96 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 



broad copper dish over the fire, pour into 

 it the Antimony in as clear and thin a 

 state as possible, and you will have pure, 

 yellow, pellucid glass of Antimony. This 

 preparation of what I call the glass of 

 Antimony is the simplest, best, and most 

 efficacious with which I am acquainted.* 



* This is a now familiar way of preparing glass of Anti- 

 mony. It is serviceable in many cases of illness, but (so 

 precarious a thing is the human constitution) its use may 

 now and then, in one case out of a hundred, be attended 

 with fatal results. I once saw a man who had taken a 

 quantity give up the ghost after much vomiting and violent 

 purging. Such casualties give a handle to the enemies of 

 Alchemy, but the medicine in question is administered only by 

 unscrupulous pseudo-Alchemists, who do not mind how 

 many people they kill, so long as they cure some, and gain 

 for themselves the reputation of great doctors. The fact is, 

 that the emetic virtue of Antimony inheres in its salt, which 

 salt harbours all its poisonous qualities. Hence feeble per- 

 sons derive more harm from its poison than good from its 

 medicinal properties. But if Antimony produces beneficial 

 results even when it still has an admixture of poison, how 

 much more beneficial is it when the poison has been re- 

 moved. The following is a recipe for the glass of Antimony, 

 which may be used without any fear of fatal results : 



Take the pure glass of Antimony (of Basilius), melt in 

 crucible till one-third part evaporates, pound into fine 

 powder, pour on it best rectified spirit of wine, which must 

 cover the powder to the height of three inches, close, allow to 

 circulate for three months, and extract, spirit of wine by dis- 

 tillation. If the tincture be red, as it will be invariably 

 ' should the operation have been rightly conducted, decant it 



