Copy 1

The London dispensatory / By Anthony Todd Thomson.

  • Anthony Todd Thomson
Date:
1811
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The London dispensatory / By Anthony Todd Thomson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    177/944 (page 41)
    é PART If Materia Medic¢e. 44 by, and combines with, the sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids; but the other acids unite with its oxides only. I[t readily combines with sulphur and phosphorus. Its specific gravity, according to Brisson, is 6-702. The pure metal exerts no ac- tion on the body, nor is it used for officinal purposes. Officinal, ANTIMONIi SULPHURETUM. Lond. SutpHuretum An- rimontt. Ldin. Dub. Sulphuret of Antimony. Sulphuret of antimony ts commonly sold in loaves, and is impurities with which it is naturally combined. It ts the striated variety, the most common of all the antimonial ores, found both in masses and crystallized in Hungary, Saxony, France, Tuscany, Spain, and Corawall in England; generally «‘ in micaceous schistus and clay porphyry, mixed with py- rites and oxides of iron.’ Itis fitted for the market in the larze way by the following process. The ore is separated from the greater part of the stony gangue by hand, and then placed in the bed of a reverberatory furnace, covered with charcoal powder. As it is brought to a low red heat, the sul- phuret of antimony is fused, while the earthy parts float on the ssurtace,. and are taken off with a rake or ladle: and the fluid portion, cast into the form of loaves or large cakes, is fit for sale, and forms the crude antimony of commerce’. These loaves are dark-gray externally, but internally have a striated structure, and considerable brilliancy. Their goodness de- pends on their compactness and weight, the largeness and di- stinctness of the. striz, and the volatility of the sulphuret. When they contain much lead, the structure is more foliated, and the volatility diminished 3 arsenic is discovered by the gar- lic odour emitted when the sulphuret is thrown on live coals s and manganese and iron, by their not being volatilized when it is exposed to a red heat. The specific gravity of the sul- phuret is about 4°1327 ; and its constituents are antimony 74, “sulphur 26, in 100 parts. . The greater part of the sulphuret used in this country is imported from Germany and Holland. Quaiities. Sulphuret of antimony is tnoderous, insipid, of a leaden gray or steel] colour, staining the fingers; has a rough spicular fracture, and is insoluble in water. Its. bril- liancy is dulled by long exposure to the air; in a red heat it melts, and is partly dissipated along with its sulphur in the form of a white smoke ; and what remains in the crucible is a gray ash-coloured oxide. Jt decomposes the sulphuric and nitric acids when assisted with heat ; the metallic part of the sulphuret is oxidized, and sulphureous acid and nitrous gas lisengaged: the muriatic, even in the cold, decomposes it, rn