Alchemy antimony

In the days of alchemy and the phlogiston theory, no system of nomenclature that would be considered logical ia the 1990s was possible. Names were not based on composition, but on historical association, eg, Glauber s salt for sodium sulfate decahydrate and Epsom salt for magnesium sulfate physical characteristics, eg, spirit of wiae for ethanol, oil of vitriol for sulfuric acid, butter of antimony for antimony trichloride, Hver of sulfur for potassium sulfide, and cream of tartar for potassium hydrogen tartrate or physiological behavior, eg, caustic soda for sodium hydroxide. Some of these common or trivial names persist, especially ia the nonchemical Hterature. Such names were a necessity at the time they were iatroduced because the concept of molecular stmcture had not been developed, and even elemental composition was incomplete or iadeterminate for many substances. 

Petrinus, Rubellus. Laboratory Notes. Symbolism of antimony. Alchemy J2, no. 5 (Sep/Oct 2001). rhttp //www.alchemylab. com/AJ2-5.htm1. 

Antimony was known in the days of alchemy (500 BCE to 1600 ce) when it was associated with other metals and minerals such as arsenic, sulfides, and lead used as medications. It is possible that an alchemist, Basilus Valentinus (fi. 1450), knew about antimony and some of its minerals and compounds sometime around the mid-fifteenth century ce. Physicians of this period—and earlier periods—used elements such as mercury and antimony to cure diseases, although they knew that these elements were toxic in larger doses. Antimony was used to treat depression, as a laxative, and as an emetic for over two thousand years. Despite the elements poisonous nature, physicians of that early era considered both mercury and antimony good medicines. 

The alchemists never succeeded in making gold from base metals, yet their experiments, recorded under a mystical and intentionally obscure terminology, gradually revealed metallic arsenic and antimony. Bismuth was discovered by practical miners. Finally, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, the pale light of phosphorus began to illumine the dark secrets of alchemy and to disclose the steady advance of scientific chemistry. 

Principe, Aspiring Adept. Antimony has featured throughout most studies of early modern alchemy, e.g. Dobbs, Foundations of Newtons Alehemy, and it, and Suchten s influence, are receiving increasing attention in studies of the chymical experiments of Starkey, Boyle, and Newton William Newman, Gehennieal Fire, 135-41 Newman and Principe, Triedin the Fire. 

The pirotechnia of Vannoccio Biringuccio, ed. and trans. Smith and Gnudi, 201. On antimony, see Claus Priesner and Karin Figala, eds., Alchemie Lexikon einer hermetischen Wissenschaft (Munich Beck, 1998), s.v. "Antimon."... 

On the utility of antimony and arsenic in alchemical processes, see Priesner and Figala, Alchemie, s.v. "Antimon" and "Arsen."... 

Antimony has always held a special place in alchemy. Known from very ancient times, other names for antimony are Mestem, Asinat, Stimmi and Stibium from which we get our symbol for the element Sb. Antimony is considered a toxic metal, very similar to arsenic. The fascination with this material led to abuse and scams which caused the death of many who had heard of its healing virtues. This provoked Parliament in 1566 to forbid its use in medicine for about one hundred years. 

ALKARA — is a gourd. In medicine it is a cupping-glass, and in alchemy a Cucurbite. ALKARANUM — is green Duenech, or Antimony. 

The next 2000 years of chemical history were dominated by a pseudoscience called alchemy. Alchemists were often mystics and fakes who were obsessed with the idea of turning cheap metals into gold. However this period also saw important discoveries Elements such as mercury, sulfur, and antimony were discovered, and alchemists learned how to prepare the mineral acids. 

Even before alchemy became a subject of study, many chemical reactions were used and the products applied to daily life. For example, the first metals used were probably gold and copper, which can be found in the metallic state. Copper can also be readily formed by the reduction of malachite—basic copper carbonate, Cu2(C03)(0H)2—in charcoal fires. Silver, tin, antimony, and lead were also known as early as 3000 BC. Iron appeared in classical Greece and in other areas around the Mediterranean Sea by 1500 BC. At about the same time, colored glasses and ceramic glazes, largely composed of silicon dioxide (Si02, the major component of sand) and other metallic oxides, which had been melted and allowed to cool to amorphous solids, were introduced. 

Alchemy was a kind of pre-science that existed from about 500 bce to about the end of the 16th century. Alchemists wanted to find a way of changing lead, iron, and other metals into gold. They also wanted to find a way of having eternal life. Alchemy contained too much magic and mysticism to be a real science, but alchemists developed a number of techniques and produced many new materials that were later found to be usefiil in modern chemistry. Antimony was one of these materials. 

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