MINERAL OR INORGANIC POISONS 47 



Morphine against pain, and stimulants are to be used as 

 required. 



Chemical Diag-nosis of antimony is best accomplished 

 by the aid of Reinsch's test, the deposit on the copper being 

 distinguished from arsenic by yielding an amorphous sub- 

 limate on heating, and further by the well-known difference 

 in behaviour in Marsh's test. 



A solution of antimony in hydrochloric acid, in which are 

 immersed pieces of zinc and platinum in contact with one 

 another, gives a black stain of antimony on the platinum. 

 This is a delicate and characteristic reaction, which may 

 also be used for the separation of antimony from a hydro- 

 chloric acid extract of organic matters. 



LEAD, 



Forms and Occuppence. — The common preparations of 

 lead likely to give rise to poisoning are — theoxides litharge and 

 red lead, the latter being used as a paint and in plumbing ; 

 lead acetate, or sugar of lead, and the basic acetate — Goulard's 

 solution ; white lead, a basic carbonate, the common pig- 

 ment, and the most usual vehicle of poisoning, also used in 

 the manufacture of oilcloth and linoleum*; the sulphate, 

 less frequently used as a pigment. Metallic lead, in the 

 form of bullet splashes, has been observed to give rise to 

 poisoning, but only after prolonged lodgment in the digestive 

 system, during which the metal is corroded and absorbed. 

 Metallic lead, through solution in water under certain condi- 

 tions, may also be the cause of chronic lead poisoning, or 

 plumbism. The conditions governing the solution of lead 

 by water are — that the water is soft — that is, free of lime 

 and magnesia salts — and aerated. It must contain dissolved 

 oxygen and carbon dioxide, and the presence of nitrates 

 further facilitates solution. The extent of solution may be 

 gathered from the following figures,! which show the 



* White lead substitutes, such as "lithopone," which do not contain 

 lead, are coming into increasing vogue. 



t Boscoe and Schorleinmer, ' Treatise on Chemistry,' 1897, vol. ii., 

 p. 722. 



