iE T H 



iE T H 



^THTOPS, in Phaniuuy. a name given to certain me- 

 tallic preparations of a dark olour ; and though ihe tcnn 

 is at prefent fiiperfc-ded, it h yet too fanniliar to chemifU to 

 be wholly omitted. There arc four pharm-.t'eiit tea! articles 

 of this name, acthiops antimonialis, a?thiops maitialis, xliii- 

 ops mercnrii per fe, and xthiops mineralis. 



j^THiops tintimon'mlis, is a combination of the fulphurcts 

 of antimony and niercur)' ; the old way of preparing it is, 

 to mix together equal parts of common fait and crude anti- 

 mony, and flux the mais in a crucible ; when cold tliere will 

 be found a du(ky fcoria, relling upon a metallic lookinjj 

 fubftance, which is the crude antimony nearly in the fame 

 ftate as at firll. The fcoria being feparaled, the antimony 

 is to be ground with an eq'.ial weight of mercury till t'l'-y 

 are well united. The iirft part of this proctfs feems whol'y 

 unnecefTary, and accordingly the antimonial sthiops is ge- 

 nerally -made by trituration of crude antimony with an 

 equal weight of mercury. A lliU more expeditious and 

 equally efficacious way of preparing this m' dicine, is to fufe 

 fome crude antimony in an earthenware crucible, and when 

 it is upon the point of fixing, to add to it an equal weight 

 of hot mercury ; the mixture immediately becomes more 

 fluid, and after a while becomes folid : wlitn cold it 

 muft be levigated in a mortar, and waflied. Sometimes, in- 

 ftead of crude antimony, the golden fulphur of this metal is 

 made ufe of. 



The medical effecls of antimonial aetliiops are chiefly as a 

 fudorific in Imall dofts, and as a purgative and emetic in * 

 larger ones. It has been exhibited with effeft in old inve- 

 terate cafes of lues, fcrophula, and glandular obftruftions, 

 but on account of the irregularity of its aftion, is now fall- 

 en much into difufe. The pilulse aethiopicse of the late 

 Edinburgh pharm.acopoeia, were compofed chiefly of mercury 

 and golden lulphur of antimony, but in the laft edition of 

 this as well as of the London pharmacopoeia the sethiops an- 

 tim.onii is wholly omitted. New Difpenfatory, 1765. 

 p. 545. — Lewis's Mat. Med. vol. i. p. 161. 



.^THiops Martialis, fnfriin lie Mars de I^emery, is a 

 pure magnetic oxyd of iron, and was firft introduced into 

 , th^ materia medica by the younger Lemery ; he direfts it 

 to be prepared in the following manner. Into a large glafs 

 bafon put a few pounds of clean inirulled iron filings, then 

 add a fufficient quantity of water to cover them to the 

 depth of five or fix inches : this mixture is to be ftirred up 

 with an iron fpatula, two or three times a day, and frefti 

 water to be fupplied in proportion to the evaporation ; at 

 the end of five or fix niontlis almoft the whole of the iron 

 will be converted into a black fine powder which remains 

 fufpendcd in the water for fome feconds after agitation. 

 The water thus rendered turbid is to be decaeted into a cu- 

 cui-bit or retort, and allov.'ed to repofe till the whole of the 

 iron is depofited ; the fupernatant clear liquor muit then 

 be poimed off, and the remaining moifture evaporated by 

 the heat of a fand-bath, care being taken to prevent the 

 accefs of air to the powder while drying ; if the procefs 

 has been well conducted, the refult is a pure black pulve- 

 rulent magnetic oxyd of iron ; as however by moiftin-e and 

 contaft with the atmofphere, it foon pafles Into the ftate of 

 yellow oxyd, it is neceflary to keep it in a Arj well clofed 

 vial. M. Lemery, the inventor of this preparation, as is 

 ufual in fimilar cafes, ftrongly m.aintained its fuperiority over 

 all the other medicinal forms of iron ; the tedioufnefs of the 

 procefs, however, has prevented its ufe from being very 

 general : it certainly pofiefles in a high degree the tonic pro- 

 perties which characterize the falts and other preparations 

 of iron, but is fuperfedtd in both the Britifli pharmacopoeias 



by the riill^a fcn'i. Beaum' Chymie. Experim. vol. ii- 

 p. 5:47. Be.iume Elements de Plnrmacie, p. 137. Mac- 

 quer's Chem. Dictionary, Art. F.thi'ips Marluil. 



