244 
IODIDE  OF  ANTIMONY. 
in  all  proportions,  but  is  very  sparingly  soluble  in  water.  Speci- 
mens prepared  by  different  manufacturers  have  been  found  to 
present  some  difference  in  their  sensible  characters,  which  pro- 
bably arises  from  the  circumstances  that  the  fusel  oil  from  which 
it  is  made  is  not  a  definite  body  of  uniform  composition,  and  that 
the  amylic  alcohol,  the  principal  constituent  of  the  crude  fusel 
oil,  is  not  easily  isolated  in  a  state  of  purity.  Should  it  be  found 
that  amylene  cannot  be  always  obtained  in  an  uniform  state,  this 
will  be  a  serious  obstacle  to  its  successful  employment  as  an 
anaesthetic  agent. — London  Pharm.  Jour.,  February,  1857. 
IODIDE  OF  ANTIMONY. 
Mr.  W.  Copney,  of  St.  Mary's  Hospital,  brought  this  prepara- 
tion under  the  notice  of  the  Meeting.  It  had  been  recently  in- 
troduced as  a  therapeutical  agent  at  the  hospital  to  which  he  was 
attached,  and  as  it  was  a  substance  not  met  with  in  commerce, 
he  had  been  requested  by  Mr.  Ure,  surgeon  to  the  hospital,  to 
prepare  some  of  it.  He  had  not  found  any  detailed  account  of 
the  process  for  making  it  in  the  books  generally  accessible  to 
Pharmaceutists,  and  therefore  thought  that  a  few  particulars  on 
this  point  might  be  acceptable.  After  the  trial  of  several 
methods  for  effecting  the  combination  of  the  elements,  which 
proved  more  or  less  inapplicable  or  inconvenient,  he  adopted  the 
following  as  that  which  afforded  the  most  satisfactory  result : — 
A  quantity  of  metallic  antimony,  having  been  reduced  to  a 
coarse  powder,  was  mixed  gently  with  pure  iodine,  in  the  pro- 
portion of  three  equivalents  of  the  latter  to  one  of  the  former. 
The  mixture  was  transferred  to  a  Florence  flask,  and  cautiously 
heated  over  the  gas  flame.  Combination  speedily  took  place, 
with  a  great  and  sudden  increase  of  temperature  and  the  lique- 
faction of  the  contents  of  the  flask.  By  way  of  precaution  the 
neck  of  the  flask  was  lightly  plugged  with  cotton  wool,  to  act  as 
a  yielding  impediment  to  the  projection  of  any  of  the  materials,  or 
the  escape  of  the  vapor  of  iodine  during  the  process.  The  heat 
being  withdrawn,  the  flask  was  allowed  to  cool,  then  broken,  and 
the  contents  removed. 
Teriodide  of  antimony,  thus  prepared,  was  found  to  be  a  some- 
what crystalline  or  foliated  mass,  having  a  semi-metallic  appear- 
