348 
ANTIMONIAL POISONING. 
one time, after being melted and cast into cones, the metal 
itself was thrown into diet drinks and herbal decoctions, as a 
remedy against scurvy. There was once in vogue “ an anti- 
monial cup,” made of glass of antimony — an impure oxide, 
which was said to confer a purgative property on every liquid 
that was placed in it. The sulphuret, the chloride, the oxi- 
chloride, the oxide, and many other forms, have been received 
also with great favour. We have in this day accepted the 
tartrate of potash and antimony as the most active and avail- 
able compound. It has the advantages of being cheap, soluble, 
tasteless, and decided in its effects. 
The physiological properties of antimony have been variously 
classified and commented on by different writers. At first it 
was mainly approved of as a purgative, then as an emetic, 
then as a diaphoretic and diuretic. At one period it was con- 
sidered a specific in acute mania, at another time it had great 
reputation as an anti-scorbutic. Cullen classed it amongst 
the “stimulants;” modern authors have set it down as a 
powerful “ sedative.” These are but words, very useful to 
the mystics. 
The popularity of tartar emetic in modern days for the cure 
of inflammatory affections is in great part due to Laennec, who 
prescribed it boldly, and with great success, in pneumonia. 
The profession has recognised it as a safe medicinal agent, 
and consider that they have at command all its peculiar pro- 
perties, which they can bring out according to the dose they 
prescribe. This is generally correct ; but one does now and 
then in practice meet with cases where the results are ano- 
malous. I have recorded one case in which three grains of 
this salt induced symptoms which nearly proved fatal ; and 
another case in which fifteen minims of the wine produced 
serious depression for several days. The causes of these 
departures from the general rule remain for explanation. 
Doses of antimonial poisoning ending fatally are either 
extremely rare, or the effects of the drug have been so over- 
looked, or misunderstood, that death from antimony has been 
attributed to death from disease. If this latter error has 
really been committed, it has been a serious one indeed ; for 
the number of times that antimony is prescribed must be 
incredible. Looking back at my own career for the last eight 
or nine years, I compute that I have prescribed antimony, 
often in full and frequently repeated doses, to at least two 
thousand persons. I instance this, simply to prove how im- 
portant it is that we should possess sound physiological 
views regarding the true modus operandi of this much-used 
drug. 