jEthiops Mercur'u per fi- ; fiLl'.Aops iilhu' ; by this name 

 is diilinguinied in the German pharmacopoeias an impci-feft 

 oxyd of mercury prepared by triturating the metal with 

 gum arabic, or any otiier firiiple mucilage, or by long con- 

 tinued agitation in contaft with atmofpheric air. Even 

 when all poflible care has been taken, this is a ver)' im- 

 perfeft mercurial oxyd, and in common the metal is merely 

 reduced to a fine ftate of divifion. Loefecke recommends 

 it in a dofe from half a fcniple to half a dram, either alone 

 or united with jalap, in buboes, gonorrh-.ea a.nd other cuta- 

 neous affeftions of a venereal kind, and alfo in inflammations 

 of the liver ; and it has been fucccfsfuliy adminillered in 

 intermittent fevers. Gmehn's App. Med. vol. ii. p. 145. 

 vol. iii. p. 124. 



jEthiOps Mincralh. — JEthiobs mineral. — Tiyilrargyrus 

 fulphuratus n'vj^er. — Edin. Pharmac. Hyclrargyrus cum ful- 

 phiire. — Lond. Pharmac. This is direfted by the London 

 and Edinburgh Difpenfatories to be prepared by triturating 

 in a glafs or rnarble mortar equal parts of fulphur and 

 mercur)', or one part of the former^ and tv>-o of the latter, 

 till they have united into an uniform black powder. Not- 

 with Handing, howevei', the directions of the college, the 

 Kthiops is in faft generally made by ftirring mercury into 

 melted fulphur, and then pulverising the mafs ; by which 

 manipulation much time is faved : a method cqu;dly expe- 

 ditious, and perhaps upon the whole preferable to this, is 

 to mix a folution of fu'phurated alkah with the mercuiy and 

 fulphur, in which caie tiie two combine very readily by 

 fimple trituration, and by fubfequent wafliing, the alkali is 

 eafily got rid of. iEthiops mineral is, therefore, mercury 

 at its nvnimum of o:cydation, faturatcd with fulphur : it is 

 one of the leaft aciive of the mercurial medicines, and is 

 ufed in conjundtion with tin filings as j vermifuge, and in 

 fome cutaneous difeales. If the combination of the mercury 

 and fulphur is perfeft, it will not whiten the furface of gold' 

 when rubbed upon it. Lond. and Edin. Pharmacop. — • 

 Levv'is's Mat. Med. vol. i. p. 148. — Beaume Chymie. Ex- 

 perim. vol. ii. p. 456. 



Authors are not agreed as to the merits of sethiops mine- 

 ral. Cheyne, and many inore, commend it highly. It has 

 been prefcribed for the worms, and for crudities and acri- 

 mony of the humours : and by fome perfons it has been re- 

 puted infallible againft the itch and other cutaneous difeafes. 

 Gmelin's App. Med. vol. ii. p. 129. Boerhaave, on the 

 contrary, and fome oth.ers, rejeft it us ufelefs. He lays that 

 it cannot enter the abforbcnt vefTels, the lafteals, or lym- 

 phatics, but paiTcs direftly through the intclHnal tube, 

 where it may happen to deftroy worms, if it operates 

 luckily. Thofe are deceived who cxpeft any other efiefts 

 from it. He adds, that it is unwarily given, in large quan- 

 tities, to children and perfons of tender conftitutions, as be- 

 ing a foreign mafs, unconquerable by the body, and the 

 more to be fufpefted, as it continues there for a long time 

 lluggilh and inaftive. 



The rethiops, as it is now preparcdj with a double pro- 

 portion of mercury, is more likely to produce eilect than 

 the iaaftive preparation formerly ufed. 



jEthiops vegetabilis, is formed by burning the fea- 

 wreck, or fea-oak, the Tvcvs —ije/ii.-11/ofus oi Linnxus, in the 

 open air, and chen reducing it into a black powder. It is 

 fometimes ufrd to remove fcrophulous iwellings. 



Dr. RufTell recori.inends it as an uleful aiiiftant to fea- 

 watei- in the cure of dilorders of the glands, when taken in 



