro- 

 per menstruum is aqua regis. 



If aquafortis be poured on crude antimony, the me- 

 tallic part will be dissolved, and the sulphur thrown 

 out, partly on the sides of the vessel, and partly to the 

 surface of the liquor, in the form of a greyish yellow 

 substance. This separated and purified by subli- 

 mation, appears in all trials the same with pure com- 

 mon brimstone. 



The metal, freed from the sulphur naturally 

 blended with it, and afterwards fused with common 

 brimstone, resumes the appearance and qualities 

 of crude antimony. There is a striking difference be« 

 tween the effects of the preparation of antimony on 

 the human and brute stomach. To the former, the 

 antimonial medicine is of the greatest power of any 

 known substance. The quantity even of a single grain 

 is capable of producing the most active effects if taken 

 dissolved or in soluble state. If given in such a form 

 as to be immediately miscible with animal fluids, it 

 proves violently emetic ; if so managed as to be more 



