ANTIMONY. 275 



Oxides of Antimony* 



Oxide of Antimony. Antimonii Oxydum. Ph. L. — If to a 

 solution of tartarised antimony we add a solution of subcarbonate 

 of ammonia, and gently boil the mixture, a protoxide of antimony 

 ■will be precipitated, which should be washed with plenty of hot 

 water, and then dried. It is of a dirty white colour, fuses at a red 

 heat, and forms on cooling an opaque crystaline mass. The oxide 

 of antimony is very violent in its operation, and is scarcely ever 

 employed in practice. Its dose is from one to ten grains. A 

 similar preparation has a place in the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, 

 under the name of Oxidum Antimonii Nitro -Muriaticum. It is 

 used merely for preparing tartar*emetic. 



Sulphuretted Oxide of Antimony. Antimonii Oxydum 

 sulphuretum vitrificatum. Antimonii vitrum, L. E. Glass of 

 Antimony. — According to Proust, this is a compound of the pro- 

 toxide of antimony with about an eighth part of sulphuret of anti- 

 mony. It is a transparent glass of a reddish-brown colour, and is 

 prepared by exposing the sulphuret to a high temperature in an 

 open vessel. The sulphur is dissipated, the antimony is oxidated, 

 and, by the intensity of the heat, the oxide is vitrified. It acts as a 

 diaphoretic, emetic, or cathartic, but its operation is so violent, and, 

 at the same time, so uncertain, that it is never prescribed. Its 

 chief use is for the preparation of some other antimonials, and it is 

 employed by the Edinburgh College for the preparation of emetic 

 tartar. The Crocus, or Saffron of Antimony, (Crocus Antimo7iii) t 

 or what is now named by the Edin. College, Oxidmn Antimonii 

 per Nitratem Potasses, consists of four parts of the protoxide and 

 one of the sulphuret of antimony. It is obtained by throwing 

 equal parts of nitre and the sulphuret of antimony into a hot 

 crucible, and separating the scoriae and other saline substances by 

 water. In this process, the greater part of the antimony is con- 

 verted into a protoxide by the oxygen of the nitre, while the 

 sulphur is at the same time acidified ; part of it being dissipated in 

 the form of sulphurous acid, and the rest entering into combina- 

 tion with the potash of the nitre. A compound which has long 



