Primarily, a metallic ore consisting of sulphur combined with a metal; the sulphuret of antimony the stibium of the Romans and of the Greeks. It is a blackish mineral, which stains the hands, hard, brittle, full of long, shining, needlelike striae. It is found in the mines of Bohemia, and Hungary; in France and England, and in America. This word is also used for the pure metal of regulus of antimony a metal of a grayish or silvery white, very brittle, and of a plated or scaly texture, and of moderate specific gravity. By exposure to air, its surface becomes tarnished, but does not rust. It is used as an ingredient in concave mirrors, giving them a finer texture. In bells, it renders the sound more clear; it renders tin more hard, white and sonorous, and gives to printing types more firmness and smoothness. It is also useful in promoting the fusion of metals, and especially in casting cannon balls. In its crude state, it is harmless to the human constitution; but many of its preparations act violently as emetics and cathartics. It has also a peculiar efficacy in promoting the secretions, particularly as a sudorific.
Word of the Day: Catachrestical
An elementary substance, resembling a metal in its appearance and physical properties, but in its chemical relations belonging to the class of nonmetallic substances. Atomic weight, 120. Symbol, Sb.
Antimony
Encyclopedia Britannica
ANTIMONY, a metal found native to a small extent in many of the localities from which its ores are derived. It has been obtained at Sahiberg, near Sahl in Sweden, at Andreasberg in the Harz, at Allemont in Dauphiny, Przibram in Bohemia, besides being brought from Borneo, Chili, Mexico, New Brunswick, &c. It also occurs in nature alloyed with other metals; allemontite being arsenical antimony; dyscrasite, antimonial silver; and breithauptite, a native alloy of antimony and nickel. Among the ores of antimony may be enumerated valentinite, or white antimony, and cervantite, or antimony ochre, both oxides of antimony; and kermesite, red antimony, or antimony blende, an oxysulphide of the metal. Various sulph-antimonites of other metals are also met with, but they possess only a mineralogical interest. The antimony of commerce is derived almost entirely from the sulphide, stibnite, or grey antimony ore (Sb a S 3 ), which is found in great abundance in Borneo, in Nevada, and at Prince William antimony mine, New Brunswick. It is also mined at Schemnitz and Kremnitz in Hungary, at Przibram in Bohemia, at Wolfsberg in the Harz, and at Braunsdorf, near Freiberg, Bavaria. Formerly it was largely produced in Cornwall, but it is no longer worked on a commercial scale in Great Britain. Stibnite, occurs generally in veins, and has a leaden grey colour, with a metallic, sometimes iridescent lustre; it fuses with great facility, and produces a grey streak. It is the στίμμι or stibium of the ancients, who applied to it the epithet τrλa.τv0φθaλμ.ov i from its having been used by women in Eastern countries to give increased lustre to their eyes, by darkening the eye-lashes, a practice still pursued in some parts. The paint said in the Holy Scriptures to have been used by ...Jezebel, seems to have been this substance; for St Jerome, who knew the manners of Eastern women, has, in the Vulgate, rendered the passage “ oculos ejus posuit stibio.” Stibnite was the lupus metallorum of the alchemists, and Basil Valentin was able to show that it contained sulphur. That famous alchemist was acquainted with metallic antimony, and by him and his successors it was known as regulus, or regulus of antimony, from the readiness with which it acted on the royal metal gold. The tradition that the name antimony was given to the sulphide on account of a preparation of it having proved fatal to the monks (hence anti·monachos) in a German religious house will hardly bear investigation. Crude antimony of commerce is the ore separated from its associated earthy gangue—an operation effected by simple fusion. The sulphide is then reduced to an oxide by roasting in a reverberatory furnace. From this oxide metallic antimony is obtained by fusion with charcoal, which has been saturated with a solution of carbonate of sodium. The metal may also be prepared direct from the sulphur ore by roasting with a mixture of cream of tartar and nitre, or with iron filings. Antimony is a brilliant silver-grey metal, having a foliated texture and a strong tendency to assume a crystalline structure, which causes the cakes of metal to present a characteristic stellate surface. Its specific gravity is 6*715; it melts at 842° Fahr., and when heated to redness takes fire, burning with a brilliant white flame. It is brittle, and can be easily pulverised. Antimony is chiefly valuable for the alloys it yields with other metals. Britannia metal is an alloy largely used, containing usually about 81 parts of tin, 16 of antimony, 2 of copper, and 1 of zinc. Type metal contains varying proportions of lead and antimony, ranging from 17 to 20 per cent, of the latter, or even more, according to the hardness desired; with sometimes small proportions of other metals for stereotype plates, &c. Babbitt’s anti-friction metal for the bearings of machinery is composed of 83 - 3 parts of tin, 8*3 parts of copper, and 8 ’ 3 of antimony. Antimony alloys with lead and tin, separately or in combination, are also used in place of gun metal for the bushes of heavy machinery. Antimonial preparations are of great value in pharmacy, and for such purposes it is essential that they should be absolutely free from the arsenical and other impurities which commercial antimony and its ores always contain. The principal preparation used medicinally is tartarated antimony, or tartar emetic, a tartrate of potash and antimony. Taken in small doses, from τ⅛th to ⅜th of a grain, tartar emetic acts as a diaphoretic, renders mucous surfaces moist, and promotes secretion of urine. In larger doses it excites nausea, and, as its name indicates, vomiting. It is also prepared in the form of an ointment for external application as a counter-irritant, producing a painful pustular eruption. Antimonial wine is a preparation of tartar emetic, used as a diaphoretic and expectorant. Butter of antimony, or the liquor of chloride of antimony, is used as a powerful caustic, and antimonial powder, or James’s powder, is employed as a diaphoretic in fevers and rheumatism. Other officinal preparations containing antimony are—oxide of antimony; black antimony, or the native sulphide, prepared; sulphurated antimony; and compound calomel pills. Crude antimony sulphide is used in the manufacture of black lead pencils. For the action of antimony as a poison, see Poisons.
9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 2, p. 129
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[889 words — estimated reading time: 6 minutes]
Bane Roget’s Thesaurus §663
N. bane, curse, evil, hurtfulness, painfulness, scourge, damnosa hereditas, white elephant, sting, fang, thorn, tang, bramble, brier, nettle, poison, toxin, teratogen, leaven, virus venom, arsenic, antimony, tartar emetic, strychnine, nicotine, miasma, miasm, mephitis, malaria, azote, sewer gas, pest, albany hemp, arsenious oxide, arsenious acid, bichloride of mercury, carbonic acid, carbonic gas, choke damp, corrosive sublimate, fire damp, hydrocyanic acid, cyanide, prussic acid, hydrogen cyanide, marsh gas, nux vomica, ratsbane, hemlock, hellebore, nightshade, belladonna, henbane, aconite, banewort, bhang, ganja, hashish, upas tree, toxline, rust, worm, helminth, moth, moth and rust, fungus, mildew, dry rot, canker, cankerworm, cancer, torpedo, viper, demon, toxicology
Adj. baneful, poisonous, phr, bibere venenum in auro, 3. contingent subservience
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