Medicines, their uses and mode of administration : including a complete conspectus of the three British pharmacopoeias, an account of all the new remedies, and an appendix of formulae / by J. Moore Neligan.
- John Neligan
- Date:
- 1849
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Medicines, their uses and mode of administration : including a complete conspectus of the three British pharmacopoeias, an account of all the new remedies, and an appendix of formulae / by J. Moore Neligan. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
147/504
![ferent ingredients present, vary remarkably in different specimens. They consist of from | to 2h per cent of the antimonite of lime, and from 4 to 10 per cent of sesquioxide of antimony, to the presence of both of which, chiefly the latter, the activity of the preparation is due ; the remainder being inert antimonious acid, and phosphate of lime. Boiling water dissolves the antimonite of lime which is deposited as the solution cools; muriatic acid dissolves the sesquioxide of antimo- ny and the phosphate of lime. Not liable to adulteration ; but as before remarked, it varies much in activity, the empirical preparation being more uniform in character and consequently more generally preferred notwithstanding its high price. Therapeutical Effects.—Antimonial powder and James1 powder, though frequently even in very large doses not producing the least apparent effect on the system, more ^generally operate as powerful diaphoretics, causing copious sweating without much excitement or disturbance of the circulation. They are generally employed in the early stages of febrile diseases and in inflammatory affections; they have been also given in chronic skin diseases, and combined with calomel and opium in acute rheumatism. In consequence of the un- certainty of their operation, and the very high price at which the patent nostrum is sold, most practitioners at present prefer employing tartar emetic, from which, when administered with proper regulation of the doses, we can obtain similar effects with much greater certainty. The late Dr. Cheyne employed James' powder with excellent effect in the after treatment of apoplexy, to equalise the circulation and thereby prevent a return of the fit; and his practice has been very generally adopted by the physicians of this city with the most bene- ficial results. He at first gave two grains for a dose at bed-time and increased it half a grain every night, until eighteen grains were taken at one dose, unless vomiting or purging were previously produced by it. Dose and Mode of Administration.—In powder, from gr. iij. to gr. x., repeated every four or five hours ; or it may be made into pill with conserve of roses or any of the vegetable extracts.—Diaphoretic pill; (Antimonial or James' powder, gr. ij., extract of conium or of aconite, gr. i.; to be made into one pill). It should be repeated every eix hours. / V Antimonii sulphuretum, [U. S.] D. E. Antimonii sesquisul- phuretum, L.—Sulphuret of antimony; Crude antimony. Preparation.—An article of the Materia Medica in the three British pharmacopoeias ; prepared by fusing the ore in a perforated crucible placed over another destined to receive the melted mass; the Dublin College di- rects it to be further purified by the process of levigation and elutriation as for prepared chalk, {Antimonii sulphur etum praparatum.) Physical Properties.—In conical masses or loaves, of a bluish- grey colour, staining the fingers or paper black, with a brilliant, metallic, crystalline fracture ; it is inodorous and tasteless, is easily pulverized, and yields a black powder. Sp. gr. 46. Chemical Properties.—It is composed of 1 eq. of antimony, and 3 of sulphur, (SI + 3 S) Graham- It is permanent in the air, ex- posed to a moderate heat it fuses, and at a red heat it volatilizes. It 11*](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21143602_0147.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
